Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design
Glycerol is an unavoidable by-product of the biodiesel production process. The conversion of glycerol into valuable biofuel additives is essential in the fuel industry. The goal of this work is to develop a reactive distillation-based process for the production of biofuel additives by bio-glycerol e...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-11-01
|
| Series: | Catalysts |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/12/11/1332 |
| _version_ | 1797468803245801472 |
|---|---|
| author | Abdulrahman A. Al-Rabiah Rayan K. Al Darwish Abdullah E. Alqahtani Diego Morais Chaves Márcio J. da Silva |
| author_facet | Abdulrahman A. Al-Rabiah Rayan K. Al Darwish Abdullah E. Alqahtani Diego Morais Chaves Márcio J. da Silva |
| author_sort | Abdulrahman A. Al-Rabiah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Glycerol is an unavoidable by-product of the biodiesel production process. The conversion of glycerol into valuable biofuel additives is essential in the fuel industry. The goal of this work is to develop a reactive distillation-based process for the production of biofuel additives by bio-glycerol etherification. In this study, a kinetic model using a lumping approach for glycerol etherification with <i>tert</i>-butyl alcohol (TBA) over Sn (II) phosphomolybdate (Sn<sub>1.5</sub>PMo<sub>12</sub>O<sub>40</sub>) catalyst was developed. Aspen Plus was used to validate the kinetic model by simulating the glycerol etherification with TBA in a batch reactor. The model predictions were in good agreement with the experimental data. A reactive distillation-based process to produce glycerol ethers was developed, and heat integration was conducted to reduce energy consumption. The energy requirements of the integrated process and the CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were decreased by 17% and 14%, respectively. An economic evaluation was performed to study the profitability of the process for an annual capacity of 33,000 metric tons of glycerol ethers. It was found that the process is economically attractive, with a return on investment of 29.40% and a payback period of 2.2 years. The reactive distillation-based process is green and promising for producing biofuel additives that are sustainable and environmentally friendly. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:12:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c3173f176650448f977f1cd92ca9a866 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4344 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T19:12:32Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Catalysts |
| spelling | doaj.art-c3173f176650448f977f1cd92ca9a8662023-11-24T04:05:40ZengMDPI AGCatalysts2073-43442022-11-011211133210.3390/catal12111332Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation DesignAbdulrahman A. Al-Rabiah0Rayan K. Al Darwish1Abdullah E. Alqahtani2Diego Morais Chaves3Márcio J. da Silva4Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi ArabiaChemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi ArabiaChemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi ArabiaChemistry Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa 36570-900, BrazilChemistry Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa 36570-900, BrazilGlycerol is an unavoidable by-product of the biodiesel production process. The conversion of glycerol into valuable biofuel additives is essential in the fuel industry. The goal of this work is to develop a reactive distillation-based process for the production of biofuel additives by bio-glycerol etherification. In this study, a kinetic model using a lumping approach for glycerol etherification with <i>tert</i>-butyl alcohol (TBA) over Sn (II) phosphomolybdate (Sn<sub>1.5</sub>PMo<sub>12</sub>O<sub>40</sub>) catalyst was developed. Aspen Plus was used to validate the kinetic model by simulating the glycerol etherification with TBA in a batch reactor. The model predictions were in good agreement with the experimental data. A reactive distillation-based process to produce glycerol ethers was developed, and heat integration was conducted to reduce energy consumption. The energy requirements of the integrated process and the CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were decreased by 17% and 14%, respectively. An economic evaluation was performed to study the profitability of the process for an annual capacity of 33,000 metric tons of glycerol ethers. It was found that the process is economically attractive, with a return on investment of 29.40% and a payback period of 2.2 years. The reactive distillation-based process is green and promising for producing biofuel additives that are sustainable and environmentally friendly.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/12/11/1332glyceroletherification<i>tert</i>-butyl alcoholkinetic modelingreactive distillationprocess integration |
| spellingShingle | Abdulrahman A. Al-Rabiah Rayan K. Al Darwish Abdullah E. Alqahtani Diego Morais Chaves Márcio J. da Silva Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design Catalysts glycerol etherification <i>tert</i>-butyl alcohol kinetic modeling reactive distillation process integration |
| title | Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design |
| title_full | Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design |
| title_fullStr | Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design |
| title_full_unstemmed | Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design |
| title_short | Production of Biofuel Additives Using Catalytic Bioglycerol Etherification: Kinetic Modelling and Reactive Distillation Design |
| title_sort | production of biofuel additives using catalytic bioglycerol etherification kinetic modelling and reactive distillation design |
| topic | glycerol etherification <i>tert</i>-butyl alcohol kinetic modeling reactive distillation process integration |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/12/11/1332 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT abdulrahmanaalrabiah productionofbiofueladditivesusingcatalyticbioglyceroletherificationkineticmodellingandreactivedistillationdesign AT rayankaldarwish productionofbiofueladditivesusingcatalyticbioglyceroletherificationkineticmodellingandreactivedistillationdesign AT abdullahealqahtani productionofbiofueladditivesusingcatalyticbioglyceroletherificationkineticmodellingandreactivedistillationdesign AT diegomoraischaves productionofbiofueladditivesusingcatalyticbioglyceroletherificationkineticmodellingandreactivedistillationdesign AT marciojdasilva productionofbiofueladditivesusingcatalyticbioglyceroletherificationkineticmodellingandreactivedistillationdesign |