Source: United Environment & Energy, LLC submitted to NRP
A NOVEL CATALYTIC REACTOR FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0221853
Grant No.
2010-33610-20887
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2010-00247
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2010
Project End Date
Feb 28, 2011
Grant Year
2010
Program Code
[8.8]- Biofuels and Biobased Products
Recipient Organization
United Environment & Energy, LLC
111 Ridge Road
Horseheads,NY 14845
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
700 million gallons of biodiesel were produced by 144 biodiesel plants in the U.S. in 2008, representing only a tiny fraction of the roughly 40 billion gallons of petroleum diesel used for on-road transportation. Batch process biodiesel production plants are commonly used for biodiesel production. However, the upper average overall volumetric throughput of a batch reactor is relatively low; consequently, massive plants are used and the biodiesel production costs are high. The overall objective of this proposed project is to develop a compact, high throughput, and high efficiency continuous flow catalytic reactor system for cost-competitive biodiesel production.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
51172992020100%
Knowledge Area
511 - New and Improved Non-Food Products and Processes;

Subject Of Investigation
7299 - Research equipment and methods, general/other;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
This proposed Phase I project will focus on designing and fabricating the heterogeneous catalytic reactor system, optimizing the reactor configuration and operating conditions, demonstrating the performance and efficiency of the reactor in a lab-scale system, and verify its technical feasibility.
Project Methods
A new reactor fabrication process will be developed

Progress 07/01/10 to 02/28/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The research focused on developing a high throughput and high efficient continuous flow, extruded reactor for cost-effective biodiesel production from soybean oil and algae oil. The reactor is a catalyst extruded from a heterogeneous catalytic material developed at this company. The high flow rate reactants flow into the catalytic reactor and flow out as biodiesel and glycerol. During Phase I, reactors were fabricated and evaluated; the effects of reactor configuration on its catalytic performance were determined, the optimal reactor structure was studied; the reaction conditions for biodiesel production were determined, an economic analysis was conducted, and the technical feasibility of this technology was successfully established. PARTICIPANTS: Ben Wen, P.I. Peng Zhang, Sr. Project Engineer Marianne Meyers, Sr. Project Technician TARGET AUDIENCES: Biodiesel producers or plant developers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The catalytic reactor was highly active for transesterification of soybean oil and algae oil. The reactor configuration had significant effects on the reactor performance. The effects of the wall structure of the reactor, however, was limited. The reaction for the transesterification of soybean oil and algae oil could occur at a mild reaction temperature with a short residence time. The reactor could effectively catalyze the biodiesel production from algae oil. The projected capitial and production costs of a biodiesel plant using this new technology were much lower than those using the traditional process.

Publications

  • Biodiesel production using a novel catalytic reactor. American Chemical Society 241st National Meeting & Exposition in March, 2011.