Progress 07/15/19 to 07/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience: Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In this reporting period, the project has provided training opportunities for 1 undergraduate student and 1 PhD studentfor their research and professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Journal publications, conference presentations, and media reports What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In this period, the mechanism of liquid-phase plasma driving catalyzed transesterification reaction is analyzed and proposed with optical emission spectra obtained at the time of discharge.In plasma, the decomposition of triglycerides is primarily driven by electron excitation. The electric field can generate excited species, electrons and break bonds depending on the electron temperature and power. The kinetic theory of decomposition is also very valid in non-thermal plasma decomposition, so the probability of bond breaking will depend on input energy and bond energy required to break the weakest bond in the compound. The low-energy bonds break faster and require less energy; as we input more power and increase electron temperature and radical, the high-energy bond also begins to decompose. Three possible energy transfer mechanisms can exponentially increase transesterification reaction rate (electron, radical, and liquid arc induced cavitation). In triglycerides, there are three primary bonds, and their dissociation energy is C-C (3.58 eV), C-H (4.28 eV), C-O (3.71 eV). The probability of C-C bond breaking is higher than C-H and C-O, so in triglyceride decomposition, it will break down along the C-C carbon chain possibility of forming short-chain hydrocarbons and diglycerides. Thetriglyceride decomposition to form fatty acids alkyl esters was reported; however, the selectivity was very low compared to hydrocarbon formation as the fatty acids chain has up to 17 C-C bonds compared to 2 C-C in forming diglycerides and aldehydes. Due to steric effects, the probability of driving reaction towards primary glycerides is very low. In the absence of any catalyst or reactant, the reaction pathway for triglyceride decomposition in plasma will be very similar to the thermal cracking of triglycerides. The non-thermal plasma primarily affects the gas phase, and the transition of energy to liquid is not very stable as the gas-liquid energy transfer phase. In previous research, triglycerides decomposition to free fatty acids, diglycerides, and other aldehydes have been presented in a non-thermal plasma discharge. The direct production of fatty acid alkyl esters has also been shown, but the selectivity is very low. The fatty acid alkyl ester generation was only monitored in very high power where the availability of hydrogen radicals can allow stabilizing diglycerides to form fatty acids esters. Specific reactant solutions can be mixed to offset the steric effects of the carbon chain and drive the reaction towards a target-driven reaction. The availability of alkoxide (strong nucleophile) can make it more probable for reaction to drive in alkyl esters formation than hydrocarbons selection and reduce the input energy required to initiate a chemical reaction.In Argon gas assisted LPPD operation, the optical emission spectroscopy suggested a very different exciting, radical presence in the plasma phase. With the addition of argon gas, one major shift in electrical properties of plasma was observed in the form of gas breakdown allowing the arc formation at very low input energy. Like the LPPD process, the reaction mechanism with argon gas has also followed the parallel condition; however, with the addition of gas, the system's overall energy efficiency was improved 3 times.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Bashir, MA., S. Wu, J. Zhu, A. Krosuri, MU. Khan, RJ. Ndeddy Aka. 2022. Recent development of advanced processing technologies for biodiesel production: A critical review. Fuel Processing Technology, 227: 107120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2021.107120.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Mei, P., S. Wu. 2022. Novel Liquid Phase Plasma Discharge Converting Food Waste Oil to Biodiesel. University of Idaho Undergraduate Research Symposium, April 25, 2022.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Bashir, MA., *S. Wu, S. Deng, R. Ndeddy Aka. 2023. Continuous Production of Ethyl Ester from Corn Oil by Non-thermal Liquid Plasma Catalysis. Submitted to Fuel Processing Technology.
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Progress 07/15/20 to 07/14/21
Outputs
Target Audience: Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In this reportingperiod, theproject has provided training opportunities for 1undergraduate studentand 1 PhD student during the pastyear for their research andprofessional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Journal publications, conference presentations, and media reports What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Work for the next reporting period will be focused on exploration and explanation of the mechanism of the liquid-phase plasma accelerating continuous transesterification reactions.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Evaluationand optimization of ethyl ester from corn oil by liquid plasma discharge Upon successful continuous biodiesel synthesis from soybean oil and methanol and optimization of the liquid plasma discharge process, we studied the feasibility and production performance by the same reactor for synthesizingethyl ester from corn oil and ethanol, which was technically hurdled from the complete conversion by chemical equilibrium in traditional bulk heating processes.In our study, the liquid plasma discharge was successfully initiated and observedin the mixture of corn oil and ethanol, and the product was verified to be ethyl ester and glycerol.The operating variables for the liquid phase discharge were ethanol/oil molar ratio (5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) and catalyst loading (0.5, 0.75, 1, and 1.25 wt.%) with all the experiments carried out using the one-pass process. The relationship for the conversion rate and power consumption with different molar ratios and catalyst loadings in the liquid phase plasma discharge showed that the triglycerides were successfully transesterified in the liquid phase discharge system. The highest conversion rate of 99.12% was achieved at 1% w/w catalyst loading and 8:1 molar ratio of ethanol to oil at a voltage of5.25 kV and a liquid flow rate of 2.4 ml/s. at each catalyst concentration, increasing the molar ratio led to increases in the power consumption in all experiments. Moreover, at each molar ratio, power consumption also increased with increasing the catalyst concentration. In both cases of increasing molar ratio and catalyst concertation, the availability of free ions in the liquid solution was increased, which enhanced the conversion rate by intensifying the transesterification reaction. In addition, argon gas was found to lower applied power from 150 watt to 40 watt while ensuring continuous and stable plasma discharge and complete conversion of corn oil to ethyl ester biodiesel, which boosted the energy efficiency for more than three folds.?
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Bashir, MA., S. Wu, A. Krosuri. 2021. Rapid and efficient esterification of oleic acid by continuous liquid-phase plasma discharge. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 9(1): 104640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2020.104640.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Bashir, MA., S. Wu., S. Deng, J. Zhu, A. Krosuri 2021. Continuous Production of Ethyl Ester from Corn Oil by Liquid Plasma Catalysis. ASABE 114th Annual International Meeting. Paper#: 2100285. Online. July 11-14, 2021.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Bashir, MA., S. Wu, J. Zhu, MU Khan, A. Krosuri, R. Ndeddy Aka. 2021. Biodiesel production via advanced processing technologies: a review. Submitted to Energy & Fuels.
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Progress 07/15/19 to 07/14/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The targeted audiences reached by our efforts during this reporting period include biodiesel industry, renewable energy and waste management industry, academic audience, researchers, stakeholders that have access to the internet for browsing journal publications, ASABE AIM or other conference participants and others. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided training opportunities for 2 undergraduate students and 1 PhD student. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Journal publications,conference presentations, and media reports What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The next reporting period will be focused on the verificationof the organic-phase plasma discharge in the mixture of oil/acids with alcohols, and exploration and explanation ofthe mechanism of the liquid-phase plamsa accelerating continuous transesterification reactions. Also planned is to developed the biodiesel production process using corn oil and ethanol as the major feedstock.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1. The liquid plasma reactor was designed,fabricated and assembled into a biodiesel synthsis systemto determine the optimal operating conditions for continuous production of high quality biodiesel from soybean oil and/or free fatty acids. The novel, uniquedesign allowed continuous operation (ascompared to batch operation requiring large vessels) with liquid going into the reactor from the bottom and exiting at the top, which could substantially reduce the reactor size and operation costs if scaled up for large productions. The LPPD system consisted of a high-voltage AC transformer (Plasma Technics Inc., Racine, WI 53404, USA), connected to the stainless-steel electrodes on the reactor, to provide high-voltage discharge to the liquid flowing through the reactor, and a peristaltic pump (not shown in Fig. 1) for continuous feeding of the feedstock. The applied power could be adjusted by a transformer regulator. The reactor body was fabricated using polycarbonate material, and the dielectric plate was made of quartz. All experiments were run under room temperature (20-22 C).The process could continuously convert vege oil to biodiesel under room temperature at a much faster rate than the conventional method. 2. The reactor system was evaluated for the performance of biodiesel production from transesterification reaction of soy bean oil with methanol. Two feeding flowrates (2.7 ml s1 and 4.1ml s1) were used in the experiments. Methanol to oil molar ratio, Rmomr, and NaOH to oil weight ratio, RNaOWR, were each examined at five levels (3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 for Rmomr, and 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 wt% for RNaOWR). Central Composite Design and Response Surface Methodology to optimize the conversion rate and applied voltage was conducted. At the flowrate of 2.7 ml s1, the optimal values of Rmomr, RNaOWR, conversion rate, and applied voltage were 5.08, 0.79 wt%, 97.2%, and 1.17 kV, respectively. While at 4.1ml s1, these values became 5.18, 0.70 wt%, 99.74%, and 1.27 kV. All regression models generated by the Central Composite Design and Response Surface Methodology fitted the experimental data well. The biodiesel produced by the novel liquid-phase plasma discharge process met the industrial quality standards (ASTM Standards). 3. The reactor system was evaluated for the performance of biodiesel production from pure oleic acid representing fatty acids by an esterification reaction. Independent variables including weight ratio of H2SO4 to oleic acid (CAT, %) at 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4% and the methanol to oleic acid molar ratio (MOMR) at 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 were chosen and examined. Central Composite Design (CCD) coupled with Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used for optimizing the conversion rate, Rconv. Results showed that in 4 min treatment, the LPPD process could achieve an optimal Rconv of 80.78% at CAT 2.38% and MOMR 8.02. Also, Rconv was found to be affected significantly by the CAT (p=0.0039), but not by MOMR (p=0.9027). A quadratic regression model for adequately describing the LPPD process performance was established with a p value of 0.0022. The uncertainty analysis further confirmed the model accuracy within a low error range of from 1.2% to 0.66% of the modeled value within examined CAT and MOMR ranges. The data suggested that the novel LPPD process could break the current status quo of lacking effective techniques to convert substrates containing high levels of FFAs to biodiesel.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Wu, S., S. Deng, J. Zhu, #MA. Bashir, and F. Izuno. 2019. Optimization of a novel liquid-phase plasma discharge process for continuous production of biodiesel. Journal of Cleaner Production 228:405-417.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Wu, S., #MA. Bashir, #H. Hsieh, #A. Krosuri, and A. McDonald, 2019. Highly efficient biodiesel conversion from soybean oil using liquid-phase plasma discharge technology. Transactions of ASABE 62(5): 1129-1134.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Wu, S., #MA. Bashir, J. Zhu. 2020. Optimization of a liquid-phase plasma discharge process for biodiesel synthesis from pure oleic acid. Fuel processing technology 202: 106368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2020.106368.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Bashir, MA. and S. Wu. 2020. Novel Liquid-Phase Plasma Discharge Process for Continuous Biodiesel Synthesis. National Biodiesel Conference and Expo. Tampa, Florida. January 20-23, 2020.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Bashir, MA. and S. Wu. 2020. Esterification of Oleic Acid with Methanol for Biodiesel Production by Liquid-Phase Plasma Discharge Process. ASABE 113th Annual International Meeting. Paper#: 2000923. Online. July 12-15, 2020.
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