Design, fabrication and preliminary testing of a continuous static mixer reactor for the production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil

Date

2013

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Restrictions

Restricted: Not available to the general public. Access is available only after consultation with author/thesis adviser and only to those bound by the confidentiality agreement.

Abstract

A continuous static reactor designed with a series of alternating empty-and static-mixer-containing tubes. This reactor was powered by a centrifugal pump and was composed of valves and fittings that connect the tubes to configure a continuous fluid-flow. The reactor composed of sampling ports that were positioned every after a series of 30 mixing elements. These ports were then calibrated and used to collect samples. These samples, which consist of methyl ester, served as the products of mixing and reaction of oil and sodium methoxide upon passing the mixing elements. The feedstock used in this study was waste cooking oil (WCO) to test its potential as source of biodiesel. WCO was subjected to degumming and acid esteriofication processes before transesterification. The purities of methly esters obtained from the ports were measured using thin layer chromatography and QuantiScan software. Statistical analysis was used to test the significance difference in methyl ester content of the samples obtained from each sampling port. Non-parametric analysis of variance (ANOVA) such as Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests proved that biodiesel production is affected by the increase number of mixing elements. Also, there is ni significant difference in methyl ester purity whether the feed id esterified or degummed WCOs.

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section (USCS)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2013 E62 /C39

Document Type

Thesis

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