Transesterification Reaction In Fiber Reactor

The production of commercial biodiesel and monoacylglycerols (MAG) was carried out by means of transesterification reaction of fats & oil. The reactants were usually immiscible in the transesterification for biodiesel and MAG, which resulted in poor mass transfer in reactant phases and low yields. In this paper, the fiber reactor was designed and used in biodiesel and MAG production. The biodiesel production in fiber reactor was conducted through the alkali-catalyzed and lipase-catalyzed transesterification, respectively. And the lipase-catalyzed production of MAG was investigated in fiber reactor.Firstly, the alkali-catalyzed production of biodiesel in fiber reactor was extensively examined. The height of fiber reactor was 60 cm. The yield of biodiesel was 96.2%. And the optimal conditions for the fiber transesterification were determined as follows:the amount of KOH was 1.0wt%, molar ratio of methanol to oil 6:1, reaction temperature 60℃, and reaction time 2.5 min. The results were shown that much less reaction time was needed in fiber reactor than the conventional reactor for production of biodiesel.Secondly, a pilot-scale (17.6 L) fiber reactor was designed and used in chemical production of biodiesel. And the yield of biodiesel was more than 95%.Therefore, the transesterification in fiber reactor was a fast and efficient reaction, which produced many advantages:continuous static process, high conversion and yield, superior reaction rate and lower capital and energy costs, and no need for centrifuges and lower maintenance costs.Thirdly, the single-stage and multi-stage methanolysis of soybean oil catalyzed by lipase were carried out in fiber reactors. In the single-stage reactor, the yield of biodiesel was 34.2%, the optimal reaction conditions were:molar ratio of methanol and oil was 6:1,17.5wt% of liquid lipase RM IM,55℃of temperature. And with multi-stage reactors, the yield of biodiesel was higher than in the single-stage. The results were indicated that liquid lipase TL IM was better than the other lipases. And the molar ratio of methanol to oil was 4:1, reaction temperature 45℃, amount of lipase 25wt%. The yield of biodiesel under the conditions was 70.2%.Finally, glycerolysis of triacylglycerols (TAG) with lipase in the fiber reactor was studied. The optimal reaction parameters were determined as follows:the molar ratio of glycerol and TAG was 5:1,10wt% of lipase and 50℃of temperature. Under the reaction parameters, the yield of monoglyceride and diglyceride were separately 5.3% and 20.1%.