Internal mass-transfer limitations on the transesterification of coconut oil using an anionic ion exchange resin in a packed bed reactor
College
Gokongwei College of Engineering
Department/Unit
Chemical Engineering
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Source Title
Catalysis Today
Volume
174
Issue
1
First Page
54
Last Page
58
Publication Date
10-2-2011
Abstract
In this study, a strongly basic anion-exchange resin was used for the transesterification of coconut oil and methanol using a continuous-flow packed-bed reactor. Statistical analysis shows that the observed conversion and apparent bulk reaction rate are insensitive to temperature. This suggests that mass transfer is the rate-determining step. Analysis of the Wagner-Weisz-Wheeler (WWW) modulus shows that the observed reaction rate is strongly influenced by internal mass-transfer resistances (WWW > 4) under most of the experimental conditions used. However, in some tests, the overall reaction rate can be said to be in the transition regime between reaction control and internal mass-transfer control (0.15 < WWW < 4). Extended continuous flow experiments showed no noticeable decline in the catalyst activity even after almost 400 reactor bed void volumes of biodiesel had been produced. These results suggest that the catalyst and thus the overall reactor performance may be further improved by increasing the porosity. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Digitial Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1016/j.cattod.2011.02.065
Recommended Citation
Co, C. T., Tan, M. C., Diamante, J. R., Yan, L. C., Tan, R. R., & Razon, L. F. (2011). Internal mass-transfer limitations on the transesterification of coconut oil using an anionic ion exchange resin in a packed bed reactor. Catalysis Today, 174 (1), 54-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2011.02.065
Disciplines
Chemical Engineering
Keywords
Biodiesel fuels; Transesterification; Coconut oil as fuel; Ion exchange resins
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