Biodiesel Reactor

Madison Area Technical College today dedicated its new biodiesel reactor, built in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to produce motor fuel blended from waste vegetable oil and methanol. The reactor will be used to educate MATC students in the production, use and quality control of biodiesel fuels and the maintenance of biodiesel-fueled engines and vehicles. At a news conference and dedication ceremony at MATC’s Truax location in Madison, students and faculty from the two colleges demonstrated how the reactor purifies cooking oil recovered from a restaurant’s deep fryer and blends it into a fuel that can operate a diesel-powered vehicle without engine modifications. A semi truck running on biodiesel fuel was then driven through a ceremonial banner, officially dedicating the reactor. UW-Madison engineering students designed and built the laboratory-scale reactor at the request of MATC’s Diesel Equipment Technology associate degree program.“The goal is for students to synthesize and study various biodiesel fuel blends,” stated project director Ken Walz, an MATC chemistry instructor. ldquo;The reactor will allow students to experiment with different feedstocks, catalysts, and processing temperatures to optimize biodiesel production.

Other articles:
Biodiesel Technology - Biodiesel USA

In a professional biodiesel plant, NM30 catalyst (or methoxide), methyl alcohol and oil are pumped through a heat exchanger using three continuous dosage pumps, the mixture is heated to 75'C in a pressurized ultrasonic reactor at 200kPa. With a flow rate of 200l/hr the biodiesel mixture resides 15 minutes in a 50l tank after which it is released in a pressureless evaporation container where it flashes in methanol vapour and transesterified but not yet separated methylester and glycerol liquid. This mixture is then being separated using a high speed separator, after which the glycerine is neutralized and the biodiesel purified in a double Polarix resin tube. The evaporated methanol is guided back into the methanol tank.

The lower layer of the process is composed primarily of glycerine and other waste products. The top layer, a mixture of biodiesel and alcohol, is decanted. The excess alcohol can be distilled off, or it can be extracted with water. If the latter, the biodiesel should be dried by distillation or with a drying agent.