Biodiesel production from waste vegetable oil using a supercritical reactor and hydrocyclone separator

生物柴油是一种替代燃料，来源于可再生的国内资源，如植物油和动物油脂。它是一种更清洁的燃烧，减少了废气排放，并且由于其可再生的生物来源，对大气二氧化碳（温室气体）的贡献更少。此外，生物柴油是可生物降解和无毒的，使其适合在敏感环境中的运输应用。不幸的是，生物柴油原料（初榨植物油）的高成本是其大规模商业化的主要障碍。此外，在与全球食品生产竞争的过程中，用初榨油生产生物柴油对环境和社会都有影响。另一方面，废弃食用油可以使生物柴油生产摆脱这个问题。在传统的生物柴油生产方法中，由于废食用油中水分和游离脂肪酸含量较高，需要进行大量的预处理。然而，超临界甲醇方法已被证明可以容忍原料中的水和游离脂肪酸。本文提出在连续运行的流管反应器中研究超临界甲醇与废食用油的反应。此外，我们建议将超临界反应器与CANMET水力旋流器集成，以分离产品，即生物柴油和甘油。这种低成本和节能的分离方法与管式反应器相结合，有望将废物流转化为可再生能源。在加拿大的冬季，特别值得关注的是从废食用油中提取的生物柴油的冷流动性差。警方还将对该物业进行调查。

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel, derived from renewable, domestic resources such as vegetable oil and animal tallow. It is cleaner burning with reduced exhaust emissions and due to its renewable biological source, contributes less to atmospheric carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas). Additionally, biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic, making it suitable for transportation applications in sensitive environments. Unfortunately, the high cost of biodiesel feedstock (virgin vegetable oil) is a major impediment to its large-scale commercialization. Furthermore, there are environmental and social implications of producing biodiesel from virgin oil as it competes with the global production of food. Waste cooking oil, on the other hand, could free biodiesel production of this problem. With traditional biodiesel production methods, waste cooking oil requires extensive pre-treatment due to its high water and free fatty acid content. However, the supercritical methanol method has been shown to tolerate water and free fatty acids in the feedstock. We propose to examine the supercritical methanol reaction with waste cooking oil in a flow tube reactor for continuous operation. Furthermore, we propose the integration of the supercritical reactor with the CANMET hydrocyclone to separate the products, i.e., biodiesel and glycerol. This cost and energy efficient method of separation combined with the tubular reactor holds promise for the conversion of a waste stream into a renewable energy source. Of particular concern during the Canadian winter is the poor cold flow properties of biodiesel derived from wastecooking oil. Investigation into this property will also be conducted.