Process Intensification Of Biodiesel Production From Algae Using Foam Flotation Column

This book is among the first to address the novel process intensification technologies for biodiesel production, in particular the integrated reactive separations. It provides a comprehensive overview illustrated with many industrially relevant examples of novel reactive separation processes used in the production of biodiesel (e.g. fatty acid alkyl esters): reactive distillation, reactive absorption, reactive extraction, membrane reactors, and centrifugal contact separators. Readers will also learn about the working principles, design and control of integrated processes, while also getting a relevant and modern overview of the process intensification opportunities for biodiesel synthesis. Biodiesel is a biodegradable and renewable fuel that currently enjoys much attention. In spite of the recent advances, the existing biodiesel processes still suffer from problems associated with the use of homogeneous catalysts (e.g. salt waste streams) and the key limitations imposed by the chemical reaction equilibrium, thus leading to severe economic and environmental penalties. The integration of reaction and separation into one operating unit overcomes equilibrium limitations and provides key benefits such as low capital investment and operating costs. Many of these processes can be further enhanced by heat-integration and powered by heterogeneous catalysts, to eliminate all conventional catalyst related operations, using the raw materials efficiently and the reaction volume, while offering high conversion and selectivity, and significant energy savings. The targeted audience of this book includes both academia (students and researchers) and industry (project leaders, technology managers, researchers, biodiesel producers, and equipment suppliers).

Extensive effort is being made globally to develop various biofuels as an inexhaustible and renewable energy source. Biofuels are viewed as promising alternatives to conventional fossil fuels because they have the potential to eliminate major environmental problems such as global warming and climate change created by fossil fuels. Among the still-developing biofuel technologies, biodiesel production from algae offers a good prospect for large-scale practical use, considering the fact that algae are capable of producing much more yield than other biofuels such as corn and soybean crops. Although research on algae-based biofuel is still in its developing stage, extensive work on laboratory- and pilot-scale algae-harvesting systems with promising prospects has been reported. This chapter presents a discussion of the literature review of recent advances in algal biomass harvesting. The chapter focuses on stability and separability of algae and algae-harvesting methods. Challenges and prospects of algae harvesting are also outlined. The review aims to provide useful information for future development of efficient and commercially viable algal biodiesel production.

Environment concerns related to the use of fossil fuels are reflected in proposals for new conversion technologies to produce biofuels from biomass. The biofuels produced in this context have the same characteristics as petroleum derivatives, however, with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and with no sulfur in their molecular structures. In this context, a reactive distillation (RD) column was designed, constructed, installed, and operated using process intensification principles. It was applied in the production of biodiesel, using residual frying oil as the raw material, by the transesterification reaction, in a continuous regime. The process started with alcohol in excess in the reboiler, located in the bottom of the RD, which was heated through the combustion of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to produce ethanol vapor, which was recirculated in the column until stabilization. In this stage, the reagents were inserted into the feed tanks. Thus, the tank valves were opened for each reactant. The reaction products were recovered during the experiment from the bottom of the column and they were distilled to obtain two phases, biodiesel and glycerol. The results obtained from this study show that the use of an RD column can produce biodiesel in a continuous regime.

3rd Generation Biofuels: Disruptive Technologies to Enable Commercial Production is a comprehensive volume on all aspects of algal biofuels, offering the latest advances on commercial implementation. In addition to the fundamentals, the book discusses all applied aspects of 3rd generation biofuels production, including design approaches, unit operations of the upstream and downstream biomass processing, and every potential microalgae-based energy product, including microbial fuel cells. Policy, economic, environmental, and regulatory issues are addressed in a dedicated section. Finally, the book presents pilot and demonstration-scale projects for 3rd generation biofuels production in the format of a white paper. Each chapter reviews the state of the art, discusses the disruptive technological approaches that will potentially enable large-scale production, and concludes with specific recommendations on how to achieve commercial competitiveness. The book provides readers with an invaluable reference for researchers, graduates, and practitioners working in the areas of renewable energy, bioenergy and alternative fuels, and biotechnology. Offers a sequential framework for the design of process plants using 3rd generation feedstock Presents dedicated sections on case studies at pilot and demonstration scales as well as on policy, economic, and environmental issues Provides a global perspective on biofuels production, with more than 40 contributions from world-renouned experts

Resource-efficient technologies are essential for economically viable biodiesel production. This work focuses on conversion of microalgal lipids and vegetable oils into fatty acid alkyl esters or biodiesel. Transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) and extractive-transesterification of wet microalgal biomass were investigated using microwave and ultrasound irradiations through several process parametric evaluation studies to elucidate the effects of different alcohols and catalyst types (homogeneous and heterogeneous), reaction time, and reaction temperatures. First, a brief overview of process steps involved in microalgal biodiesel production and associated energy consumption and research needs were discussed. Next, energy analysis of microalgal biocrude production via extractive-transesterification under microwave and ultrasound irradiations (individually) was performed. Then, the synergistic effect of microwave and ultrasound irradiations on extractivetransesterification of microalgal lipids was evaluated through a process optimization study using response surface methodology to determine the best process conditions. For this study, a maximum biocrude conversion of 51.2% was obtained when 20 g of algal paste was treated with 30 mL methanol, 1 wt.% catalyst, 7 min reaction time, and 140 W for MW and US (280 W total). Further, biocrude yield kinetics study revealed that the activation energy for this reaction was around 17, 298 J mol-1 K-1. A series of experimental studies were conducted to understand the roles and effects of various process related conditions including the power output and power density of microwave and ultrasound irradiations in biodiesel production. The two nonconventional heating techniques were compared for their process intensification effects. Ultrasound was applied either in continuous or pulse mode. Pulse sonication was found to be more suitable for simple transesterification reaction of WCO with a 98% biodiesel yield in 2.5 min (9:1 methanol to oil ratio, 1.25% catalyst, and 150 W power output) over 82% yield for continuous sonication under the same conditions. Followed by this, a detailed study was conducted to determine optimum pulse (ON and OFF time) sonication conditions. A 99% conversion yield was obtained for a pulse ON-OFF combination of 7s- 2s. Additionally, the effect of different alcohols (ethanol, methanol, and ethanol-methanol mixtures) using pulse sonication was evaluated.