Biodiesel Production from Different Feedstocks in Pilot Scale System

In this study, the preparations of biodiesel from three different feedstocks, including rapeseed oil, high acidified Chinese wood oil and trap grease, were carried out in a pilot scale of 200 t yr-1 biodiesel production system. The optimum operating conditions for transesterification of rapeseed oil in plug flow reactor were found to be as follows: the catalyst dosage is 1.2 wt%; the retention time is about 17 min; the bed temperature is 65oC; the oil/methanol ratio is 1:6; the content of methyl ester is 96.33% under these conditions. A kind of ion exchange resin, a solid acid catalyst, filled in the fixed bed reactor was used as the esterification catalyst for the pretreating of high acidified oil. The acid value of Chinese wood oil could be reduced from 7 to 0.8 mg KOH·g-1 after 88 min, the optimum operating conditions were obtained as follow: molar ratio of methanol to oil is about 6:1 , the temperature of the fixed bed, 65oC and the retention time, about 88 min. Also a kind of acidified oil, namely trap grease, with the acid value being 114 mg KOH·g-1 could be equally converted to a good biodiesel product through this system. Generally, the refined biodiesel product generated through this system could meet China #0 Biodiesel Standard, as well as Germany Biodiesel Standard for most indexes. It indicates that the designed process in this system has a good adaptability for different kinds of oil.