Thermodynamic Analysis of Transesterification of Palm Oil to Biodiesel

• Main Author: Nur Fathanah binti Norhayalim, Nur Fathanah
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2010
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1372/1/NUR_FATHANAH_NORHAYALIM_8583.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/1372/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

This project is concerning the thermodynamic analysis on the transesterification of palm oil to Biodiesel. Eventhough the chemical process for Biodiesel production have been worldwide used, the computation of phase and chemical equilibrium involve in the reaction is still lacking. Therefore this project will analyze the product composition of the transesterification reaction when it is in equilibrium. Equilibrium state is very important as at this state, the measurable properties of the system do no undergo any noticeable changes under a particular set of condition. The maximum allowable conversion of the ester will also be calculated by manipulation of reactant ratio, different operating temperature and type of alcohol (methanol/ethanol). The method used to calculate the equilibrium composition is stoichiometric method. In this method, the palm oil or specifically Triolein and glycerol will be assumed in pure liquid phase meanwhile alcohol and ester will be in solution phase. The activity coefficient is estimated using UNIFAC Group Contribution method. There are also some of the properties like Gibbs free energy of formation and enthalpy of formation that is estimated using properties estimation method, the Joback and Constantinou and Gani method. From the results, it can be concluded that when the reactant ratio is increased, the equilibrium concentration for the ester increase. The proposed ratio of alcohol to triolein ratio would be 5:1. As for manipulation of operating temperature, for methyl oleate system when temperature increase conversion will also increase and for ethyl oleate conversion is decrease when temperature is increased. When different type of alcohol is used, methanol gives much higher conversion compared to ethanol. This is expected as methanol has more advantages in term of physical and chemical properties.