Intensification of Continuous Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oils Using Shockwave Power Reactor: Process Evaluation and Optimization through Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Abstract

This research aims to develop an optimal continuous process to produce fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) from waste cooking oil using a series of shockwave power reactors. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) was used to design the experiment and to analyze five operating parameters: ratio of rotor diameter to stator diameter (Dr/Ds), ratio of cavity diameter to rotor diameter (Dc/Dr), ratio of cavity depth to gap between rotor and stator (dc/∆r), rotational speed of rotor (N), and Residence time (Tr). The optimum conditions were determined to be Dr/Ds = 0.73, Dc/Dr = 0.06, dc/∆r = 0.50, 25,510.55 rpm rotational speed of rotor, and 30.10 s residence times under this condition. Regarding the results, the most important parameter in shockwave power reactor (SPR) reactors was ratio of rotor diameter to stator diameter (Dr/Ds). The optimum predicted and actual FAME yield was 98.53% and 96.62%, respectively, which demonstrates that RSM is a reliable method for modeling the current procedure.

Keywords

• biodiesel
• process intensification
• response surface methodology
• shockwave power reactor
• waste cooking oil