EVALUACIÓN DEL PROCESO DE PRODUCCIÓN DE BIODIESEL MEDIANTE SEPARADORES DE MEMBRANA

Abstract

The objective of this work was to technically evaluate an alternative for the production of biodiesel from spelt oil by means of a ceramic membrane filtration system using the Aspen hysys® process simulator. An experimental design was used to study the influence of the alcohol/oil molar ratio, catalyst weight concentration and temperature over the methyl-ricinoleate content in the biodiesel obtained and overall energy consumption. The membrane separation process compared to the traditional distillation process proved to be technically efficient under the variables 3:1 molar ratio, NaOH concentration and temperature of 0.5% and 40°C respectively, in terms of energy costs and quality of the biodiesel obtained: density of 938.5 Kg/m3, kinematic viscosity of 1,365 cSt, calorific value of 39.65 Mj/kg, and cetane number of 40,47. These results show that the proposed refining method is highly promising in the biodiesel production process.

Keywords

• simulation
• castor oil
• biodiesel production
• ceramic membrane