Modeling and Simulation of pervaporation membrane reactor during levulinic acid esterification process with ethanol to produce ethyl levulinate: computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis

Abstract

In the present study, the performance of the pervaporation membrane reactor during the esterification reaction of levulinic acid with ethanol to produce ethyl levulinate was modeled based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Global warming due to the greenhouse effect is now recognized as an important environmental issue. Important factors in the greenhouse effect are the production of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide, which are produced after the combustion of fuel. Therefore, one of the solutions to solve this problem is a biomass-based additive that leads to better performance of the fuel during combustion and prevents the production of these gases in the atmosphere. Therefore, a symmetric two-dimensional model is provided for the pervaporation membrane reactor (PVMR). In this regard, after modeling and simulating the performance of a fixed bed reactor and comparing its results with laboratory data, it was observed that a good agreement (1% error) was obtained between the theoretical and laboratory results. In order to better understanding of the efficiency of the pervaporation membrane reactor during the esterification reaction, the effect of different operating parameters (reaction temperature, feed flow rate, feed molar ratio and catalyst loading) on the levulinic acid conversion and water removal percentages have been investigated. As a general result in all operating conditions, the pervaporation membrane reactor has performed better than a conventional fixed bed (TR) reactor.

Keywords

• modeling and simulation
• pervaporation membrane reactor
• levulinic acid
• ethyl levulinate