Desmet Ballestra Biodiesel Technologies PDF
Desmet Ballestra Biodiesel Technologies PDF
Desmet Ballestra Biodiesel Technologies PDF
Biodiesel Technologies
#048
Desmet Ballestra : The right partner
Introduction
• Seeds cleaning/drying
• Oil degumming • Transesterification
• Glycerine purification
• Seed pressing
• Oil neutralization • Biodiesel purification
• Glycerine
• Solvent extraction
concentration
• Glycerine separation
• Meal treatment
• Glycerine distillation
• CH3OH recovery
• Oil drying
DISTILLED
CRUDE OIL REFINED OIL BIODIESEL
GLYCERINE
OPERATING
PRINCIPLES
How does it operate? High yields High Quality Glycerine
The Biodiesel production section, The yield of the continuous Partially refined glycerine can be
namely the Transesterification of transesterification is 99,8% cal- delivered as such or sent to the
Oils and the Biodiesel Purification culated as ratio of Neutral / Re- upgrading-distillation section up
step are characterised by unique fined Oil fed to the transesteri- to pharmaceutical grade meeting
features that with reference to the fication versus the produced the most stringent pharmacopea
illustrated Process Block Dia- Biodiesel specifications.
gram, are here below described:
At the end of the transesteri-
fication process, two phases are
The transesterification reaction is
accurately separated.
accomplished in 3 steps with a
methanol surplus with respect to
Purification of the upper
the stoichiometric quantity, using
methylester phase involves sepa-
an alkali methylate in anhydrous
ration of unreacted methanol,
methanol solution as a catalyst.
washing with water solutions and
final drying.
Methanol and catalyst are dosed
and recycled to the 3 reaction Purification of the lower glycer-
steps within prefixed rates. ine phase involves: neutralisa-
tion, separation of unreacted
Reaction temperatures are lower methanol, dilution with wash liq-
than 60°C and pressure is max uid stream coming from
0,5 bar(g). Overall residence time methylester washing, splitting of
of the whole plant is 2 hours soaps and final concentration up
approx. to 88 - 90%.
Multistep
CH3OH Recovery
Transesterification
ME/Glycerine
CH3OH Stripping
Separation
Glycerine -phase ME-phase
Methylester
CH3OH Stripping
Washing
Glycerine
Wet CH3OH Concentrat./Distillation
GLYCERINE BIODIESEL
MAIN
ADVANTAGES
These operations are performed When accounting for the kinetics As for the plant safety manage-
by means of process sequence aspects of the transesterification ment, the reduced reaction vol-
and equipment characterised by: reaction, a continuous process umes imply that much lower
shows peculiar advantages with methanol amounts are present at
· Mild operating conditions respect to the traditional batch any time in the process sections,
process, as herebelow detailed: which greatly reduces the fire
· Completely Computerised hazard.
Process Control System The initial step of the reaction
consists in the solvation of the oil A further feature, unique to the
· Simple mechanical design of molecules by the excess reactant Ballestra continuous process, re-
the process equipment and (methanol); this step is slow, due sides in the dedicated reactors
negligible maintenance de- to the scarce affinity between the design, which allows the continu-
mand two reactants and is accelerated ous separation of the glycerine
by the presence of methylester phase from the reaction mixture
· Small overall dimensions of that, being a mutual solvent, acts within each of the three reaction
the Units and equipment as a “phase transfer agent”. steps.
In a batch system, where no This allows shifting the reaction
In particular the Transesteri- methylester is initially present in equilibrium toward the products,
fication step entails these peculi- the reaction mixture, the so maximising the yield, and to
arities: transesterification reaction re- minimise the catalyst consump-
quires, therefore, a dwell time tion.
before appreciable amount of
· Continuous operation-mode methylester are produced.
with multiple glycerine sepa- Conversely, in a continuous proc- As for the downstream
ration for each single step ess, the two reactants are fed to Methylester purification unit, the
a reaction mixture containing the Ballestra technology foresees the
· Enhanced reactor Kinetics steady state methylester amount, following steps:
due to the “Solvation” effect and the overall kinetics is en-
of the excess Methanol vs. hanced by the resulting fast con- · Evaporation (BEFORE the
the quantity of oil to be re- tact between the two reactants. Methylester washing section)
acted of most (85% approx.) of the
An almost tenfold viscosity reduc-
unreacted methanol in dry
tion is observed when oil is con-
· Limited product hold-up form, suitable for direct re-
verted to methylester; the steady
cycle to the transesterificat-
state viscosity of a continuous
· Operation flexibility deriving ion section.
reactor is, therefore, consistently
from the possibility to dose
lower than the initial reaction mix-
the reactants to the 3 steps · Washing of the residual glyc-
ture viscosity of a batch system,
in variable and specifically erine and soaps by means of
which allows an overall higher
pre-set quantities water; the water phase leav-
mixing intensity at comparable
ing from this section is re-
mixing energy inputs.
· Possibility to process oils of cycled to the glycerine purifi-
widely variable quality and ori- The above aspects add up to the cation section
gin general advantages of a continu-
ous process (reduced equipment · Final Methylester drying; the
· Easy and accurate control of sizes at given plant capacity wet methanol stream sepa-
the process key-parameters thanks to the elimination of load- rated in this section is sent to
(temperatures pressures and ing/unloading dead times, re- a rectification unit, in order to
flow rates) duced energy and utilities con- recover it to the transesterifi-
sumption, easier automation of cation section.
process control, higher product
quality uniformity), making it al-
most a must, once the econom-
ics of a commercial scale plant
are accounted for.
KEY-FEATURES of BIODIESEL PRODUCTION
1)Continuous MultistepTransesterification of oils with multiple glycerine separation
4)Equipment of simple mechanical design, with high efficiency and negligible maintenance
KEY-FEATURES of TRANSESTERIFICATION
1)Small overall dimensions of process unit and equipment
6)Enhanced reaction kinetic thanks to “solvation” effect of excess CH3OH versus oil to be reacted.
B.L.
1B
Soapstock @ Water
40% Dry matter Process water 4
TOTAL OIL
Dry Oil Dry U.F.O.
1002 Kg
5
CITRIC ACID
Crude Glycerine GLYCERINE
SOLUTION SEPARATION Fatty Acid
TREATMENT
PREPARATION
METHANOL
FINAL FLASH
Wet Methanol DISTILLATION Dry Methanol
Water
1000 Kg 116,87 Kg
Biodiesel Glycerine @ 88 %
Water
Dry Methanol
Waste Water
(max. 0,1% of Methanol)
B.L. B.L.
UK
SPAIN
CHINA
USA
MEXICO INDIA
COLOMBIA MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE
BRAZIL
ARGENTINA
UAE
www.desmetballestraoleo.com