Effect of mass transfer rate on biodiesel production process

This paper presents a new approach to investigate the kinetics of sunflower oil methanolysis in the presence of potassium hydroxide. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the methanolysis reaction, it is affected by different physical and chemical properties such as temperature, mass transfercoefficients, partition coefficients, specific surface area of dispersed phase, and interfacial tension. Considering these parameters, a model was developed; then the model was evaluated by comparing the results with the experimental data in the literature. Afterwards, the results were used to predict the effects of turbulence on the biodiesel conversion. According to the results, at the beginning of the process, the mixing speed is more important. Thus, by employing the optimal mixing speed profiles, the energy cost is minimized as well as the biodiesel conversion is increased.