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Combined Enabling Technologies for Biodiesel Production in Flow Processes

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Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave

Part of the book series: Biofuels and Biorefineries ((BIOBIO,volume 3))

Abstract

Alternative energy sources and fuels have been investigated to indemnify the higher demand of natural fuels that requires very long time for their formation. In the last 40 years several renewable energy sources have been developed. In this context biodiesel play an important role because its high heating values nearly equivalent to diesel fuels and its low environmental impact. The sustainability of the process is strongly related to the type of oil source and to the overall energy consumption. The aim of this chapter is to highlight the synergistic effects on process efficiency by combining different activation techniques such as microwaves , ultrasound , hydrodynamic cavitation and high-shear mixing . A big effort has been done in the search of new highly efficient reactors to produce biodiesel saving time and energy. Inefficient mass transfer is one of the main limitations in biphasic heterogeneous reactions such as transesterification . Although many types of vigorous mixing have been investigated to address this requirement, most of them suffer of high energy demand. The dielectric heating has been proved to dramatically enhance transesterification reaction because the excellent heat transfer if compared with conventional methods . Thanks to an optimal mass/heat transfer a full triglycerides conversion to methyl esters can be achieved in flow reactors in a very short time either in continuous or semi-continuous mode. Moreover, in accordance with international specifications and analytical ASTM standards , very fast treatments may produce a high-quality biodiesel . The high efficiency and the low energy consumption enable an easy scale up of the process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco and NIS—Centre for Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces, University of Turin, Via P. Giuria 9, 10125, Turin, Italy

    Giancarlo Cravotto

  2. Centre of Excellence in Catalysis and Catalytic Reaction Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Issara Choedkiatsakul

Authors
  1. Giancarlo Cravotto
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  2. Issara Choedkiatsakul
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Correspondence to Giancarlo Cravotto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Ga Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China

    Zhen Fang

  2. Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

    Richard L. Smith, Jr.

  3. Nankai University, Tianjin, China

    Xinhua Qi

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Cravotto, G., Choedkiatsakul, I. (2015). Combined Enabling Technologies for Biodiesel Production in Flow Processes. In: Fang, Z., Smith, Jr., R., Qi, X. (eds) Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave. Biofuels and Biorefineries, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9612-5_3

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