UTHM Biodiesel Pilot Plant Development: 1 Winardi@uthm - Edu.my
UTHM Biodiesel Pilot Plant Development: 1 Winardi@uthm - Edu.my
UTHM Biodiesel Pilot Plant Development: 1 Winardi@uthm - Edu.my
Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
1 winardi@uthm.edu.my
2
khalid@uthm.edu.my
Abstract:
Biodiesel is an environmental friendly, alternative fuel prepared from domestic resources such as
palm oil and jatropha curcas that can be used in normal diesel engine cars and buses without any
engine modification. It can be used either in the pure form (B100) or as blends on conventional
diesel engines and it is biodegradable.
.
UTHM being in the state of Johor, where oil palm is in abundance, has embarked on a project to
develop a crude palm oil (CPO) based Biodiesel pilot plant for research purposes. This pilot plant
will produce 1 MT fuel grade biodiesel per batch with a feed stock of CPO under presence of
catalysts.
This paper describes the chronological phases in the UTHM pilot plant development starting
from the project initiation to its current implementation stage. The experience shared in this paper
would be beneficial for other developers to emulate.
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
ignite. It is used to assess the overall The pilot plant design is modular –
flammability hazard of the material. Flash one module for CPO pretreatment which
point is used in safety regulations to define converts CPO into Bleach Palm Oil (BPO),
flammable and combustible materials. the second one for refining and separating
Biodiesel would be considered significantly which converts and process the BPO into the
safer with higher temperature. The sulfur end product of biodiesel that meets EN
content of biodiesel is very low and it 14214 fuel specifications. The Block Flow
reduces significantly particulate emissions in Diagram (BFD) of the biodiesel production
comparison with normal diesel. used in this project is depicted in Figure 2.
According to EN 14214 or ASTM In the pretreatment module, the process
D6751 there are 26 parameters of standard begins with degumming when the CPO is
specification for biodiesel fuel oils. treated with phosphoric acid to remove the
natural gums, and followed by bleaching
3. Processes of Biodiesel Production with activated earth under vacuum to
remove the coloring matters as well as to
Converting the feedstock of CPO adsorbs any metal ions content. Other
into fuel grade biodiesel will be performed impurities such as dirt and solid particles are
in a pilot plant with a capacity of 1 MT per removed using a bleaching earth filter. The
batch. The batch process has been selected objective of the pretreatment section is to
for operational flexibility of equipment, the prepare the raw materials quality to be fit for
possibility of a variety of raw materials as the second module. The product of this
well as the plant retrofit for future module is the refined bleached palm oil
development. (BPO).
The subsequent process is
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
The final site location has been then process flow diagram, the piping and
recommended by the civil engineering team instrumentation diagram, plant layout,
for a new building that is isolated with other equipment list, utility distribution, process
laboratories and the pilot plant will be engineering data, electrical equipment list,
installed near to the university waste water data sheet for control equipment and
treatment pool. instrumentation, and the maximum load
distribution. The process flow diagram is
4.2 Basic engineering extracted from the block flow diagram as
explained in section 3. This diagram
With a new building for the pilot contains the bulk of input and output
plant, a significant change in spaces for streams necessary for the design of the
process area and utility has caused the process engineering. The Piping and
change in the plant layout and the utility Instrumentation Diagram (P & ID) or
arrangement along with the budget and the mechanical flow diagram describes the
project schedule. Activities in the basic whole plant in detail It contains all essential
engineering phase remains the same except information including:
an adaption in piping and and plant layout.
The current stage of the project is in the • Operating data and dimensions of
development of the basic engineering that is equipment including the bleaching
described below. vessel, the reactors, the filters, the
Basic engineering includes the degumming vessel, methanol
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2
recovery.
• Design data for pumps, data on Furthermore, with a production
insulation and heating of equipment capacity of 1 MT per batch, the biodiesel
as well as piping. product can be utilized as fuel for university
• Codes for fittings and equipment buses, trucks, and process heating such as
nozzles boilers.
• Detailed information on electrical
and dedicated control systems 5. Summary
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Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008), 21– 23 May 2008, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
© Faculty of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Malaysia.
ISBN: 97–98 –2963–59–2