Reserach Poster: The use of solar energy in the Biodiesel Industry as a sustainable alternative for the glycerin purification process
- 1. Abstract The production of biofuels from agricultural sources has significantly increased, triggered by the high costs of petroleum based fuels. This paper presents an eco-friendly alternative to the traditional processes of purifying glycerin, a waste product which results from the biofuels manufacturing. Because glycerin is a key component for making many other products, if purified, it can represent a second source of profit for the biodiesel producers. Glycerin purification processes are sophisticated, expensive and require considerable amounts of energy that impact the environment. In the mentioned purification process, methanol is separated from the glycerin by means of a distillation process. For this purpose, a solar based distillation system was designed, built and tested with glycerin-methanol mixtures. Densities of these mixtures were calculated and a calibration curve was constructed; and used to determine the purity of the resulting glycerin. The aforementioned distillation system was capable of yielding 80% glycerin, which is considered an acceptable concentration for further use of this compound. Objective • Establish a successful operation of a solar energy system, as a sustainable alternative in the demethanolization procedure for the Glycerin purification process. • Obtain a minimum of 80% of purity in the resulting glycerin. Introduction • Biodiesel is a vegetable and animal fat based fuel. It can be produced from renewable sources, such as vegetable and animal oils, as well as from wastes, such as used cooking oil. It is used in small vehicles as well as for diesel-powered machines. • Due to high cost of petroleum based fuels, an increase in the demand for biofuels and other types of energy sources (i.e. Solar, Eolic) has been reported. • Biodiesel Process - Biodiesel is created by the chemical conversion of animal fats or vegetable oils by a process called transesterification. This process generates by-products which become waste and potential contaminants to the environment. One of these wastes is the glycerin, a polyol compound formed with three hydroxyl groups. • Glycerin is a useful substance to obtain a variety of pharmaceutical products, food products, botanical extracts, chemical intermediate products, and many others. • The conventional glycerin purification procedure consist in three basic steps: separating with phosphoric acid the crude glycerin in its three main components, decant the residual phases, and demethanolize the final sample to obtain an acceptable purity of a minimum of 80% • Throughout this investigation a green alternative to the glycerin purification process was designed and presented, focusing on the implementation of a solar system for the distillation of methanol from a glycerin/methanol mixture to yield purified glycerin as a final step. Methodology Results • Using the equations 𝑄 = 𝑚 𝐶𝑝 ∆𝑇 and 𝑄 = 𝑚 𝐶𝑝 ∆𝑇 +𝑚 ∆𝐻, respectively, it was found that the solar collector system designed and built generates 131.23kJ of heat. Whereas for the 50:50 concentration glycerin and methanol mixture the theoretical heat required to evaporate the methanol is 29.129 kJ • After establishing a density calibration curve with different glycerin and methanol concentrations, the standard 50:50 glycerin and methanol sample, resulted with a higher density, after being exposed through the solar system for one hour. This evidences the evaporation of methanol. • Subsequently, glycerin samples obtained form the biodiesel process, were submitted to the solar system, obtaining results of approximately 96% of purity in the resultant glycerin sample. Conclusion • The research hypothesis is accepted. • A solar collector distillation system can be used in the demethanolization process of purifying crude glycerin. • As a result, an 80% minimum of purity is obtained in the resulting glycerin. Future Work • Increase the efficiency in the solar collector system by alternating the materials used for this experiment. • Calculate the system’s capability requirements in order to apply this method to major capacity scales. References • "Glycerin." : Journey to Forever. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2013. http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_glycerin.html • “Glycerin as an alternative” N.p., n.d. Web. https://data.epo.org/publication-server/rest/v1.0/publicationdates/20110316/patents/EP2295394NWA1/document.pdf • "Glycerin Purification." Glycerin Purification. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2013. - http://www.eetcorp.com/heepm/glycerine.hm • "An Innovation in Glycerin Purification." Biodiesel Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2013. http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/2388/an-innovation-inglycerin-purification Acknowledgements - Prof. Olga Cordero – Prof. Omar Martínez: Research Mentors - Dr. Juan Arratia: Executive Director AGMUS Student Research Development Center - Universidad Metropolitana Staff - Environmental Engineering Enterprises