Simulation and validation of biodiesel production in Liquid-Liquid Film Reactors integrated with PES hollow fibers membranes

Biodiesel production in Liquid-Liquid Film Reactors integrated with Poly (ether sulfone) hollow fiber membranes (LLFRM) has been investigated to increase mass transfer without dispersion between the ester-rich and alcohol-rich phases and to remove simultaneously the glycerol produced in the transesterification reaction. In this work, a mathematical model of biodiesel production in an LLFRM was developed, correlated and validated with experiments a bench scale. A sensitivity analysis was performed to understand the membrane reactor behavior. The proposed mathematical model described adequately the experimental data. The increase in methanol ratio improved the conversion, yield, and productivity because it increases the methanol content in the oil phase augmenting the reaction rate. The increase in the reactor length or the reduction in the flow rate increases the final biodiesel content. The membrane presence in the LLFR (Liquid-Liquid Film Reactor) did not change the biodiesel content in the final product, but remove all the alcoholic-rich phase inside the reactor increasing the final productivity. Methanol to oil molar ratio (9: 1) and 33% of the total methanol fed to the third reaction zone was enough to achieve a complete oil conversion to biodiesel in one reaction stage. The highest conversion and yield obtained experimentally were 99.7% and 99.3% respectively with a productivity of 3.5 m(3) Biodiesel m(-3)h(-1). This value resulted 10 times higher than the typical CSTR operation.