WO2008008042A1

WO2008008042A1 - Biofuel(s)

Info

Publication number: WO2008008042A1
Application number: PCT/SG2006/000339
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tatang Suhenda
Original assignee: Wje Investments Ltd
Current assignee: Wje Investments Ltd
Priority date: 2006-07-11
Filing date: 2006-11-08
Publication date: 2008-01-17
Anticipated expiration: 2009-01-11
Also published as: SG139562A1; TW200804584A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of fatty acid alkyl esters suitable for use as biofuels as alternatives or additives to currently used petroleum-base automotive or other vehicular fuels and lubricants. More particularly, this invention makes use of the naturally abundant plant oils as starting material to produce the desired biofuels. The process comprises the steps of reacting a fatty acid raw material with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a fatty acid alkyl esters and purifying the fatty acid alkyl ester obtained by washing with water and drying under vacuum.

Description

BIOFUEL(S)

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of fatty acid alkyl esters suitable for use as biofuels as alternatives or additives to currently used petroleum-base automotive or other vehicular fuels and lubricants.

[0002] More particularly, this invention makes use of the naturally abundant plant oils as starting material to produce the desired biofuels and it will be convenient to hereinafter disclose the invention in relation to that exemplary application. However, it is to be appreciated that the invention is not limited to that application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Bio fuel is an alternative fuel similar to conventional or "fossil" fuel.

Commerical biofuels are commonly known as "biodieseF' for diesel fuel and "ethand" for gasoline.

[0004] Biodiesel has many environmentally beneficial properties. The main benefit of biodiesel is that it is "carbon neutral" meaning that the fuel produces no net output of carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. Biodiesel is also rapidly biodegradable and completely non-toxic, meaning spillages represent far less of a risk than fossil diesel spillages. Thus, making it safer in the event of a crash.

[0005] Biodiesel can be produced from straight vegetable oil, animal oil/fats, tallow and waste cooking oil. The largest possible source of suitable oil comes from oil crops such as rapeseed, soybean and sunflower. In the UK, rapeseed represents the greatest potential for biodiesel production. However, these raw oils are too expensive. After the cost of converting it to biodiesel has been added on, it is simply too expensive to compete with fossil diesel. As such, most biodiesel produced at present is produced from waste vegetable oil sourced from restaurants, chip shops or industrial food producers.

[0006] The process used to convert these oils to Biodiesel is called transesterification. Almost all biodiesel is commercially produced using base catalysed transesterification. The transesterification process involves the reaction of a neutral oil with an alcohol to give esters and glycerol.

[0007] During the esterification process, the neutral oil is reacted with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst, usually a strong alkaline like sodium hydroxide. The alcohol reacts with the fatty acids to form the mono-alkyl ester, or biodiesel and crude glycerol. In most production, methanol or ethanol is the alcohol used and is based catalysed by either potassium or sodium hydroxide.

[ 0008 ] Once reaction is completed, the biodiesel and glycerin are separated by distillation. The biodiesel obtained is sometimes purified by washing gently with warm water to remove residual catalyst or soaps, dried and sent to storage. On the other hand, the glycerol needs to be further concentrated and refined to refined glycerine which economically has little added value due to its over supply than demand.

[0009] In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an improved process for the production of biodiesels in comparison to the conventional process.

[00010] This advantage as well as other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [00011] According to the present invention, there is provided a process for the production of biofuel, comprising the steps of:

(a) reacting a fatty acid raw material with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a fatty acid alkyl esters; and

(b) purifying the fatty acid alkyl ester obtained by washing with water and drying under vacuum.

[00012] In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the raw material is chosen from the group consisting of palm fatty acid, all types of fractionated palm fatty acid, all types of fractionated coconut fatty acid or palm kernel fatty acid [00013] In this embodiment, it is preferable that the process is an acid catalysed transesterfication of the oil. Unlike the conventional process, the catalyst used in the esterification process in the present invention is an acid. As can be appreciated, the use of an acid catalyst allows for a continuous acid catalysed reaction process for the production of ester and water as a byproduct. The water obtained can then be discarded and the ester being water washed and dried to yield the biofuel. As previously noted, the use of base catalysed transesterification reaction of the neutral oil results in the production of glycerol as a side product which needs to be further processed before it can be discarded and which economically has little added value. [00014] Further, there is also provided a biofuel obtained from the aforementioned process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[00015] The present invention will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which illustrates one particular preferred embodiment of the present invention, wherein:

[00016] FIG. I is a block diagram illustrating one exemplary process for obtaining biofuel from a continuous acid catalysed reaction with an alcohol group incorporating one preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[00017] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be understood, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process operations have not been described in detail to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

[00018] The process of the present invention is particularly suitable for the production of biofuel from palm fatty acid, all types of fractionated palm or coconut fatty acid or palm kernel fatty acid. The illustrated process comprises an acidic catalysed transesterification of the fatty acid.

[00019] Referring to the process illustrated in Fig. 1, the fatty acid raw material 12, in this case palm fatty acid, all types of fractionated palm or coconut fatty acid or palm kernel fatty acid, is first fed into a closed reaction tank 100 equipped with an agitator 102 and heat jacket 104 where it is reacted with an alcohol 16 in the presence of a catalyst 14 wherein esterification occurs. Preferably methanol is used as the alcohol and sulfuric acid is used as the catalyst. The end products obtained are ester 22 and water 24. [00020] Once the reaction is completed, the water 24 obtained is discarded and the ester 22 is purified by washing with clean water 26 in a purifying tank 200 to yield the washed ester 32, and drying under vacuum in a drying tank 300, to yield the dried ester 42, which is the biofuel.

[00021] In the illustrated process, the introduction of the raw materials into the agitation tank, the temperature of the alcohol, the temperature of the water for the washing of the tempered ester and the pressure are measured and monitored either manually, full automatic or a combination of both.

[00022] As can be appreciated from the preceding description of the process, the side product obtained in this invention is water which can be discarded easily. On the other hand, under the conventional base catalysed transesterification reaction process, the side product obtained is glycerol which needs to be further processed before it can be discarded. As mentioned previously, the refined glycerin has economically little added value due to its over supply than demand.

[00023] With the process of the present invention, the rate of obtaining biofuel is typically shorter compared to the conventional process, allowing for more oil to be processed daily, thus, increasing the overall plant capacity.

[00024] Due to the simplicity of this modified process, the process of the present invention can be applicable to all kinds of plant oils without any significant problems. In addition, the biofuel may be obtained by either a batch process or a continuous process. [ 00025 ] Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention. It is understood that the present invention includes all such variations and modifications which fall within the spirit and scope. [00026] Furthermore, certain terminology has been used for the purposes of descriptive clarity, and not to limit the present invention. The embodiments and preferred features described above should be considered exemplary, with the invention being defined by the appended claims.

[00027] Throughout the description and claims of the specification the word "comprise" and variation of the word, such as "comprising" and "comprises", is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A process for the production of biofuel, comprising the steps of:- (a) reacting a fatty acid raw material with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst to obtain a fatty acid alkyl ester;

(b) purifying the fatty acid alkyl ester; and

(c) drying the fatty acid alkyl ester to obtain the biofuel.

2. A process as claimed in claim I, wherein the fatty acid raw material is selected from the group consisting of palm fatty acid, fractionated palm fatty acid, fractionated coconut fatty acid and palm kernel fatty acid.

3. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alcohol is methanol.

4. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the catalyst is an acid.

5. A process as claimed in claim 4, wherein the acid is a sulfuric acid.

6. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the process is operated manually, automatically or a combination thereof.

7. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the biofuel is obtained by a batch system.

8. A process as claimed in claim I, wherein the biofuel is obtained by a continuous system.

9. A biofuel produced by a process as claimed in claim I.