Continuous Production of Biodiesel from Soybean Oil Using Supercritical Methanol in a Vertical Tubular Reactor：I.Phase Holdup and Distribution of Intermediate Product along the Axial Direction

Production of biodiesel with supercritical methanol is a green synthesis process.A study was carried out in a vertical tubular reactor with a length of 3700 mm and a diameter of 20 mm at 275-375°C,15 MPa,and molar ratio of methanol to soybean oil of 40︰1.The phase holdup,intermediate product,yield and axial distribution of methyl ester(ME) were investigated.Methanol and oil were mixed non-uniformly due to the formation of biodiesel and difference in their densities,even when the reaction system was in the supercritical state.From top to bottom,the phase holdup of methanol increased and that of oil decreased.As temperature increased,the concentrations of monoglyceride and diglyceride decreased gradually and the ME yield increased.When the temperature reached 300°C,the critical temperature of the system,the ME yield was 50%.Further increase in temperature led to a sharp in-crease of ME yield.However,at 375°C after 1200 s of reaction time,the decomposition rate of ME was greater than its formation rate,reducing the ME yield.

A New Process for Synthesis of Dimethyl Carbonate from Ethylene Carbonate and Methanol without any Catalyst under Supercritical Conditions

Dimethyl carbonate was synthesized by transesterification reaction between ethylene carbonate and methanol under supercritical conditions without any catalyst. Experimental results showed that the residence time and the molar ratio of methanol to ethylene carbonate all can affect the conversion of ethylene carbonate. When the molar ratio of methanol to ethylene carbonate was 8:1, 81.2 % conversion can be achieved at 9.0 MPa and 250?C after 8 h.

Biodiesel from fish waste oil: synthesis via supercritical methanol and thermodynamic optimization

This study evaluates the potential of local fish waste oil as a feedstock for biodiesel via supercritical methanol transesterification(SCMT).Hexane was used as a cosolvent and the transesterification reaction was carried out in a continuous reactor under supercritical conditions.The response surface methodology(RSM)method was applied to analyse the effect of four independent variables,including the weight ratio of methanol to fish-waste oil(W),the reaction temperature(T),the pressure(P)and the feed flow rate(F),on the yield of the biodiesel production in supercritical methanol.According to the calculated optimal operating condition for the RSM,the values of W(22.3 weight ratio of methanol to fish waste oil),T(270°C),P(112.7 bar)and F(2.0 mL min-1)were achieved.Under the optimum conditions,the highest yield was estimated to be 94.6%(g/g).The obtained yield was found to be close to the theoretical yield(95.2%).This value suggests that the proposed strategy has a promising potential in the production of biodiesel fuel.

One-step process for production of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas L. seeds： Optimization using Response Surface Methodology （RSM）

Jatropha curcas L. （JCL） seeds were extracted and transesterified in-situ using supercritical methanol extraction in the absence of catalyst at different temperatures （200-280℃） and pressures （8-12 MPa）, and at a fixed reaction time of 30 min with seeds-to-methanol ratio of 1：40 w/v. Design of experiment approach using five-level-two-factors design of Response Surface Methodology （RSM） was used to observe the effect of two independent variables i.e. temperature and pressure and the percent of biodiesel yield which required 13 runs. For optimization of the variables, Central Composite Rotatable Design （CCRD） was used for regression analysis and analysis of variance （ANOVA）. The optimize conditions suggested by RSM were at T = 280℃ and P = 12.04 MPa. The predicted and experimental biodicsel yields were found to be 56.8% and 59.9%, respectively, with relatively small deviation errors of 1.59%.

The Development of Soybean Byproducts in Heilongjiang, China

The Heilongjiang Soybean Research Institute not only focuses on improving yield and quality of soybean, but also exploring the development of various high quality soybean byproducts. Currently, the institute uses advanced extraction technology, the institute also produces new soybean chips and vitamin E from soybean pulp, soybean peptides, phosphatides and oligosaccharides. 120 broilers were randomly divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates in each group and 5 chicken in each replicate. The authors studied influence on performance and body quality of broiler chicken by using soybean phosphatides to take the place of 0.5%, 1% and 1.5% corn of basal daily grain. Conclusion indicated that rates of broiler chicken weight gain were 2.1%, 4.4% and 8.7%, feed utilization rates raised 3.5%, 5.2% and 8.1%, costs reduced 2.3%, 3.5% and 5.8%, chest muscle rates improved 14.7%, 0.9% and -0.49%, belly fat rates improved 11.06%, 20.28% and 44.75% by using soybean phosphatides to take place of corn in daily grain after 42 days. More recently, the study is also involved in the research on improving the meat quality of chicken by adding extracted soybean peptide and phosphatides into feed. Furthermore, nearly 98% post-consumer waste oil with high acid value can be converted into biodiesel by using an effective supercritical methanol method.