USC Chemical Engineering Student

Process Equipment Design 2017

D e p a r t m e n t o f FORM 1-4-Calculation Sheets

Chemical Engineering
Talamban, Cebu City, Philippines 6000 Material Balance

DESIGNER(S): CHATO, REIZL JANE A.

CUEVAS, CAPE CARYL R.
NAVALTA, CARL JOHN LOUIE G.
RABOY, VON ADRIAN O.

Equipment Tag: R-01

Equipment Description: FLUIDIZED BED REACTOR
Calculation Sheet No: PED-C002

DESIGN MANUALS OR TECHNICAL REFERENCES

[1] Meher LC, Sagar DV, Naik SN. Technical aspects of biodiesel production by transesterification a
review 2006;10:24868. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2004.09.002.
[2] Akhter M, Mahmood A, Raza MA, Haider Z, Bibi T, Naseem I. Free Fatty Acid Profiling of Rice Bran oils
for Improving Shelf Life through Parboiling and Different Treatments. J Nutr Food Sci 2016;6:16.
doi:10.4172/2155-9600.1000449.
[3] Rajan RGR, Krishna AGG. Refining of high free fatty acid rice bran oil and its quality characteristics. J
Food Lipids 2009;16:589604. doi:10.1111/j.1745-4522.2009.01168.x.
[4] Liu J. Biodiesel Synthesis via Transesterification Reaction in Supercritical Methanol: a ) A Kinetic Study
, b ) Biodiesel Synthesis Using Microalgae Oil. Syracuse University, 2013.
[5] International Rice Research Institute. Annual Report for 1983. Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines: 1984.

DESCRIPTION

Based on the 10 % of the biodiesel demand by 2020, 11,400 kg of rice bran oil (composed of 80 % triglyceride
and 20 % free fatty acid) will be fed into the fluidized bed reactor per hour, producing biodiesel amounting to
11,323.94 kg/h at 98 % conversion. The methanol will be added at a molar ratio of 6:1 (methanol to oil), with a
catalyst (TPA/HZ) loading of 3 %w/w.

ASSUMPTION(S)/BASIS
1. Three moles of free fatty acid are equal to one mole of triglyceride. [1]
2. Rice bran oil is predominantly composed of oleic acid (free fatty acid) and triolein [2,3]
(triglyceride).
3. The process is operating at steady state. [4]
4. Rice bran is composed of 15 % oil. [5]
NOMENCLATURE(S)

Symbol or Notation Description

% Weight percent of ester produced, %w/w
Reaction time, min
Amount of ester produced, g
, Initial amount of oil fed to the reactor, g
, Amount of triglyceride converted to ester, g
, Amount of unconverted triglyceride, g
Molecular weight of species i, g/mol
, Initial concentration of species i, mol/L
Concentration of species i, mol/L
Concentration of triglyceride exiting the first reactor,
1
mol/L
Conversion of triglyceride exiting the first reactor
Final conversion of triglyceride exiting the second
,
reactor
Volume of the fluid mixture, L

, Experimental rate of consumption of triglyceride,

, Theoretical rate of consumption of triglyceride,
Initial value guess for the forward reaction rate
1,
constant, 1
Initial value guess for the backward reaction rate
2,
constant,
1 Forward reaction rate constant, 1

2 Backward reaction rate constant,
Residence time needed to process one volume, h
Total residence time for the two equal-sized fluidized

bed reactor, h
Initial feed volumetric flow rate, m3/h
Weight of catalyst, kg
Bulk density of catalyst, kg/L
Volume occupied by the fluid mixture in the reactor,
,
L
, Volume occupied by the catalyst in the reactore, L
Fluidized bed reactor volume, L
INFORMATION FLOW DIAGRAM

INPUT ,

1 ,
, =
3

,
=
0.15

= 0.15

, = 0.20 , = 0.80
, ,

1 ,
= , = , +
3

6 , ,
, =

/, = 0.03( + , )

/, , ,
OUTPUT

,
,

3, , , ,
= =

,
,
,
, = ,
3, , ,

,
, = 0.02, ,

SYSTEM SKETCH

3
Methyl ester
1 11,323.94
(kg/h)
Rice bran oil Glycerol (kg/h) 1,172.37
11,400.00
(kg/h) Unreacted
Temperature (K) 293.15 230.05
Triglyceride (kg/h)
Pressure (MPa) 6.5 Methanol (kg/h) 1,273.62
Temperature (K) 498.15
Pressure (MPa) 6.5

2
Methanol (kg/h) 2,497.29
Temperature (K) 293.15
Pressure (MPa) 6.5
CALCULATIONS

Shown in are the summary of data needed for the material balance calculations.

Component Molecular weight (g/mol) Density (kg/L)

Triglyceride (triolein) 885.45 -
Free fatty acid (oleic acid) 282.45 -
Methanol 32.04 -
Glycerol 92.09 -
Biodiesel 296.50 0.8875

Calculating for the amount of triglyceride (TG) needed based on stoichiometry

+ 33 3 +

The 10 % of the demand of biodiesel by 2020 is ~100 million L/year

1 ,
, =
3

6
1 (100 10 ) (0.8875 ) (885.45 )
, =
3
296.50

, = .

Calculating for the amount of rice bran needed

,
=
0.15

88345910.62
=
330
0.15 ( )
1

1
= 1784765.87 ( )
24

= .

Calculating for the amount of rice bran oil extractable

The efficiency () of the extraction process is 0.99

= 0.15

= 0.15(74365.24 )(0.99)

= .

The amount of rice bran oil (RBO) is overestimated to 11400 kg/h in order to take into account the losses that
will incur during the process.

Calculating for the initial amount of free fatty acid from rice bran oil

, = 0.20

, = 0.20(11400 )

, = .

Calculating for the initial amount of triglyceride from bran oil

, = 0.80

, = 0.80(11400 )

, = .

Calculating for the equivalent amount of triglyceride from FFA

1 ,
=
3

1 (2280 )(885.45 )
=
3
282.45 )

= .

Calculating for the amount of triglyceride in the feed

, = , +

, = 9120 + 2382.43

, = .

Calculating for the amount of methanol in the feed

6 ,
, =

6(11502.52 )(32.04 )
, =

885.45 )

, = .

Calculating for the amount of catalyst in the feed

/, = 0.03( + , )

/, = 0.03 (11400 + 2497.29 )

/, = .

Calculating for the amount of biodiesel

3, ,
=

3(0.98)(11502.43 )(296.50 )
=

885.45

= .

Calculating for the amount of glycerol

, ,
=

(0.98)(11502.43 )(92.09 )
=

885.45

= .

Calculating for the amount of unreacted methanol

3, ,
, = ,

3(0.98)(11502.43 )(32.04 )
, = 2497.31
885.45

, = .

Calculating for the amount of unreacted triglyceride

, = 0.02 ,

, = 0.02(11502.43 )

, = .

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Processing an amount of 11,400 kg/h rice bran oil via (trans)esterification, biodiesel and glycerol are produced
amounting to 11,323.94 kg/h and 1,172.37 kg/h, respectively. Since only 98 % of triglyceride is converted to
biodiesel, unreacted triglyceride (230.05 kg/h) exits the reactor together with the excess methanol (1,273.62 kg/h).

COMPUTER PROGRAMS USED (Version No.) Microsoft Excel 2016/CurveExpert

(1.4)/Plot Digitizer (2.6.8)
ELECTRONIC CALCULATION FILE NAME: CHE 514N FBR Sizing-08312017.xlsx

APPVD
REV DATE REVISION DESCRIPTION BY CHKD BY
BY
A 08/31/2017 First Draft CJLN