The Design of Crude Palm Oil Clarifier

The objective of this research was to study the settling characteristics of crude palm oil (CPO), and use them to design a crude palm oil settler so that to increase the oil recovery , and hence the oil loss in the effluent can be minimized. The apparent viscosity {'1} of CPO after dilution with water was measured and an equation for its behaviour with shear rate (r) and temperature (I') was derived: '1 = 898 exp (19001T)Y-°·61) The equation was used to model CPO settling. Two approaches to determine the design criteria of the CPO settler were followed - conventional solid/liquid analysis, as proposed by Lim (1977), and liquid/liquid analysis . The liquid/liquid analysis underestimated the required settler height by 38-53 %, and the conventional approach by 55-63 %. Finally, a coagulation Jar test was carried out to examine the effects of five coagulants in the oil recovery from the effluent. The results showed that the use of coagulant can reduce oil loss in the clarifier. The recovered oil was 3 % of the plant throughput

Emerging Green Technologies for Biodiesel Production

The current global energy demand is met by burning the non-renewable fossil fuels. As the demand is escalating, resources and reserves are diminishing. In addition, the environment is threatened by the continuous emission of greenhouse gases; mainly CO2, which is worrying. Therefore, searching for alternatives is inevitable. Biodiesel received a considerable attention to potentially replace petroleum-based fuels. It can be produced from oil-rich feedstocks through several methods using different technologies, including transesterification. Although alkali catalyzed biodiesel process is commercially viable, several challenges were raised. In this chapter, an overview of the current status of biodiesel production approaches is discussed and the emerging technologies are highlighted. The chapter rewards the attention of using green processes, where the effectiveness of using; microalgae biomass as a green feedstock (compared to conventional crop-based seeds), lipases as green catalysts (compared to conventional chemical catalysts), and green and tunable solvents, such as neoteric solvents and supercritical fluids (compared to conventional volatile organic solvents) are addressed

High Concentration Phenol Removal Using Freshwater Microalgae

The ability of three freshwater microalgae strains, namely Chlorella sp., Pseudochlorococcum sp. and Chlamydomonas sp. to grow in water containing different concentrations of phenol has been tested. The effectiveness of the selected strains to utilize the phenol as a carbon source and reduce its concentration has also been assessed. The phenol removal efficiency and cells growth rates were evaluated at different initial phenol concentrations, in the range of 100-450 ppm. It was found that growing, under a reduced illumination condition, increased the inhibition onset concentration, enhanced the phenol removal and allowed the strains to tolerate higher phenol concentrations reaching 450 ppm. In the tested range of the phenol concentrations, Chlamydomonas sp. has shown to have the highest specific growth rate of 0.59 day-1, whereas Pseudochlorococcum sp showed the highest phenol removal rate of 166 ppm day-1. Three kinetics models that incorporate substrate inhibition were tested to describe the growth, which show almost identical fittings

The effect of the operating conditions on the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil during separation

This paper discusses the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil, using rotary viscometer, under different boundary conditions. It was experimentally shown that the apparent viscosity of palm oil drops with increasing shear rate and temperature. However, the effect of temperature on the viscosity tends to fade at temperatures beyond 80"C. A correlation between the apparent viscosity of crude palm oil and the operating conditions was developed. The derived correlation represents well the experimental data. This correlation can be used in design of crude palm oil settlers and in determining the optimum operating conditions

Enzymes in Biofuels Production

With the inevitable depletion of the nonrenewable resources of fossil fuels and due to their favorable environmental features, biofuels promise to be the preferred fuels of tomorrow. They can displace petroleum fuels and, in many countries, reduce the dependence on imported fuel. Biofuels, derived from biomass conversion, such as biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen, and biogas, are sustainable and renewable sources of energy, which are also considered CO2 neutral. In addition, burning biofuels results in reduced levels of particulates, carbon oxides and sulfur oxides, emissions compared to fissile fuels

KINETICS OF HYDROLYSIS OF TRIBUTYRIN BY LIPASE

Kinetics of the enzymatic hydrolysis of tributyrin using lipase has been investigated. The initial rate of reaction was determined experimentally at different substrate concentration by measuring the rate of butyric acid produced. Michaels-Menten kinetic model has been proposed to predict the initial rate of hydrolysis of tributyrin in micro-emulsion system. The kinetic parameters were estimated by fitting the data to the model using three methods, namely, the Lineweaver-Burk, Edie-Hofstee and Hanes methods. The Michaels-Menten model with the constant predicted by Edie-Hofstee and Hanes methods predicted the initial rate of reaction at various substrate concentrations better than the model with the constant predicted Lineweaver-Burk method, especially at high substrate concentrations