Sampling Frequency and Digital Noise Filtering for Transient Kinetic Study in CSTR via Temperature Scanning and Composition Modulation Technique

Temperature Scanning and Composition Modulation technique (TS-CM) is a technique for estimating reaction parameters under transient conditions in a CSTR reactor. Studies of reaction kinetics performed under transient conditions can lead to savings of time and resources as compared to the conventional steady-state method. This is because a collection of data necessary for extracting the reaction kinetics can be obtained within a single experiment. This research focused on the refinement of TS-CM technique as an efficient tool for reaction kinetics studies. The alkaline hydrolysis of ethyl acetate was used as a model reaction. Different degrees of noise intensity were added to the output signal of NaOH concentration in order to study the effect of noise (0.5, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0%) and sampling period (1, 30 and 60 seconds) on the accuracy of reaction kinetics. Results revealed that the sampling period of 1 second yielded only slight errors of kinetic parameters compared to that of without noise.The second part dealt with noise filtering. In order to smooth the NaOH concentration data, TS-CM technique was applied with three digital filters: a) the first-order filter or first-order filter, b) the second-order filter or second-order filter and c) the Savitzky-Golay filter. Results showed that the best filter was the Savitzky-Golay, which filtered with 81 points of window size and 2nd order of polynomial degree.

Bio-jet fuel production from crude palm kernel oil under hydrogen-nitrogen atmosphere in a fixed-bed reactor by using Pt/C as catalyst

This research presents a study on the production of biojet fuel using crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) as a novel source. The aim of the research is to explore an efficient and high-throughput process for biojet production from CPKO. The experiment was conducted using a reactor packed with 5 wt.% platinum on carbon (Pt/C). Several key operating variables, such as reaction temperature, hydrogen-to-nitrogen ratio, pressure, gas flow rate, and CPKO flow rate, were investigated to optimize the yield of liquid product and biojet fuel. The optimal conditions determined were a reaction temperature of 400°C, pressure of 500 psi, CPKO flow rate of 0.02 mL/min, hydrogen-to-nitrogen ratio of 75:25, and gas flow rate of 25 mL/min. Under these conditions, the biojet fuel yield reached 59%, with a productivity of 330.6 gproduct/gcat-h. The results demonstrated superior production performance compared to other existing processes in the field

Biodiesel production from rice bran oil fatty acid distillate via supercritical hydrolysis–esterification–transesterification in a microreactor

Rice bran oil fatty acid distillate (RBOFAD), a by-product from rice bran oil production, was used as feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The hydrolysis–esterification–transesterification of RBOFAD with ethanol was performed in a microreactor under supercritical conditions. The biodiesel product in the form of fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) was obtained. The operating conditions, including the sulfuric acid content (0.2–0.6%), water content (0–7.5%), ethanol-to-oil molar ratio (5:1–16:1), and reaction temperature (260–320 °C), were optimized. The water content could affect the reaction system via both hydrolysis of triglycerides and reverse esterification of fatty acids. Biodiesel with the FAEE content of 93% was obtained at the optimal conditions (sulfuric acid content of 0.4%, water content of 2.5%, ethanol-to-oil molar ratio of 7:1, residence time of 19 min, and reaction temperature of 280 °C). The properties of the biodiesel, including density, viscosity, acidity, oxidation stability, freezing point, and pour point, were compared with standards. The properties such as viscosity, acid value, heating value, and oxidation stability were suitable as biodiesel according to EN14213, except for the contents of ester, monoglyceride, and diglyceride

Continuous Encapsulation of Vitamin E Using Polycaprolactone and Tween 20 in a Micro-Channel

Encapsulation of vitamin E is the preservation of the biological activities of vitamin E for various applications. In the first part of this research, factors affecting the batch encapsulation of vitamin E, including PCL concentration, the concentration of Tween 20, and the volumetric ratio of aqueous phase to organic phase were experimentally investigated. The Box-Behnken experimental design and response surface methodology were implemented to determine the optimal operating conditions of the batch encapsulation. At the optimal conditions, the percentage of vitamin E encapsulation (%EC) was 98.69%, using the PCL concentration, the Tween 20 concentration, and the volumetric ratio of aqueous phase to organic phase of 3.6 g/L, 0.6 g/L, and 0.9 mL: 1 mL, respectively. The second part is to enhance the productivity by applying the optimized formulation of vitamin E encapsulation in a continuous process using a micro-channel encapsulator. The effect of residence time was investigated. At the residence time of 1 s, the percentage of vitamin E encapsulation of 97.28% and the productivity of 153.61 mg/(mL∙min) were achieved