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 Transesterification Reactor Sizing

DESIGNER(S): CHUA, MARY ANTOINETTE G.

GOLLEM, BABE EDEN JOY O.
MALINAO, HUGH LAMBERT L.
MERCADO, ARMEL JAY P.

Equipment Tag: R-01

Equipment Description: Heterogeneous Base-catalyzed Transesterification Reactor
Calculation Sheet No: XXXX-XXXX

DESIGN MANUALS OR TECHNICAL REFERENCES

[1] Octave Levenspiel, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 1999, XXXVIII
<https://doi.org/10.1021/ie990488g>.

[2] H. S. Fogler, Catalyst Decay, Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering, 894.1968 (2006), 88194.

[3] Abdul Rahim Yacob and others, Catalytic Performance by Kinetics Evaluation of Novel KOHModified Zinc Oxide in
the Heterogeneous Transesterification of Rice Bran Oil to Biodiesel, International Proceedings of Chemical, Biological
and Environmental Engineering, 84.17 (2015), 1017 <https://doi.org/10.7763/IPCBEE.>.

[4] S. Afandizadeh and E. A. Foumeny, Design of Packed Bed Reactors: Guides to Catalyst Shape, Size, and Loading
Selection, Applied Thermal Engineering, 21.6 (2001), 66982 <https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-4311(00)00072-7>.

DESCRIPTION

The transesterification process taking place inside the heterogenous base-catalyzed transesterification reactor, which in
this case is a packed-bed reactor, is for further production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from the remaining
triglycerides (TG) of the output stream of the preceding step, which is the heterogeneous acid-catalyzed esterification of
partially refined rice bran oil, in order to meet the FAME demand.

ASSUMPTION(S)/BASIS
1. Fluid is incompressible; thus, density changes are negligible. [1]
2. Methanol supplied is in excess, thus, the reaction is pseudo-first order. [3]
3. Catalyst decay follows zeroth order decay rate law. [2]
4. The volume of the packed bed is equal to the volume of the reactor.
5. The catalyst particles are spherical having = 0.4 [4]
NOMENCLATURE(S)

Symbol or Notation Description

Reaction rate for triglyceride
Weight of catalyst inside the bed
Number of moles triglyceride
,0 Initial number of moles triglyceride
Time
Conversion of triglyceride
,0 Entering molar flowrate of triglyceride
Reaction rate constant
Activity of the catalyst at time t
0 Activity of the catalyst at t = 0
Catalyst decay rate constant
Lifespan of the catalyst
Lumped constants
Number of moles catalyst per mole reactant

Turnover number
Turnover frequency
,0 Initial triglyceride concentration
Bulk density of the catalyst
Porosity of the bed
Volume of the reactor
INFORMATION FLOW DIAGRAM

100 ( ) 0
= = =

0
( ) = 0 +

( )

, ,0

= ( ),0 (1 )

,


,0

,0 , ,0 ,

= ,0
, ,0

,
=
(1 )

1
4 3
= =1

SYSTEM SKETCH

Feed Stream
Triglyceride TG
4, 068.41
(kg/h)
Free Fatty Acid
30.93 Outlet Stream
FFA (kg/h)
Water (kg/h) 47.83 Triglyceride TG
81.37
(kg/h)
Methanol (kg/h) 7, 136.62
Free Fatty Acid
Glycerol (kg/h) 656.84 30.93
FFA (kg/h)
FAME (kg/h) 7, 059.17
Water (kg/h) 47.83
Temperature (K) 333.15
Methanol (kg/h) 7, 876.44
Pressure (MPa) XXX
Glycerol (kg/h) 1, 078.89
11,
Methanol Stream FAME (kg/h)
093.75
Methanol (kg/h) 1,180.32
Temperature (K) 333.15
Temperature (K) 333.15
Pressure (MPa) XXX
Pressure (MPa) X,XXX.xx

CALCULATIONS

To calculate for the TON, first, is determined from the mass balances:

Calculating TON, where is equal to 0.0555 mol KOH-ZnO per mol reactant:

100 100
= = = 1802.019
0.0555

The lifetime of the catalyst, td, is then calculated, where the TOF value is obtained from literature, and is equal to 11.5
hr-1.
1802.019
= = = 156.7 6.53
11.5 1

With a0 = 1, and a(td) = 0,

( ) 0 01
= = = 0.154 1
6.53

a(td) is then determined using the equation

( ) = 0 +
which yields
( ) = 1 0.154

From the rate law, substituting values will yield

= 0.0003(1 0.154 ),0 (1 )
The weight of the catalyst is obtained using
0.98 0.98

= ,0 =
0 0 (1 )

XTG is plotted against 1/-rTG to determine the value for the integral term.

45000000
-1/r'TG (s g catalyst/mol) 40000000
35000000
30000000
25000000
20000000
15000000
10000000
5000000
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
XTG

The determined area under the curve has a value of 45808.22, which is also equal to W.

Calculation of bulk density of the catalyst:

+ 0.047 2.12 + 0.45 5.61
= = = 5.283
+ 0.047 + 0.45

Calculation for the volume of the reactor (assuming =0.4):

45808.22
= = = 14451.42 .
(1 ) 5.283(1 0.4)

Solving for the diameter of the reactor,

1 1
4 3 4(14.45 3 ) 3
= =( ) = .

Assuming an L/D ratio of 1:

= = .

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

From all the calculations for the sizing of the packed-bed reactor for the transesterification of pretreated rice bran oil, the
calculated volume of the reactor that would accommodate either a 20%-FFA RBO or a 7%-FFA RBO is 14.45 m3 with a
diameter of 2.64 m and a bed height of 2.64 m, as well.

COMPUTER PROGRAMS USED (Version No.) Microsoft Excel 2016/Microsoft Visio 2016
ELECTRONIC CALCULATION FILE NAME: CHE 514N Reactor Sizing-10232017.xlsx

REV DATE REVISION DESCRIPTION BY CHKD BY APPVD BY

A 05/31/2017