The present work concerns with simulating unsteady state equilibrium model for production of methyl oleate (biodiesel) from reaction of oleic acid with methanol using sulfuric acid as a catalyst in batch reactive distillation. MESHR equations of equilibrium model were solved using MATLAB (R2010a). The validity of simulation model was tested by comparing the simulation results with a data available in literature. UNIQUAC liquid phase activity coefficient model is the most appropriate model to describe the non-ideality of OLAC-MEOH-MEOL-H2O system. The chemical reactions rates results from EQ model indicating the rates are controlled by chemical kinetics. Several variables was studied such as molar ratio of methanol to oleic acid 4:1, 6:1 and 8:1, amount of catalyst 0.6, 1.2 and 1.8 g sulfuric acid/g oleic acid, reaction time 36, 57 and 75 minutes, and reaction temperature 100, 120 and 130oC. Taguchi method based on signal to noise ratio was used to determine the best operating conditions for biodiesel production.
In the current study, a novel approach for separating ethanol-water mixture by microbubble distillation technology was investigated. Traditional distillation processes require large amounts of energy to raise the liquid to its boiling point to effect removal of volatile components. The concept of microbubble distillation by comparison is to heat the gas phase rather than the liquid phase to achieve separation. The removal of ethanol from the thermally sensitive fermentation broths was taken as a case of study. Consequently the results were then compared with those which could be obtained under equilibrium conditions expected in an “ideal” distillation unit. Microbubble distillation has achieved vapour compositions higher than th
... Show MoreThis work was conducted to study the extraction of eucalyptus oil from natural plants (Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves) using water distillation method by Clevenger apparatus. The effects of main operating parameters were studied: time to reach equilibrium, temperature (70 to100°C), solvent to solid ratio (4:1 to 8:1 (v/w)), agitation speed (0 to 900 rpm), and particle size (0.5 to 2.5 cm) of the fresh leaves, to find the best processing conditions for achieving maximum oil yield. The results showed that the agitation speed of 900 rpm, temperature 100° C, with solvent to solid ratio 5:1 (v/w) of particle size 0.5 cm for 160 minute give the highest percentage of oil (46.25 wt.%). The extracted oil was examined by HPLC.
The possibility of using zero-valent iron as permeable reactive barrier in removing lead from a contaminated groundwater was investigated. In the batch tests, the effects of many parameters such as contact time between adsorbate and adsorbent (0-240 min), initial pH of the solution (4-8), sorbent dosage (1-12 g/100 mL), initial metal concentration (50-250 mg/L), and agitation speed
(0-250 rpm) were studied. The results proved that the best values of these parameters achieve the maximum removal efficiency of Pb+2 (=97%) were 2 hr, 5, 5 g/100 mL, 50 mg/L and 200 rpm respectively. The sorption data of Pb+2 ions on the zero-valent iron have been performed well by Langmuir isotherm model in compared with Freundlich model under the studied
Adsorption experiments were carried out using two different low-cost sorbent materials, date seeds and olive seeds. These sorbents used as a single phase (not as mixture) to remove cadmium ions from simulated wastewater by adsorption process. The equilibrium time was found at 2 hr. The experiments include different parameters such sorbent type and weight and contact time. It was found that both of olive seed and date seed have approximately the same adsorption capacity (qm) with 15.644 mg/g and 15.2112 mg/g, respectively. Equilibrium isotherms and kinetic studies have been carried out. Langmuir isotherm model better fits the experimental data compared with the Freundlich isotherm for olive seed, while Freundlich isotherm fits for date se
... Show MoreA batch and flow injection (FI) spectrophotometric methods are described for the determination of barbituric acid in aqueous and urine samples. The method is based on the oxidative coupling reaction of barbituric acid with 4-aminoantipyrine and potassium iodate to form purple water soluble stable product at λ 510 nm. Good linearity for both methods was obtained ranging from 2 to 60 μg mL−1, 5–100 μg mL−1 for batch and FI techniques, respectively. The limit of detection (signal/noise = 3) of 0.45 μg mL−1 for batch method and 0.48 μg mL−1 for FI analysis was obtained. The proposed methods were applied successfully for the determination of barbituric acid in tap water, river water, and urine samples with good recoveries of 99.92
... Show MoreIn this study, the kinetics for the reaction of tert-butanol esterification with acetic acid in the presence of Dowex 50Wx8 catalyst was investigated. The reaction kinetic experiments were conducted in 1000 milliliter vessel at temperatures ranged from 50 - 80 oC, catalyst loading 25-50 g/L, and the molar ratios of acetic acid to tert-butanol from 1/3 – 3/1. The reaction rate was found to increase with increasing temperature and catalyst loading. It was also found the conversion of the tert-butanol increases as the molar ratio of acid to alcohol increases from 1/3 – 3/1. The Non-ideality of the liquid phase was taken into account by using activities instead of molar fractions. The activity coefficients were calculated according to th
... Show MoreThe main objectives of this research is to extract essential oil from: orange ( citrus sinensis), lemon( citrus limon) and mandarin( citrus reticulata) peels by two methods: steam distillation (SD) and microwave assisted steam distillation (MASD), study the effect of extraction conditions (weight of the sample, extraction time, and microwave power, citrus peel type) on oil yield and compare the results of the two methods, the resulting essential oil was analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC).
Essential oils are highly concentrated substances used for their flavor and therapeutic or odoriferous properties, in a wide selection of products such as foods, medicines and cosmetics. Extracti
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