United States Department of Transportation
i
Continuous-Flow Reactor System for Improved Catalytic Glycerol Conversion
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2011-07-01
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TRIS Online Accession Number:01357993
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Edition:Final Report August 2010 – July 2011
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Abstract:The authors' previous research showed improved ethanol yields from catalytic conversion of glycerol by applying the Raney nickel catalyst. The purpose of this project was to investigate increasing the process productivity using a continuous-flow mode. A continuous-flow reactor system was modified from the existing batch reactors and used. A fed-batch system composed of the same batch reactors was also designed and tested. Aqueous glycerol was fed continuously using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pump and the product was collected in a pressure vessel. Under the conditions of 220°C, 1:1 water-to-glycerol mass ratio and 30 mL/min feeding rate, liquid product was successfully collected. However, analysis of the liquid product showed small amounts of methanol and ethanol were produced despite the high glycerol conversion rate. A slight improved ethanol yield, approximately 3.5%mol, was observed using the fed-batch system. In summary, the continuous-flow reactor converted from the batch reactor vessels failed to produce alcohols with high yields as expected. Having a relatively large head space in the reactor may have caused the reaction to be less favorable for liquid products. Further investigation using a different design such as a tubular reactor is recommended on the applicability of a continuous-flow reactor system for this process.
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