Abstract
This study investigated the purification of glycerol obtained from the biodiesel production process using various solvents including toluene, petroleum ether, and n-butanol in a micro-scale extractor. Glycerol was produced using a mixture of soybean oil and methanol in a molar ratio of 6:1 in the presence of potassium hydroxide catalyst at 60 °C during 4 h; it was then neutralized by sulfuric acid 98%. The produced crude glycerol was extracted in different solvents using a microreactor with a T-shaped mixer with a square cross-section dimension of 0.9 mm. Operating temperatures were 303.15 K and 318.15 K and the solvent to feed ratio were 1:4, 1:3, 1:2, 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1. Based on the results, petroleum ether was more effective in removing methanol from glycerol and purifying it, as compared with the other two solvents. The highest level of glycerol purity which was obtained through using toluene, petroleum ether, and n-butanol solvents was 93.6, 98.4, and 83.4%, respectively. These values were obtained at 318.15 K.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Yes.
References
Sharma YC, Singh B (2009) Development of biodiesel: current scenario. Renew Sust Energ Rev 13(6):1646–1651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.08.009
Jacobson K, Gopinath R, Meher LC, Dalai AK (2008) Solid acid catalyzed biodiesel production from waste cooking oil. Appl Catal B Environ 85(1):86–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2008.07.005
Guan G, Kusakabe K, Sakurai N, Moriyama K (2009) Transesterification of vegetable oil to biodiesel fuel using acid catalysts in the presence of dimethyl ether. Fuel 88(1):81–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2008.07.021
Marchetti JM, Errazu AF (2008) Comparison of different heterogeneous catalysts and different alcohols for the esterification reaction of oleic acid. Fuel 87(15):3477–3480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2008.05.011
Basha SA, Gopal KR, Jebaraj S (2009) A review on biodiesel production, combustion, emissions and performance. Renew Sust Energ Rev 13(6):1628–1634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2008.09.031
Vicente G, Martinez M, Aracil J (2007) Optimisation of integrated biodiesel production. Part II: a study of the material balance. Bioresour Technol 98(9):1754–1761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2006.07.023
Dias JM, Alvim-Ferraz MC, Almeida MF (2008) Comparison of the performance of different homogeneous alkali catalysts during transesterification of waste and virgin oils and evaluation of biodiesel quality. Fuel 87(17):3572–3578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2008.06.014
Wang Y, Ou S, Liu P, Xue F, Tang S (2006) Comparison of two different processes to synthesize biodiesel by waste cooking oil. J Mol Catal A Chem 252(1):107–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcata.2006.02.047
Guan G, Sakurai N, Kusakabe K (2009) Synthesis of biodiesel from sunflower oil at room temperature in the presence of various cosolvents. Chem Eng J 146(2):302–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2008.10.009
Samart C, Sreetongkittikul P, Sookman C (2009) Heterogeneous catalysis of transesterification of soybean oil using KI/mesoporous silica. Fuel Process Technol 90(7):922–925. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.03.017
Graboski MS, McCormick RL (1998) Combustion of fat and vegetable oil derived fuels in diesel engines. Prog Energy Combust Sci 24(2):125–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-1285(97)00034-8
Zhang Y, Dube MA, McLean DDL, Kates M (2003) Biodiesel production from waste cooking oil: 1. Process design and technological assessment. Bioresour Technol 89(1):1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0960-8524(03)00040-3
Ramos MJ, Fernández CM, Casas A, Rodríguez L, Pérez Á (2009) Influence of fatty acid composition of raw materials on biodiesel properties. Bioresour Technol 100(1):261–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2008.06.039
Tan HW, Aziz AA, Aroua MK (2013) Glycerol production and its applications as a raw material: a review. Renew Sust Energ Rev 27:118–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.06.035
McCabe WL, Smith JC, Harriott P (1993) Unit operations of chemical engineering (Vol. 5, p. 154). McGraw-Hill, New York
Harvey PS, Greaves M (1982) Turbulent flow in an agitated vessel. Trans IChemE 60:195–210
Kashid M, Renken A, Kiwi-Minsker L (2011) Mixing efficiency and energy consumption for five generic microchannel designs. Chem Eng J 167(2):436–443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2010.09.078
Srinivasan R, Hsing I, Berger PE, Jensen KF, Firebaugh SL, Schmidt MA et al (1997) Micromachined reactors for catalytic partial oxidation reactions. AICHE J 43(11):3059–3069. https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.690431117
Kumar V, Paraschivoiu M, Nigam KDP (2011) Single-phase fluid flow and mixing in microchannels. Chem Eng Sci 66(7):1329–1373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2010.08.016
Yong KC, Ooi TL, Dzulkefly K, Wan Yunus WMZ, Hazimah AH (2001) Refining of crude glycerol recovered from glycerol residue by simple vacuum distillation. J Oil Palm Res 13:39–44
Manosak R, Limpattayanate S, Hunsom M (2011) Sequential-refining of crude glycerol derived from waste used-oil methyl ester plant via a combined process of chemical and adsorption. Fuel Process Technol 92(1):92–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2010.09.002
Isahak WN, Ismail M, Yarmo MA, Jahim JM, Salimon J (2010) Purification of crude glycerol from transesterification RBD palm oil over homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for the biolubricant preparation. J Appl Sci 10(21):2590–2595 https://scialert.net/abstract/?doi=jas.2010.2590.2595
Stojković IJ, Stamenković OS, Povrenović DS, Veljković VB (2014) Purification technologies for crude biodiesel obtained by alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Renew Sust Energ Rev 32:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.01.005
Contreras-Andrade I, Martínez-González M, Figueroa-Casallas L, Parra-Santiago J, Guerrero-Fajardo C (2014) Modeling of liquid-liquid extraction process for glycerol purification from biodiesel production. J Chem Eng Mater Sci 8:971–977. https://doi.org/10.17265/1934-7375/2014.10.006
Contreras-Andrade I, Avella-Moreno E, Sierra-Cantor JF, Guerrero-Fajardo CA, Sodré JR (2015) Purification of glycerol from biodiesel production by sequential extraction monitored by 1 H NMR. Fuel Process Technol 132:99–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2014.12.016
Hájek M, Skopal F, Machek J (2006) Determination of free glycerol in biodiesel. Eur J Lipid Sci Technol 108(8):666–669. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejlt.200600004
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mousavi, HS., Rahimi, M. & Mohadesi, M. Purification of glycerol using organic solvent extraction in a microreactor. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12, 2243–2251 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00750-w
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00750-w