6129/2017 Biodiesel Magazine - The Latest News and Data About Biodlesel Production HOME | MAGAZINE | JonS | ENEWSLETTER | EVENTS| BIODIESEL PLANTS | SUBSCREE | STORE | MV ORECTORY sou.ow us | BET BIODIESEL MAGAZINE Evonik. Power to create. @e EVONIK BUSINESS | POLICY | FEEDSTOCK | PRODUCTION | DISTRIBUTION | QUALITY | USE Tera deste | search mamerica | Latin Ame i Pacific The Final Treatment Washing or polishing followed by distillation offers the purest biodiesel around By Raj Mos | ay, 2012 Biodiesel is traditionally produced via esterification of fatty acids and transesterification of triglycerides with an alcohol suchas methanol and sodium mmethylate. The tansesterfication of trilycerides is comprised of three Sequential, reversible reactions wherein trigicerides react to form dighcerides, rmonogiycerides and alycercl ‘AU biogise processes, whether traditional Senora invoke esting prose | Si thebenitiaate sop Suri Ia atiing PREOSATC Renee errata ne cent Droces, the biodiesel and giycerin mature aig aaaaaesges seo settled using a decanter or centre to separate the boderel frm the gato. “Th separate biodiesel ls then taken {rough the fina steps, woh, in sme cates, involve two stages: washing/ poling and tlstlation. Washing/polshing i mandatory and biodiesel catilation i oponal. Tas article lacuses both the washing poihing and ltlation stages. Washing and polishing mean the same thing. The term washing is used if water is used to do ‘the washing step, and the term polishing Titration is usee if powder, Ion exchange resins oF Some other media is used instead. This step is necessary to wash or polish off the excess tlycerin or soap inthe freshly separated biodiesel to meet the ASTM specication. Biodiesel distiltation is an optional step. As the name indicates, the distillation process eistils the fue to a colarless methy ester. Bath of these steps are individually adcressed below in etal, What is Washing or Polishing? A fatty acid inthe ol and base (catalyst) reacts to form a new compoune, called soap, and water. Compounds such as soap, In which the hydrogen (proton) of an acd has been replaced witha metal on are often called salts, The reason that such compounds ext that materials Such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH) can split apart, or dissociate, {na fashion that ives Hae and OH+ or Ke and OH, in which the protons and electrons are not evenly distributed, leading to charged particles. Thus, having the same charge, Nav or Kr can replace H- here ‘And during the settling process stray amounts of glycerin end up inthe final product. Both Soap and glycerin have tobe taken out for biodiesel to meet the ASTM biaceset specification, bersi. ‘You can take the soap/slycerin out by washing it with water er mixing the biodiesel with ‘magnesium silicate and using specialty soap-absorbing chemicals Whether one is washing or polishing, the step is extremely critical. This step shouldbe flexible {enough tobe able to address excess soap or glycerin in the process, If there isa alitch in the production or the setting process, a property planned and designed washing/ polishing process ould act asa catchall process to fc the Issues. hp:twwwbiodieselmagazine.comarices/8477ithe-fnal-reatment TL Atica & the Middl East Join Our Mailing List email address Subseribe DISTILLERS MAX A Great Investment. @ evonik POWER TO CREATE Click to learn more 16129/2017 Biodiesel Magazine - The Latest News and Data About Biodlesel Production ‘Comparing operational costs ofboth water wash and dry polishing (using magnesium silicate, clay orion exchange resin, the water wash s cheaper. Currently, the per-gaiion cost of water washing in a 10 AWgy plant ranges between 2 and 4 cents. This includes the cost of wate, Gisposal or treatment, energy an labor. Polishing, however, costs between 6 and 9 cents a gallon, This Includes the cost of filtrate, dsposal/landil costs, an labor ‘Washing with water fs preferred where water i either available in abundance or there isa ‘means to dspose ofthe wash water, such a through a nearby ethanol plant or wastewater treatment plant, or another location where the disposing laws are not as stringent as some other locations, With the added uptront costs of building a water wash system with some water treatment capabilities in place, and considering the amount of filtrate tobe cisposed, a water wash system makes sens ina typical biodesel plant that is larger than 10 Nga. Pants with production capacities of less than 10 Migy are better off most times with a polishing system. A fairly recent addition tothe ASTM 6751 specification, vote in a few years ago, is cold soak filtration, Cold soak fileation is when biodiesel is chilled to point anc reheated back to room temperature. The chilling and reheating process wil result inthe formation of mushy crystal tice material called sterols, This material will not blend with diesel fuel and wil clog the fuel filters on vehicles. To address this ané other related issues, ASTI isued the cold soak fitration gucetines. With a water wash process, cod soak filtration should still be addressed outside of the wash step. inthe case of polishing, cole soak filtration could be addressed at the same time the Poltshing step fs performed. Jatrodiesel docs this today at numberof fs plants, Biodiesel Distillation We betieve biodiesel dstilation 1s the future of biodiesel. Various updates currently proposed Jn AST requirements related to unreacted components, and mast of the ether requirements at might pop up in the future related to metals, salts and so forth, can all be aedressed today with biases: stilton, Distillation i chosen for various reasons, from a desire to change com ol bodiese’s red color tothe need to remove high sulfur and metal content from yellow grease or some animal fat, for example. Biodiesel resulting from distillation fs the purest form of the Tuel Through distillation, unreacted oil componentsmono, di and triglycerides, metals, catalyst, salts and pigmentationare left over asthe column bottoms and need to be drained off o Sent out along with crude glycerin, Biowiesel from various feedstock distills at various temperatures. The range is between 210, grees Centigrade to 250 degrees C. As you can see, the biodiesel distillation process ‘operates ata very high temperature compared to other parts of the production process. ‘The typical and cost-effective provider of heat to this pracess sa thermal fui (or thermal cil) heater. A thermal ol eater has the capability to operate at a very high temperature, If ‘designed ahead of time to handle high temperatures, The thermal heating uid fs the heat transferring igus instead of, for instance, steam ina steam Boller or water ina water heater. ‘The thermal fd that ued as the hea transfer Uquid inthe heater should be capable of handling very high temperatures; not, the high temperatures will disintegrate the thermal ‘lui, requiring expensive heating flue replacement Due to the high-temperature operations, heat transfer equipment such as heat exchangers and Condensers should meet the American Society of Mechan'cal Engineers specifications ar be bullt to ASME specification. so, due to the high temperature of biodiesel during the proces, potential hazaré for flashing exists, At very high temperatures, and with enough vapor present, any lguid can flash with sudden exposure to air. Care should be taken during the Sesign process to address these issues fr proper and safe operation. Another consideration often overlacked inthe biodiesel distlation process i structural related. The reactors or columns involved should be able to withstand constant expansion and contraction. They mast aso have enough thicxness and support to hanele high hea. Insulation ‘Salsa extremely important. Other parts of the biodiesel production process could survive with Uetle oF no insulation, but in the ease of eistilation, insulation is a cFitcal component and Tes well worth the investment to improve the efficiency and reduce operation costs. ‘A couple of glaring disadvantages with bioceseldistlation are loss of yield due to distillation, hp:twwwbiodieselmagazine.comaries/@477Mthe-fnal-treatment 2829/2017 Biodiesel Magazine - The Latest News and Data About Biodlesel Production Wich could range anywhere from 1 to 5 percent by weight, depending on the feedstock and the biodiesel conversion process; and the high temperatures inherent with distilation result in the fallure of oxidative stability, so an adeltive needs tobe added for the distilled biocesel to meet the ASTM specication, When atypical customer uses clear biodiesel resulting from a dstilation process, they rarely outs like to buy anything ese. It isnot just the perception, but a clear biodiesel blends better than normal biodiesel even though both clear and normal biodiesel meets the ASTIN specification. Biodiesel dstilation coes nat ca much tothe cloud point ofthe Biodiesel, But by restricting mono- ane dilycerides to next to nothing, the blending and related fiter plug ‘shues are considerably reduced. Some ofthe larger oll companies that are buying wet gallons restrict mono- and cigcerige values, ane metals. The specification is easily achievable with biodiesel distillation instead of a hit-and-miss approach by trying to fx the existing biodiesel process onthe frontend. ‘To summarize, water is scarce ané disposal of wastewater is increasingly regulated. The regulations and related paperwork might de onerous for a water-wash-Dased system compared toa polishing system's once-a-year chemical profile one neees to prepare for tne hauling company. Eventually the costs to treat or regulate water could be such that polishing will be the only way to go. Biodiesel distitation produces the purest form af biocesel. Ifyou are inthe planning stages to bullda plant, inciding the biodiesel distillation process would greatly reduce the headaches resulting from changes to the ASTM specification and any blending related issues experienced by the customers, “Author: Raj Mosati President, Jatrodiese inc (937) 847-5050 ext. 201 rmosaliajatrodiesel.com Related Articles North Dakota ol refinery plans toco- BUBB US biodiesel group seeks more options process renewable diesel Be to curb Argentine imports ara Bde Bows ecopces BM ares une aut USA eps set sce clon Conget IE Fn bs Wo pte on neping ae ne Pe iene esa 3,000 grades of custom formulated ADHESIVES ‘MASTERBOND’ emer Eee? 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