UPGRADING OF METHYL ESTER FOR PRODUCTION OF HIGHER VALUE PRODUCTS BY FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION

Abstract

The main source of the rising problem of Greenhouse Gas emissions and its impact on climate change is caused mainly by fossil fuels, which directed the focus of many researchers towards alternative biofuels. The aim of this research is to produce specialized cuts from the fatty acid methyl ester, namely: fatty acid methyl ester sulfonate (MES) and a winter fuel additive as replacements to the crude oil based linear alkyl benzene and the current cold weather diesel additives. The work done, first investigated the production of MES through a set of lab experiments staring with the production of the fatty acid methyl ester as an intermediate product using the sulfonation reaction of used cooking oil and oleic acid in the presence of sodium bisulfite. This was followed by the separation of the reaction products, for which the surface tension was tested and compared to its equivalent commercial surfactants and found below standard. As a complementary part, an alternative method of separation was tested using Hysys 8.8 simulation program. The simulation involved utilizing a distillation tower to separate the required MES and winter fuel additive from the fatty acid methyl ester inlet. The tower design and operating conditions were optimized until the maximum separation efficiency was achieved.