1267 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS Volume 21, 2010 Editor J. J. Klemeš, H. L. Lam, P. S. Varbanov Copyright © 2010, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l., ISBN 978-88-95608-05-1 ISSN 1974-9791 DOI: 10.3303/CET1021212 Please cite this article as: Vlad E., Bildea C. S., Plesu V., Marton G. and Bozga G., (2010), Process design of biodiesel production from rapeseed oil., Chemical Engineering Transactions, 21, 1267-1272 DOI: 10.3303/CET1021212 Process Design of Biodiesel Production from Rapeseed Oil Elena Vlad*, Costin Sorin Bildea, Valentin Pleşu, George Marton, Grigore Bozga Centre for Technology Transfer for the Process Industries, Department of Chemical Engineering, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Gh. Polizu Street 1 011061 Bucharest, Romania cttip@chim.upb.ro An integrated design for biodiesel production process from rapeseed vegetable oil is developed. The process simulation software ASPEN Plus version V7.0 is used as a computer aided process engineering (CAPE) tool. The process consists of two steps. The acid-catalyzed pre-treatment achieves total conversion of free fatty acids and partial conversion of triglycerides. This is followed by an alkali-catalyzed step where high conversion of triglycerides is achieved. Compared to other designs reported in the literature, each operation which is common to both steps is performed in one unit, leading to smaller investment cost. Different types of vegetable oil are studied. Among them the rapeseed oil is chosen as raw material for biodiesel production because the rapeseed oil oleic acid content is high and because it is the most common oil in Romania. Moreover, the detailed composition of the rapeseed oil is taken into account. This is determined experimentally by transesterification combined with gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy. 1. Introduction During the last years, efforts were made to develop new renewable bio fuels, with the goal of reducing the dependence on imported oil which is associated with political and economic vulnerability, of diminishing pollutants and of revitalizing the economy by increasing demand and prices of agricultural products. Two products appear as promising energy sources: bio ethanol and biodiesel. In Europe the attention focuses on biodiesel due to the larger proportion of diesel engines. Biodiesel is a fuel composed by mono alkyl esters of the fatty acids, especially methyl esters (FAME). The fatty acids sources used for biodiesel production are vegetable oils and animal fats. The manufacturing process consists of a transesterification reaction that involves triglycerides, alcohols and various catalysts. In this way highly viscous triglycerides are converted to long chain monoesters with much lower viscosity and better combustion properties. Homogenous or heterogeneous catalysis can be used to enhance the reaction rate. The homogeneous catalysis involves substances with a basic or an acidic character, sodium hydroxide or sulphuric acid, respectively, being widely used. The heterogeneous catalysis uses solids with an acid character, such zeolites, clays and ion exchange resins.