Reaction rate law model and reaction mechanism covering effect of plasma role on the transesterification of triglyceride and methanol to biodiesel over a continuous flow hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor

This study investigated predictions of reaction mechanisms and reaction rate law model covering effect of plasma role on the heterogeneous catalytic reaction of triglyceride and methanol to produce biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester - FAME or fatty acid alkyl ester – FAAE) over a continuous flow hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor. This catalytic reaction was carried out in a dielectric-barrier discharge plasma reactor over 5 wt% K2O/CaO–ZnO catalyst under conditions of atmospheric pressure and the reactor temperature of 65 °C. During the hybrid catalytic-plasma reaction system, the voltage, the catalyst diameter, and the Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) were kept constant at 5 kV, 5 mm, and 1.186/min, respectively. It was found that transesterification reaction with the hybrid roles of catalytic and plasma achieved 77.2% biodiesel yield. Kinetic studies of this transesterification reaction over a continuous flow hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor suggested following Eley-Rideal mechanism model, where the methanol adsorbed on the catalyst surface reacted with triglycerides in bulk phase to produce an adsorbed methyl ester and glycerol in bulk phase. The possible reaction rate law model found is: -rTG = rME = rs = (0.0078∗(0.0061∗CTG∗CM3–3.0302 × 10−6∗CME3∗CG))/(0.1827∗CM+ 0.0145∗CME+1)3 gmol/gcat.min. This reaction rate law model was useful to design reactor of the hybrid catalytic-plasma chemical reaction system for biodiesel production. Chemical engineering; Energy; Organic chemistry; Catalyst; Chemical reaction engineering; Industrial chemistry; Biofuel; Fuel technology; Hybrid catalytic-plasma reactor; Reaction rate law model; Biodiesel; Fatty acid alkyl ester; Plasma roles