Newcastle University Process Intensification Group

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Newcastle UniversityProcess Intensification
Group

• Adam Harvey
• Process Intensification Group
• Chemical Engineering Advanced Materials
• Newcastle University

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P.I. Process Intensification

• The strategy of making dramatic reductions in
  the size of process plant items by re-examining
  the fundamentals of their heat and mass transfer

at least anorder of magnitude
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Process Intensification Group PIG

• 5 academic staff
• Adam Harvey (OBRs, biofuels)
• Kamelia Boodhoo (SDRs, polymerisation)
• Jonathan Lee (RPBs, carbon capture)
• David Reay (heat pipes, all HT)
• Sharon Orta (algae, fuel cells)
• 5 research associates visitors
• 18 PhDs
• http//pig.ncl.ac.uk

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PI _at_ Newcastle Technologies/Expertise
Technologies
Oscillatory Baffled Reactors
Spinning Disc Reactors
Rotating Packed Beds
Heat Pipes
Reactive Extraction
Microreactors
Heterogeneous catalysis
Application Areas
High throughput screening
Heterogeneous Catalysis
Crystallization
Biofuels biorefining
Polymerisation
Thermal management use of waste heat
Bioprocessing
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Case Study 1 A Saponification reaction in an
Oscillatory Baffled Reactor
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OBR characteristics

• Long residence times in a compact reactor, whilst
  maintaining plug flow and good two phase mixing.
• Niche
• BATCH ? CONTINUOUS
• For long processes

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The Reaction

• Hydrolysis of a naturally occurring mixture of
  alkyl and steryl stearates, using concentrated
  sodium hydroxide in an ethanol and water solvent.
• 75 m3 Batch Reactor 50 m3 fill
• 115 oC
• 2h "reaction time in a 24h batch cycle
• Molar ratio 0.9

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Incentives for Change

• SAFETY
• Product quality
• Energy savings

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Experiments Conducted
Temperature fixed at 115 oC Molar ratios in the
range 0.6 - 1.05 Residence times in the range 8 -
25 minutes TARGET PRODUCT Desired product,
sterol A gt 23 Undesired product, sterol B lt 10
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Can it be done ?
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Effect of Temperature
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SUMMARY OBR Saponification

• The OBR could be used to perform the reaction
• ..at lower temperature
• ..with improved product quality
• ..more consistently
• ..in a reactor 1/100th the volume
• The product can be monitored
• Operation is flexible

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Biofuel Research Projects

• Reactive Extraction (Biodiesel)
• Rapeseed PhD Malaysian Govt
• Jatropha other inedible PhD UKIERI
• Reactor engineering PhD Malaysian Govt
• Algae RA Carbon Trust
• Oscillatory Baffled Reactors
• Bioethanol production PhD Nigerian Govt
• Biobutanol production PhD Malaysian Govt/TSB
• Biodiesel screening PDRA EPSRC
• Catalysis
• Heterogeneous, Biodiesel PhD EPSRC
• Vegetable oil cracking PhD Nigerian Govt
• Catalytic cracking of algae PDRA Carbon Trust
• various other biofuel/biorefining projects

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Case Study2 Direct Production of Biodiesel
from Oilseeds (Reactive Extraction)
Whole seeds
Drying

• Crushing Solvent Extraction
• capital and running cost intensive.
• usually performed in very large, centralised
  plants (to achieve economies of scale)
• Also solvent extraction uses Hexane

Maceration
CRUSHING
Hexane
Solvent Extraction
Meal
Refining
Transesterification
Glycerol
Purification
Waste water
Methanol NaOH
Biodiesel
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Biodiesel ProductionReactive Extraction
Whole seeds
Whole seeds
Drying
Grinding
Grinding
CRUSHING
Hexane
Solvent Extraction
Meal
Refining
Transesterification
Reactive Extraction
Meal
Glycerol
Purification
Purification
Waste water
Glycerol
Methanol NaOH
Waste water
Methanol NaOH
Biodiesel
Biodiesel
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Biodiesel ProductionReactive Extraction
Whole seeds
Whole seeds
1. Farm
Drying
Maceration
2. Oil plant
Maceration
CRUSHING
Hexane
Solvent Extraction
Meal
Refining
3. Biodiesel Plant
Reactive Extraction
Meal
Transesterification
Purification
Glycerol
Glycerol
Purification
Methanol NaOH
Waste water
Waste water
Methanol NaOH
Biodiesel
Biodiesel
Reactive Extraction / In situ transesterification
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Biodiesel ProductionReactive Extraction
Whole seeds
Whole seeds
Drying
Farm?
Maceration
Maceration
CRUSHING
Hexane
Solvent Extraction
Meal
Refining
Reactive Extraction
Meal
Transesterification
Purification
Glycerol
Glycerol
Purification
Methanol NaOH
Waste water
Waste water
Methanol NaOH
Biodiesel
Biodiesel
Reactive Extraction / In situ transesterification
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Biodiesel ProductionFrom Oilseed to Final
Product
Whole seeds

• Reactive Extraction Benefits
• Reduced number of unit operations (? reduced
  CapEx)
• Eliminate use of hexane
• Reduction in production cost?
• Potential for small-scale and local operation

Maceration
Reactive Extraction
Meal
Purification
Glycerol
Methanol NaOH
Waste water
Biodiesel
Reactive Extraction / In situ transesterification
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Biodiesel Direct from Seed Reactive Extraction
Alcohols Catalyst
Biodiesel
Reactive Extraction
Glycerol
Oilseeds
Meal

• Demonstrated for rapeseed and jatropha
• Reactor development underway
• More water-tolerant than conventional process
• Jatropha meal may be more edible
• May facilitate distributed production?
• Basis of biorefinery?

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Ongoing Project Algal Biofuels

• WEAB Water-tolerant Extraction of Algal Biofuels
  ()
• Aims
• Remove or reduce drying duty
• Integrate reaction with other steps
• Technologies
• Reactive Extraction
• Catalytic Cracking
• Supercritical Extraction

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Algal Biofuels

• Algae harvesting by foam fractionation
• Foam column concentrates algae
• Macroalgae gasification
• NB Newcastle University unique in having Marine
  Science and Chemical Engineering. Various
  collaborations underway and in development

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PIG Summary

• Wide range of technologies
• Wide range of application areas
• Particular focus on biofuels currently

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Before
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After
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Acknowledgments
Dr Jon Lee Dr Rabitah Zakaria Dr Anh Phan Dr
Sharon Velasquez Orta Hafizuddin Wan Yusof
Farizul Kasim Elizabeth Eterigho Nasratun
Masngut Joseph Ikwebe