Modelagem e simulação de reatores tubulares com promotor de mistura de inertes

• Ano de defesa: 2018
• Autor(a) principal: Santiago, Luiz Eduardo Pereira
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Brasil; UFRN; PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ENGENHARIA QUÍMICA
• Palavras-chave em Português: Transesterificação; Supercrítico; Reator leito fixo; Otimização; Modelagem; CNPQ::ENGENHARIAS::ENGENHARIA QUIMICA
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/25109

The continuous process of transesterification at supercritical conditions in tubular reactors rises as a new technology that will ensure viable large-scale biodiesel production. The idiosyncrasies of this process are related to the simplified separation processes, use of low quality feedstock, catalyst free and short reaction time (compared to the conventional processes). In these kinds of studies, the recent breakthroughs demonstrate that an inert bed (mixing promoters) may be a feasible alternative to enhance tubular reactor performance when operated at supercritical conditions. However, a rigorous phenomenological analysis forthis new process layout is scarce in literature, which creates some limitations for a complete understanding of the process. Thus, the main objective of the current work is to develop a mathematical model of the process and analyze triglyceride alcoholysis at supercritical conditions using a continuous tubular reactor packed with glass spheres. The operating variables evaluated are temperature (300, 350 and 400 °C), volumetric flowrate (0.5 mL/min and 1.0 mL/min) and bed porosity (0.42, 0.38 and 0.32). The experimental data were evaluated for the oil /alcohol molar ratio of 1:40 and operating pressure of 15 MPa. The model parameters were estimated using the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), which is a classical heuristic optimization technique. The phenomenological characteristics were analyzed based on the description of multiple gradients along with the false-transient method. The results obtained by the model were able to predict 98% of the experimental data. The higher conversions in esters were achieved for the highest temperature and lowest porosity.