The Effects of Temperature Upon the Supercritical Water Reformation of Alcohols for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Methanol is a very common industrial chemical used in a variety of processes, one of which is the transesterification of triglycerides to make biodiesel. The crude glycerol byproduct of the transesterification reaction contains a substantial amount of methanol. Supercritical water reformation of crude glycerol presents a unique non-catalytic means of converting unwanted crude glycerol into hydrogen for use in energy applications, hence increasing the amount of usable transportation fuel that may be produced from triglycerides in biodiesel production. The effect of reformation on each of the individual components of crude glycerol must be studied individually so that a detailed analysis on the effects of reformation of crude glycerol as a whole can be performed. The effect of temperature was evaluated on the non-catalytic reformation of methanol in supercritical water. An experimental study was conducted using a 0.1-L Inconel 625 reactor at a constant pressure of 24.2 MPa and constant flow rate of 8 grams per minute. The temperature was varied between 500 and 650ï¾°C with water to methanol molar ratios ranging from 1:1 to 13:3.

Meeting Name

2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting (2010: Nov. 7-12, Salt Lake City, UT)

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Biodiesel Production; Constant Flow Rates; Constant Pressures; Crude Glycerol; Effect of Temperature; Energy Applications; Experimental Studies; Inconel; Individual Components; Molar Ratio; Non-catalytic; Supercritical Water; Transesterification Reaction; Transportation Fuels

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

12 Nov 2010

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