An Overview of Simulation of Biodiesel Production using Reactive Distillation

Abstract

Biodiesel fuel is a renewable substitute for petroleum diesel. Biodiesel production from conventional feedstocks leads to high energy consumptions and high cost of production that resulted from the bottlenecks of reaction and separation processes. In this respect, reactive distillation technology is a key player that can reduce energy requirement. This work overviews the simulation of biodiesel production using intensified process, namely, reactive distillation. Moreover, the usage trend of the reactive distillation is also highlighted.

 Keywords: reactive distillation, biodiesel, simulation, Aspen Plus^® simulation