1

Department of Chemical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University

Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Plantwide control structure design for an acid-catalyzed process to

produce biodiesel from used palm oil

Adviser : Dr. Soorathep Kheawhom

Presented by

Teerapan Rujirachun

2

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions

● Introduction

3

4

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions

● Theory

5

Alcohol Vegetable oil

or Animal fat

Glycerol

Catalyst

Biodiesel

Transesterification

6

Effect of Alkali-Catalyst

7

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions

● Biodiesel plant

8

Biodiesel Production

Prepare waste cooking oil and other chemical

Transesterification

Separate Biodiesel from Glycerol

Catalyst Removal

Biodiesel Purification

Glycerine Purification

9

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions

● Steady State Simulation

10

Biodiesel Production

Mixing Transesterification

Heat Exchanger

Recycle Methanol

Methanol Recovery

Acid Removal

CaO + H2SO4 ↔ CaSO4 + H2O

Water Washing

Glycerol Purification

Biodiesel Purification

11

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions

● Dynamic State Simulation

12

Plantwide Control Procedure

Establish control objectives

Determine control degrees of freedom

Establish energy management system

Luyben &Tyreus 1998

13

Plantwide Control Procedure

Establish energy management system

14

Plantwide Control Procedure

Set production rate

15

Plantwide Control Procedure

Set production rate

16

Plantwide Control Procedure

Set production rate

Control product quality and handle safety, operational, and

environmental constraints

17

Plantwide Control Procedure

Control product quality

18

Plantwide Control Procedure

Set production rate

Control product quality and handle safety, operational, and

environmental constraints

Fix a flow in every recycle loop and control inventories

19

Plantwide Control ProcedureFix a flow in every recycle

loop and control inventories

20

Plantwide Control Procedure

Check component balances

21

Plantwide Control Procedure

Check component balances

Used palm oilMethanol

Sulfuric acid

22

Plantwide Control Procedure

Check component balances

Control individual unit operation

Optimize economic and

improve dynamic

controllability

23

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions ● Results and discussion

24

Disturbance testThe control structure of

Biodiesel production process

25

Disturbance test

Increase heat load disturbance of hot stream

26

Disturbance test

Change in feedstock before inlet reactor

27

Outline

● Introduction

● Theory

● Biodiesel plant

● Steady State Simulation

● Dynamic State Simulation

● Results and discussion

● Conclusions

● Conclusions

28

Conclusions

• The control structure of this process can control purity of Biodiesel product greater than 99.65%wt. and glycerine by-product greater than 92%wt. (ASTM specifications)

• The control structure can control to achieve the control objective then change in load disturbance and change in feedstock before inlet reactor for transesterification.

29

THANK YOU FOR

YOUR ATTENTION