Newcastle UniversityProcess Intensification Group

Adam Harvey

Process Intensification Group

Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials

Newcastle University

“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

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

PI @ 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

Case Study 1: A Saponification reaction in an Oscillatory Baffled Reactor

OBR characteristics

Long residence times in a compact reactor, whilst maintaining plug flow

and good two phase mixing.

Niche:

BATCH CONTINUOUS

For “long” processes

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

Incentives for Change

1.SAFETY2.Product quality

3. Energy savings

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 > 23 %

Undesired product, sterol B < 10 %

Can it be done ?

0.00

5.00

10.00

15.00

20.00

25.00

30.00

0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 16.00 18.00 20.00

% Sterol 'B' in Product

Effect of Temperature

75.00

80.00

85.00

90.00

95.00

100.00

0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00

Percentage Conversion of B

115, 0.9

115, 1.0

85, 0.9

85, 1.0

S2=95% Conversion

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

Biofuel Research Projects

1. Reactive Extraction (Biodiesel)1. Rapeseed [PhD] Malaysian Govt2. Jatropha + other inedible [PhD] UKIERI3. Reactor engineering [PhD] Malaysian Govt4. Algae [RA] Carbon Trust

2. Oscillatory Baffled Reactors:1. Bioethanol production [PhD] Nigerian Govt2. Biobutanol production [PhD] Malaysian Govt/TSB3. Biodiesel screening [PDRA] EPSRC

3. Catalysis:1. Heterogeneous, Biodiesel [PhD] EPSRC2. Vegetable oil cracking [PhD] Nigerian Govt3. Catalytic cracking of algae [PDRA] Carbon Trust

+ various other biofuel/biorefining projects

14

Case Study2 : Direct Production of Biodiesel from Oilseeds (“Reactive Extraction”)

Whole seeds

Transesterification

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

Drying

Solvent Extraction

Hexane

Purification

Biodiesel

Glycerol

Waste water

Maceration

CRUSHING

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

Refining

15

Biodiesel Production:Reactive Extraction

Waste water

Whole seeds

Reactive Extraction

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

Purification Glycerol

Grinding

Waste water

Biodiesel

Whole seeds

Transesterification

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

Drying

Solvent Extraction

Hexane

Purification

Biodiesel

Glycerol

Grinding

CRUSHING

Refining

16

Biodiesel Production:Reactive Extraction

Reactive Extraction / In situ transesterification

Waste water

Whole seeds

Reactive Extraction

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

PurificationGlycerol

Maceration

Waste water

Biodiesel

Whole seeds

Transesterification

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

Drying

Solvent Extraction

Hexane

Purification

Biodiesel

Glycerol

Maceration

CRUSHING

Refining

1. Farm

2. Oil plant

3. Biodiesel Plant

17

Biodiesel Production:Reactive Extraction

Reactive Extraction / In situ transesterification

Waste water

Whole seeds

Reactive Extraction

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

PurificationGlycerol

Maceration

Waste water

Biodiesel

Whole seeds

Transesterification

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

Drying

Solvent Extraction

Hexane

Purification

Biodiesel

Glycerol

Maceration

CRUSHING

Refining

Farm?

18

Biodiesel Production:From Oilseed to Final Product

Reactive Extraction / In situ transesterification

Whole seeds

Reactive Extraction

Methanol+ NaOH

Meal

PurificationGlycerol

Maceration

Waste water

Biodiesel

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

Biodiesel Direct from Seed: “Reactive Extraction”

• 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?

Reactive Extractio

n

Alcohols + Catalyst

BiodieselGlycerolMeal

Oilseeds

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

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

PIG: Summary

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

Before

After

Acknowledgments

Dr Jon LeeDr Rabitah ZakariaDr Anh PhanDr Sharon Velasquez OrtaHafizuddin Wan Yusof Farizul KasimElizabeth EterighoNasratun MasngutJoseph Ikwebe