GREEN FUELS Ltd. Green Fuels House, Unit 21, Oldends Industrial Estate, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, GL10 3RQ Tel: 01453 828003 Fax: 01453 823350 Web: www.greenfuels.co.uk E-mail: info@greenfuels.co.uk Registered in England & Wales: 45755217
Introduction
Green Fuels has now established a unique position in the Biofuels industry in Europe. From the company’s corporate headquarters in Gloucestershire it has the ability to provide turnkey biofuels solutions for Biodiesel, Bioethanol and Biogas with a range of proven operating technology. Building upon experience gained in the development of the larger Continuous Flow (CF) range of processors Green Fuel’s engineers have developed the Fuelmatic Processer which can produce biodiesel to the European standard EN:14214.
Overview
The Green Fuels FuelMatic plugged batch biodiesel system uses innovative technology scaled down from our larger continuous flow range of plants.
Oil Pre-Heat
The input oil is preheated with an insulated stainless steel pre-heat tank to a reaction temperature of 65oC. The heated oil is held within this vessel in advance of processing through tranesterification.
Transesterification
The transesterification of the raw oil is achieved by using potassium methylate as the catalyst. Methanol, the catalyst solution and the input oil is mixed in the transesterification reactor. The precipitation and separation of the biodiesel and glycerine phases takes place through our continuous flow glycerine separator. The glycerine phase will be discharged from this tank. The biodiesel is then passed into the secondary separation tank to ensure highest product yields.
For removing the dissolved catalyst and the produced soaps, the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) has to be purified. Soaps are mainly responsible for the coking residue and have to be removed in accordance to the biodiesel norm EN 14214. Rather than using water in this process we have employed the use of a specifically designed ion exchange resin, AmberliteTM BD10DRYTM. After the separator the raw biodiesel is heated in a vacuum tank to remove residual methanol it is then passed through the column at a controlled rate and pressure to ensure there is sufficient residence time for the resin to work to its best effect.
Once the biodiesel has passed through the column it is then discharged to the storage vessel.
Process control system
The process control system allows the automatic operation of the biodiesel plant. With a fully automated system the plant operators are just necessary for the supervision of the process, the product quality analysis and for maintenance and service. The complete system is designed in accordance with all necessary safety-regulations.
GreenerDiesel QUALITY
The quality of the produced biodiesel will be in correspondence with the European standard DIN EN 14214. ParameterUnit Biodiesel production Amount .100% of the input oil Density 0.87 – 0.9 g/cm³ Water content < 500 ppm Flame point > 120 °C CCR < 0.30 % Neutralisation number < 0.5 mg KOH/g Free glycerine < 0.02 % Triglycerides <0.20% Methanol <0.20% Glycerine phase ~18% of the input oil Average composition: Glycerine 60-70 % Na or KOH Soaps 10-20 % Methanol 10-15% Impurities 5-10%
