@Article{jrm.2023.024429,
AUTHOR = {Tobias Drieschner, Andreas Kandelbauer, Bernd Hitzmann, Karsten Rebner},
TITLE = {Process Characterization of the Transesterification of Rapeseed Oil to Biodiesel Using Design of Experiments and Infrared Spectroscopy},
JOURNAL = {Journal of Renewable Materials},
VOLUME = {11},
YEAR = {2023},
NUMBER = {4},
PAGES = {1643--1660},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/jrm/v11n4/50697},
ISSN = {2164-6341},
ABSTRACT = {For optimization of production processes and product quality, often knowledge of the factors influencing the process outcome is compulsory. Thus, process analytical technology (PAT) that allows deeper insight into the process
and results in a mathematical description of the process behavior as a simple function based on the most important process factors can help to achieve higher production efficiency and quality. The present study aims at characterizing a well-known industrial process, the transesterification reaction of rapeseed oil with methanol to
produce fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) for usage as biodiesel in a continuous micro reactor set-up. To this
end, a design of experiment approach is applied, where the effects of two process factors, the molar ratio and
the total flow rate of the reactants, are investigated. The optimized process target response is the FAME mass fraction in the purified nonpolar phase of the product as a measure of reaction yield. The quantification is performed
using attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy in combination with partial least squares regression. The
data retrieved during the conduction of the DoE experimental plan were used for statistical analysis. A non-linear
model indicating a synergistic interaction between the studied factors describes the reactor behavior with a high
coefficient of determination (R<sup>²</sup>) of 0.9608. Thus, we applied a PAT approach to generate further insight into this
established industrial process.},
DOI = {10.32604/jrm.2023.024429}
}