Problems of high FFA

[mathu]

I have heard that Oil from Some strains contains high FFA which create problems during the transesterification. How the algae biodiesel producers overcome it?

[DR Johansen]

I have heard that Oil from Some strains contains high FFA which create problems during the transesterification. How the algae biodiesel producers overcome it?

Chemically, transesterified biodiesel comprises a mix of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids. The most common form uses methanol (converted to sodium methoxide) to produce methyl esters as it is the cheapest alcohol available, though ethanol can be used to produce an ethyl ester biodiesel and higher alcohols such as isopropanol and butanol have also been used. Using alcohols of higher molecular weights improves the cold flow properties of the resulting ester, at the cost of a less efficient transesterification reaction. A lipid transesterification production process is used to convert the base oil to the desired esters. Any Free fatty acids (FFAs) in the base oil are either converted to soap and removed from the process, or they are esterified (yielding more biodiesel) using an acidic catalyst. After this processing, unlike straight vegetable oil, biodiesel has combustion properties very similar to those of petroleum diesel, and can replace it in most current uses.

[phyco]

Oils with 2%-15% FFA and will consume large amounts of methylate and methanol during transesterification, which produce water and soaps that contaminate, centrifuges, piping, pumps, and vessels on any future batches. Which is why high FFA containing oil are pretreated before transesterification.

[sofi]

What kind of pretreatment? How is it done? I haven't heard anything about such pretreatment done by oil from algae companies...

[phyco]

Hi,
Pretreatment involves water removal and converting FFA into useable oil. I have read that there are two methods exist for removing FFA from feedstock:

* Caustic Stripping. Caustic is used to “strip” FFA from oils. Caustic reacts with FFA to create soaps, which result in significant yield loss and creates a disposal issues with soaps that are produced
* Acid Esterification. Methanol and sulfuric acid are mixed with oils, and FFA is converted into methyl esters. This process results in no yield loss and no soap production.

[sofi]

I think origin oil is the only company to talk about neutralizing FFA.

we have not included the cost to centrifuge the algae out of the water (the most expensive part) extract the oil from the algae, esterify/neutralize the ffa’s, and convert the triglycerides into biodiesel, purify and stabilize the end product. So the price per gallon is going to be much higher than in the above calculation which is solely based on energy balance.

Source:http://biodieselfever.com/?p=389

Do you know the cost of pretreatment?

[cacofonix]

If the pretreatment you are talking about primarily involves acid esterification, the cost shouldn't be too high. My guess would be something like 10-20 c per gallon (just keep in mind that the transesterification cost is only about 20-25 c per gallon, so I'm using that as a benchmark)

[cacofonix]

I have heard that Oil from Some strains contains high FFA which create problems during the transesterification. How the algae biodiesel producers overcome it?

Chemically, transesterified biodiesel comprises a mix of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids. The most common form uses methanol (converted to sodium methoxide) to produce methyl esters as it is the cheapest alcohol available, though ethanol can be used to produce an ethyl ester biodiesel and higher alcohols such as isopropanol and butanol have also been used. Using alcohols of higher molecular weights improves the cold flow properties of the resulting ester, at the cost of a less efficient transesterification reaction. A lipid transesterification production process is used to convert the base oil to the desired esters. Any Free fatty acids (FFAs) in the base oil are either converted to soap and removed from the process, or they are esterified (yielding more biodiesel) using an acidic catalyst. After this processing, unlike straight vegetable oil, biodiesel has combustion properties very similar to those of petroleum diesel, and can replace it in most current uses.

There are a number of companies offering processes and solutions for this...will provide a list soon

[andrea38]

Hello!

I have heard about this forum,
but i have no such idea about this,
please help me,
any idea please...............

[Nicole34]

What kind of pretreatment? How is it done? I haven't heard anything about such pretreatment done by oil from algae companies...
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