Effectiveness of Spiral Reactor for Biodiesel Production Using Supercritical t-Butyl Methyl Ether (MTBE)

A new approach to non-catalytic biodiesel production under supercritical conditions of t-butyl methyl ether (MTBE) using a novel spiral reactor is proposed. Previously, canola oil was reacted with MTBE under supercritical conditions to generate fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and glycerol t-butyl ether (GTBE). To conduct this reaction more effectively, a novel spiral reactor that could also serve as heat exchanger was employed in this study. Using a pressure of 10 MPa and an oil-to-MTBE molar ratio of 1 : 40, experiments were performed at 250-400 °C over 6-30 min. Complete conversion to FAME (FAME yield of 1.00 mol/mol) was rapidly achieved in 20 min at 385 °C. The results revealed that the spiral reactor is superior to a conventional reactor because of the improved FAME yield and thermal efficiency.