A Japanese research group succeeded in the pilot-scale production of biodiesel fuel at a verification test facility for the "non-catalytic superheated methanol method" for the first time in the world.
The National Food Research Institute (NFRI), the University of Tokyo, the University of Shiga Prefecture and Kajima Corp designed and built a pilot plant to continuously produce 400L of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), a biodiesel fuel, out of 500L of raw material oil every day. And they succeeded in producing FAME out of vegetable oil (new oil) and waste edible oil in the tests. They produced 425L of FAME per day in a test that used waste palm oil.
Currently, the methyl esterification, which uses alkali catalyst, is the only method practically used for the FAME production. In this method, a complicated refining process is required to remove side products, such as glycerin, and alkali catalyst from the FAME produced through the reaction.
In addition, the methyl esterification requires repeated cleaning, which results in multiple processes and a large amount of waste water, making it difficult to avoid the environmental burden arising from the FAME production process and to reduce costs.
In addition, the methyl esterification requires repeated cleaning to improve the purity of the product; as a result, the number of processes and the amount of waste water increase, making it difficult to avoid the environmental burden arising from the FAME production process as well as to reduce the costs.
In the new method, FAME is produced by reacting a material (oil) heated to a high temperature and high-temperature methanol vapor under atmospheric pressure. FAME can be produced using simple equipment because the method does not require a catalyst such as an alkali or a supercritical condition.
It produces virtually no waste water or liquid, while yielding high-purity glycerin as a side product. In addition, oils of various qualities, including waste edible oil and oil from cultivated plants, can be used as raw material.
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