Development of the mathematic model through design process kinetic and process simulation of propionic acid production from glycerol derivates of biodiesel

D. G. Co�lho, B. H. Lunelli, R. Maciel Filho

Laboratory of Optimization, Design and Advanced Control, Department of Chemical Process, School of Chemical Engineering, State University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil, PO. Box 6066, ZIP 13083-970, phone: 55+19+3521-3971 dayanagusmao@yahoo.com.br

There is a large incentive for the production of propionic acid through biotechnological process especially when environmentally friend and lower cost process are desired. Taking this into consideration the use of glycerol. a by-product from biodiesel, seems to be very suitable since there exist a large amount of the material at very lower cost. In order to take decisions on the whole process development it is very helpful to have a good mathematical model of the process, including the kinetic terms.� Bearing this in mind, in this work is proposed a deterministic mathematical model of the fermentation process for a bath reactor, taking into account the mass and energy balances. A kinetic model of the process is proposed and the parameters are identified through the experimental data. The kinetic model takes into account the inhibition terms. �It is shown that it is possible to have suitable process conditions so that high conversions are achieved. �The results show that it is possible to play with process variables trough the simulation model so that a competitive green via to produce propionic acid by fermentation of glycerol can be proposed.

Keywords: glycerol, propionic acid, green via, process simulation.