Biodiesel production from cottonseed oil and palm oil using reactive distillation column

The main goal of this work is to present a comparative study of biodiesel production using reactive distillation column and  two types of raw materials. Transesterification reactions were carried out using palm oil and cottonseed oil with bioethanol from sugar cane in presence of sodium hydroxide as catalyst. Reactive distillation is characterized by simultaneous implementation of reaction and separation within a single column. Experimental design was used in order to optimize the process variables of biodiesel production. The best ester (biodiesel) conversion was 98.7 wt% after 6 minutes of reaction, obtained with cotton seed oil. The use of reactive distillation process to biodiesel production leads to a more efficient process than the conventional transesterification.