• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.762-767
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• 2009

In this study, the feasibility of using vegetable oil extracted from tropical crop seed as a biodiesel feedstock was investigated by producing biodiesel and analysing the quality parameters as a transport fuel. In order to produce biodiesel efficiently, two step reaction process(pre-treatment and transesterificaion) was required because the tropical crop oil have a high content of free fatty acids. To determine the suitable acid catalyst for the pre-esterification, three kinds of acid catalysts were tested and sulfuric acid was identified as the best catalyst. After constructing the experimental matrix based on RSM and analysing the statistical data, the optimal pre-treatment conditions were determined to be 26.7% of methanol and 0.982% of sulfuric acid. Trans-esterification experiments of the pre-esterified oil based on RSM were carried out, then discovered 1.24% of KOH catalyst and 22.76% of methanol as the optimal trans-esterification conditions. However, the quantity of KOH was higher than the previously established KOH concentration of our team. So, we carried out supplemental experiment to determine the quantity of catalyst and methanol. As a result, the optimal transesterification conditions were determined to be 0.8% of KOH and 16.13% of methanol. After trans-esterification of tropical crop oil, the produced biodiesel could meet the major quality standard specifications; 100.8% of FAME, 0.45 mgKOH/g of acid value, 0.00% of water, 0.04% of total glycerol, $4.041mm^2/s$ of kinematic viscosity(at $40^{\circ}C$).

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.309-315
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• 2022

Research was conducted to derive the optimal operation conditions and the optimal cathode for using a DSA electrode as an anode to minimize electrode consumption during the removal of nitrogen from wastewater by the electro-chemical method. Of the various electrodes tested as cathodes, brass was determined to be the optimal electrode. It had the highest NO₃-N removal rate and the lowest concentration of residual NH₃-N, a by-product when Cl is present in the solution. Investigating the effect of current density found that when the initial concentration of NO₃-N was 50 mg L^-1, the optimal current density was 15 mA cm^-2. In addition, current densities above 15 mA cm^-2 did not significantly affect the NO₃-N removal rate. The effect of electrolytes on removing NO₃-N and minimizing NH₃-N was investigated by using Na₂SO₄ and NaCl as electrolytes and varying the reaction times. When Na₂SO₄ and NaCl are mixed at a ratio of 1.0 g L^-1 to 0.5 g L^-1 and reacted for 90 min at a current density of 15 mA cm^-2 and an initial NO₃-N concentration of 50 mg L^-1, the removal rate of NO₃-N was about 48% and there was no residual NH₃-N. On the other hand, when using only 1.5 g L^-1 of NaCl as an electrolyte, the removal rate of NO₃-N was the highest at about 55% and there was no residual NH₃-N.