Sariah Abang

Wax inhibitor based on ethylene vinyl acetate with methyl methacrylate and diethanolamine for crude oil pipeline

Wax precipitation and deposition is one of the most significant flow assurance challenges in the production system of the crude oil. Wax inhibitors are developed as a preventive strategy to avoid an absolute wax deposition. Wax inhibitors are polymers which can be known as pour point depressants as they impede the wax crystals formation, growth, and deposition. In this study three formulations of wax inhibitors were prepared, ethylene vinyl acetate, ethylene vinyl acetate co-methyl methacrylate (EVA co-MMA) and ethylene vinyl acetate co-diethanolamine (EVA co-DEA) and the comparison of their efficiencies in terms of cloud point¸ pour point, performance inhibition efficiency (%PIE) and viscosity were evaluated. The cloud point and pour point for both EVA and EVA co-MMA were similar, 15°C and 10-5°C, respectively. Whereas, the cloud point and pour point for EVA co-DEA were better, 10°C and 10-5°C respectively. In conclusion, EVA co-DEA had shown the best % PIE (28.42%) which indicates highest percentage reduction of wax deposit as compared to the other two inhibitors.

The Effect of Various Components of Triglycerides and Conversion Factor on Energy Consumption in Biodiesel Production

Abstract Major components of triglycerides in palm oil are palmitic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid, in which the presence of these components effects the final purity of a biodiesel. Since reaction process and type of catalyst influence the composition of the free fatty acid (FFA) ASPEN HYSYS was used to simulate a biodiesel production process. Furthermore, higher yield of biodiesel was desired to increase its efficiency as fuel application. Palm oil was taken as the raw material at different components of FFA wt% by using sulphated zirconium (SZ) as the catalyst. Three simulations of biodiesel production processes were performed using ASPEN HYSYS based on 99 % of conversion factor to determine the energy consumption and the results were compared. The conversion factor for each component and the mixture of all of the components was discussed. Results showed that triolein with 0.12 wt% of oleic acid produced 99.75 % of biodiesel, while tripalmitin with 0.5 wt% of palmitic acid is the most abundant FFA in palm oil producing 99.67 % of biodiesel. The total energy consumption in the three processes were different because, different types of feedstocks and unit operations arrangements have been used.

Synthesis and characterization of metal oxide promoted alumina catalyst for biofuel production

Alumina has been widely used as a support in catalysis process which owing to its extremely thermal and mechanical stability, high surface area, large pore size and pore volume. The aim of this study was to synthesize calcium oxide-supported basic alumina catalysts (CaO/Al2O3) by impregnation method and to characterize the properties of the catalyst based on its surface area and porosity, functional group, surface morphology and particle size. Impregnation method was chosen for the synthesization of catalyst which involved contacting the support with the impregnating solution for a particular period of time, drying the support to remove the imbibed liquid and calcination process. In the preparation of catalyst, catalytic performance of CaO/Al2O3 catalyst was measured at different calcined temperatures (650°C, 750°C and 800°C). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and particle size analyzer (Zetasizer) was used to characterize the catalyst. The highest total specific area and the total porosity of the catalyst was obtained at 750oC. FTIR analysis basically studied on the functional groups present in each catalyst synthesized, while SEM analysis was observed to have pores on its surface. Moreover, CaO/Al2O3 catalysts at 650°C produced the smallest particle size (396.1 mn), while at 750°C produced the largest particle size (712.4 mn). Thus it can be concluded that CaO/Al2O3 catalysts has great potential coimnercialization since CaO has attracted many attentions compared to other alkali earth metal oxides especially on the transesterification reaction.