Objetivo Construction and operation of the first pre-industrial plant for the production of rape methyl ester made from rapeseed oil with a capacity of 20.000 tonnes per annum. Around 20.000 ha of fallow land are used to grow the rape.An innovative esterification process from IFP is used at industrial scale. It combines the use of an alkaline catalyst and a purification step avoiding the distillation stage traditionally used for the glycerine purification.The project includes tests of the rape methyl ester -also called Diester- for the substitution of diesel fuel in transportation fleets and on motor-engine test beds. For the tests, Diester is blend to diesel oil at various rates from 10 to 100%. The innovation lies here in the large scale of the tests.The plant up start in autumn 1992 for the production of 20000 tpa of Diester from the energy set aside of 20000 hectares of rape land. The rape is grown on the 13 regions of the northern part of France and is supplied by 90 collectors.Some modifications were necessary during the first months of operation. Nominal production capacity was reached in September 1993 and the regular operation of the plant started from this date.During the year 1993, 9500 t of semirefined oil were processed and a production of 9200 t of ester and 1500 t of glycerine was achieved. The quality of the products is continuously monitored; acid index, water and natrium content, ester, mono- and tri-glyceride contents are regularly analysed. The perfect control of the acidity has been reached after 200 batch production cycles.The first data from the nominal operation of the plant from September to December 1993 are the following :- average production : 92,5% of the nominal capacity (one week holiday is included)- weight balance : production of 0,988 tonne of Diester per tonne of semirefined oil- electricity consumption : 92,2 kWh per tonne of diester produced- natural gas consumption : 527 kWh per tonne of diester producedFIXED EXPENSES based on the nominal operation of the plant are slightly lower than expected and amount to around 700 FF/t. PROPORTIONAL EXPENSES are largely below budgetary estimates even if the cost of the raw materials were higher than expected. On other hand, specific energy consumption is much lower than previously estimated; electricity and gas expenses amount respectively to one half and to 73% of the initial budget.Standardised laboratory and bench tests were made by UTAC with an urban bus to compare the performance and the emission of the engine when it use diesel fuel and mixtures of diesel fuel and diester. Tests on the AQA cycle show no significant difference between the fuels excepting a slight difference for particles emission. The "13 modes cycle" shows small increase of NOx emission and decrease of particulate together with the increase of diester content in the blend.For non regulated pollutants, certain changes can be observed with the use of diester : a decrease of N2O and particularly at low running; a notable decrease of the gaseous PAH emissions while the total particulate PAH remains stable.At the beginning of 1994, more than 30 big French cities use the Diester in blends at various rates (from 5 to 33%) for their urban fleet. No problem of consumption and of lubrication was found.The plant can be described as a succession of different sections which are the following :section 100 - the section of the batch reaction includes 3 vessels working by cycles of 3 hours duration. The first reactor is filled up with a blend of rapeseed oil and methanol. The catalyst is then added and the reaction is activated by a heating to 75 deg. C then by a cooling to 55 deg. C. The liquid is emptied into a decanter. Glycerine is extracted and stored. The ester phase containing soda, methanol and glycerol is washed and neutralised with acidic water (H2SO4) in a new vessel.section 200 - a continuous process allows the purification of 3 t/h of ester by the distillation under vacuum of excess methanol. The ester is cooled, filtered and directly stored. No addition of anti-oxidising agent is necessary.section 300 - is the glycerine treatment plant. Initially design to produce an 80% purity glycerine, it has been adapted to a 65% grade. Methanol is firstly removed from the initial glycerine phase in an evaporator and the glycerine phase is neutralised by batch and by addition of sulphuric acid. Fatty acids are separated in a decanter and the flow enter a new column for a vacuum concentration. The glycerine is finally extracted with 30% of water and 5% of natrium sulphate. In the near future, concentration of the glycerine of 80% will be achieved by means of a centrifuge.section 400 - The glycerine phase flows through ion exchangers columns to eliminate Na+ and SO4-- ions. The regeneration effluent flows to the methanol recovery section.section 500 - the catalyst is prepared by batch in this section. Soda is generally used but interesting results have been achieved with CH3ONa.Major storage are for the rapeseed oil (500 m3), the ester (1000 m3), glycerine (200 m3). Smaller tanks are used for acid (10 m3), intermediary products (2 x 50 m3) and methanol (80 m3) which is underground. Programa(s) ENG-THERMIE 1 - Programme (EEC) for the promotion of energy technology in Europe (THERMIE), 1990-1994 Tema(s) 1.8 - THERMO-CHEMICAL TREATMENT Convocatoria de propuestas Data not available Régimen de financiación DEM - Demonstration contracts Coordinador ROBBE SA Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección B.P. 609 60206 COMPIEGNE Francia Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos
