Indian Institute of Petroleum develops micro-channel reactors for hydroprocessing vegetable oils

The Indian Institute of Petroleum, an institution under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-IIP), Dehradun, has developed micro-channel reactors with stable catalyst coating formulations that are used to intensify the processes involving vegetable oils.

These reactors have great impact on the product yield and conversion in hydroprocessing of vegetable oils, according to a CSIR-IIP release.

The micro-channel reactors find immediate applications as a tool to intensify the process at places where there is inadequate supply of raw material (biomass) and where transportation of feedstock (fossil fuels) is a problem.

The micro-channel reactors make these possible mainly through excellent mixing, controlled reaction environment, and energy efficiency.

The micro-channel reactors are better than the conventional (fixed bed tubular reactors) in terms of hydrodynamics and heat and mass transfer. Due to better hydrodynamics, the wall effect channeling etc in micro-channel reactors is zero. Moreover, the high surface-to-volume ratio provides better heat control, which in turn ensures proper product distribution.

The catalyst used in a micro-channel reactor is either coated on the wall or packed inside the channel. The amount of material required for micro-channel reactor, the catalyst cost and the operating cost are far less than that in case of conventional reactors.

CSIR-IIP uses micro-channel reactors to convert non-edible oil and biomass-derived oil (pyrolysis-oil), biomass-derived gases (syn-gas) and coal derived gasses (coal gasification to syn-gas) into second and third generation biofuel.

It would also facilitate onsite conversion of long chain hydrocarbons to transportation fuels on a smaller scale.

CSIR-IIP achieved process intensification for hydroprocessing of vegetable oils using micro-channel and monolithic reactors with a thin layer of catalyst coating. Use of such reactors resulted in improved reaction selectivity and throughput.