Study of selective hydrogenation of biodiesel in a DBD plasma reactor

Abstract

In order to achieve selective hydrogenation of biodiesel under room temperature and normal pressure, research on upgrading soybean biodiesel using dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） reaction system were carried out. With Raney-Ni as hydrogenation catalyst, effects of operating parameters on hydrogenation depth and selectivity of biodiesel were systematically analyzed. The results show that the polyunsaturated components in soybean methyl ester (SME) were reduced by 57.04%, and polyunsaturated components were hydrogenated to monounsaturated components with a selectivity of 77.75%. Based on Gas Chromatography and Mass Spetrometry (GC-MS) test results, a kinetic model for biodiesel hydrogenation was established. Comparison of calculation and experimental results show that the hydrogenation of the biodiesel can be described by the quasi-first order reaction model. The calculated reaction rate constants indicate that under DBD plasma reaction conditions, the hydrogenation of biodiesel has high selectivity for the formation of monounsaturated components.