Integrated flow reactor that combines high-shear mixing and microwave irradiation for biodiesel production

• The combination of HSM-MW flow system for biodiesel production has been proposed.
• Highly efficient mass and heat transfer in transesterification reaction.
• The hybrid reactor enables a complete conversion in 5 min reaction time.
• The new system halved the energy consumption of conventional processes.

A new simple flow system which is made up of a multi-rotor high-shear mixer connected to a multimode microwave reactor has been assembled. This simple loop reactor has been successfully used in the NaOH-catalyzed transesterification of refined palm oil in methanol. Thanks to optimal mass/heat transfer, full conversion was achieved within 5 min (biodiesel yield of 99.80%). High-quality biodiesel was obtained that is in accordance with international specifications and analytical ASTM standards. The procedure's high efficiency and low energy consumption should pave the way for process scale up.

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