2012 Volume 55 Issue 6 Pages 358-362
In biodiesel fuel (BDF) production, dehydration is an essential process to maintain the quality. The dehydration using a desiccant for BDF is expected to save energy compared to conventional heating treatment. However, dehydration of BDF using desiccant has not been reported. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to verify the possibility of BDF dehydration using desiccant experimentally. Molecular sieve is employed as the desiccant, and its adsorption isotherm is determined. Packed bed is employed to demonstrate that continuous dehydration is possible, and the breakthrough curve is obtained. Furthermore, it is revealed that regeneration of the molecular sieve is possible at least 18 times by washing with the diesel oil and heating.
