ABSTRACT
The mathematical models describing the process of transformation of technical animal fats under the influence of alcohol and catalyst in biodiesel were presented. A mathematical model describing chemical kinetics of transesterification of technical animal fats for biodiesel production was developed. The model is based on the reverse mechanism of transesterification reactions and describes the concentration changes dynamics of triglycerides, diglycerides, monoglycerides, and biodiesel and glycerol production. Reaction rate constants were written in the Arrhenius form. An analysis of key process variables such as temperature and molar ratio soybean oil-alcohol using response surface analysis was performed to achieve the maximum animal fats conversion rate to biodiesel. The predictive power of the developed model was checked for the very wide range of operational conditions and parameters values by fitting different experimental results for homogeneous catalytic and non-catalytic processes published in the literature. Mathematical description of the technological process of transformation of fats of animal origin with high content of free fatty acids in the production of biodiesel was presented, taking into account physical and chemical mechanics of raw materials, reagents and determined rational parameters of the process of transformation of raw materials.
