Simulation and economic study of biodiesel production process with supercritical methanol in different ratios of methanol to oil

Increasing uncertainty about global energy production and supply, environmental concerns due to the use of fossil fuels, and the high price of petroleum products are the major reasons to search for alternatives to Petro diesel. Biodiesel fuel has become more attractive because of its environmental benefits, due to the fact that plants and vegetable oils and animal fats are renewable biomass sources. In this research, five processes have been simulated for the production of biodiesel using waste vegetable oil and supercritical methanol by HYSYS. We examined the amount of energy consumed in each process and the required cost using Aspen In-plant cost estimator. Finally, the existing processes were examined by an economic analysis and the benefits of each process to find the optimal process. The results showed that biodiesel production processes with the conversion percentages of ۹۶ and ۹۱ have the lowest and highest energy consumption, respectively, and also with increasing the amount of biodiesel produced, the process costs increase and by performing economic calculations, it was concluded that the process with ۹۷ conversion percentage is an optimal process.

Keywords:

Biodiesel fuel , Process simulation , Energy consumption , Economic analysis , ,