Techno-economic and profitability analysis of plant for producing biodiesel from fresh vegetable oil and waste frying oil on large-scale

This article attempted to simulate and evaluate the economics of biodiesel synthesis due to the increase in air pollution caused through the use of non-renewable fuels in metropolitan areas and the growing number of diesel vehicles in the country. The purpose of the study is to compare the techno-economics of two different biodiesel production processes (the alkaline catalysis method of virgin vegetable oil and the non-catalytic supercritical methanol process of waste cooking oil) using Aspen Plus v 8.6 and COMFAR III software. According to the results of the techno-economic study, process II has fewer operating units than process I, but it has lower purity of fatty acid methyl esters and glycerol than process I. Process II also has the largest energy use. Separation units receive a considerable portion of the total equipment costs in process I (49%), which is significantly higher than process II (37%). About 76.05% and 66.28% of the total manufacturing costs were tied to the cost of the feedstock in method I and method II, respectively. In comparison to process I, process II has a greater internal rate of return (27.10%). The prices of biodiesel had the biggest influence on internal rate of return in processes. The prices of methanol and glycerol had the lowest influence on internal rate of return in process I and process II, respectively. Overall, method II appears to be more cost-effective than alkali-catalyzed process I due to decreased manufacturing costs.

Automated summary

This study compared the techno-economics of two different biodiesel production processes and found that the non-catalytic supercritical methanol process is more cost-effective than the alkaline catalysis method due to decreased manufacturing costs. Method II has a higher internal rate of return.