Techno-Economic Analysis of Interesterification for Biodiesel Production

Interesterification is an alternative reaction for the production of fatty acid alkyl esters from triglycerides, a pathway that avoids unwanted byproduct formation. In this work, the technical and economic feasibility of soybean oil interesterification for biodiesel production on a commercial scale is assessed. The interesterification kinetics of triolein (model soybean oil) and methyl acetate using ferric sulfate as a heterogeneous acid catalyst are experimentally determined, and the results are used to parameterize a kinetic model. Process simulations are developed using Aspen Plus V11 for acid and alkaline heterogeneously catalyzed interesterification plants at varying production rates and methyl acetate-to-oil molar ratios (MAOMRs). At all production capacities and MAOMRs tested, the acid-catalyzed processes are found to have more favorable process energy consumption and profitability metrics compared to the alkaline-catalyzed processes. The most economically promising design operates at a production capacity of 30,000 metric tons/yr and an MAOMR of 10:1 with a net present value of $34 million after 20 years and a biodiesel breakeven price of $0.78/kg. This case has a process energy demand of 35,000 MJ/h, resulting in a process energy ratio of 0.25. This work indicates that interesterification shows commercial viability and is a promising alternative to transesterification for biodiesel production.

Title	Techno-Economic Analysis of Interesterification for Biodiesel Production
Creator	Dougher, M.
	Soh, Lindsay
	Bala, Aseel M.
Publisher	Energy and Fuels
Academic Department	Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Division	Engineering
Organization	Lafayette College
Date Issued	2023
Date Available	2023-02-22
Type	Article
Language	English
Bibliographic Citation	Dougher, M., L. Soh, and A. M. Bala (2023) "Techno-Economic Analysis of Interesterification for Biodiesel Production." Energy and Fuels 37 (4): 2912–2925.
Standard Identifier	DOI 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.2c04029
Standard Identifier	Handle 10385/f4752j44v
Permalink	http://hdl.handle.net/10385/f4752j44v
Rights Statement	Creative Commons - Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives
Rights Holders	Soh, Lindsay
	Dougher, M.
	Bala, Aseel M.