Castor oil biorefinery: Conceptual process design, simulation and economic analysis

A Biorefinery Approach to Biodiesel Production from Castor Plants

The high consumption of fossil fuels has significant environmental implications. An alternative to reduce the use of fossil fuels and develop ecological and economic processes is the bio-refinery approach. In the present study, the authors present the production of biodiesel from castor plants through a biorefinery approach. The process includes sub-processes associated with the integral use of castor plants, such as biodiesel production, oil extraction, fertilizer, and solid biomass production. Economic analyses show that producing only biodiesel is not feasible, but economic indicators (NPV, IRR, and profitability index) show it is much more feasible to establish businesses for the valorization of products and subproducts of castor plants, such as biomass densification. The internal rate return for the second scenario (E2) was 568%, whereas, for the first scenario (E1), it was not possible to obtain a return on investment.

Bio-based polyamide

Biobased polymers are sustainable polymers produced from renewable resources such as biomass feedstocks instead of the industrial fossil resources such as petroleum and natural gases. This trend helps in creating an environmentally friendly chemical processing that is characterized by low carbon footprint emission to the globe which in turn will limit the increase of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration even after their incineration. Synthesis of polymeric materials from biobased resources also solves the problem of polymer waste recycling. This chapter covers a basic background on the origin and importance of biobased polyamides, different synthetic routes of their starting monomeric materials obtained from biomass feedstocks, and a brief summary of the physical and chemical properties and applications of some common aliphatic, semiaromatic and fully aromatic polyamides. This chapter ends with a recent published data on the growth of the global market of biobased polyamides to emphasize on the economic importance of this manufacturing trend.

Simulation and optimization of CSTR reactor of a biodiesel plant by various plant sources using Aspen Plus

In the present paper, an integrated continuous process of biodiesel manufacturing is proposed using Aspen Plus simulator for different feedstocks. Majority of the reported simulation models in literature are design models for new processes by fixing some level of equipment performance such as the conversion in reactor. Most models assume the feed oil as pure triglycerides or some fatty acids and the biofuel as pure ester. In order to optimize the production of biodiesel, similarity with reality is necessary. For this purpose, this work uses thermophysical property estimation of glycerides, rigorous reaction kinetics, phase equilibrium for separation and purification units, and prediction of essential biodiesel fuel qualities. Detailed operating conditions, equipment designs, and properties of feed and products were obtained. The reactions and parameters kinetics were applied to represent both methanolic and ethanolic transesterification of the biodiesel production. An evaluation of optimal operating conditions (time, temperature, alcohol: oil ratio) for a CSTR reactor was determined. The optimal conversion was achieved at a temperature of 60 °C, 6.00 mol/mol alcohol-oil ratio and 2.0 h residence time when used methanol transesterification reaction as 88.19, 93.77, 89.43, and 89.25%, respectively for sunflower, soybean, palm and macauba oil, on the other hand 86.09, 80.26, 76.54, and 76.39% for transesterification ethanolic. Most of the biodiesel obtained from the simulations presented adequate according to the specifications of the D6751, ANP 45, and EN 14214 standards. Finally, the model proposed can be used for improving operations conditions, new products design and help economic analysis in continuous processes of biodiesel production.