Abstract

A techno-economic analysis was conducted to compare 3 different processes for biodiesel production: (i) the conventional base-catalysed process (NaOH) (ii) a reactive coupling process to form glycerol carbonate (GLC) as a co-product in situ (iii) a reactive coupling to form solketal as a co-product in situ. The processes were simulated at rapeseed oil feed of 100,000 t/y. The capital investment and energy consumption of biodiesel production with associated GLC formation were found to be lower than that for the conventional process. The GLC process required $7.63 M capital investment and 2.2 MW per annum. The conventional process required $8.75 M capital investment and 5.4 MW per annum. Solketal production, however, was more capital-intensive, with $12.87 M capital investment and 25.8 MW. The 20-year net present values (NPVs) for the three biodiesel processes were: $65 M for the conventional alkali-biodiesel process, $128 M for solketal co-production and $631 M for GLC co-production. Clearly, the conversion of glycerol into higher added value species in situ can significantly increase the profitability of biodiesel production, particularly for glycerol carbonate formation.

摘要

进行了技术经济分析以比较 3 种不同的生物柴油生产工艺：(i) 传统的碱催化工艺 (NaOH) (ii) 反应偶联工艺以原位形成碳酸甘油酯 (GLC) 作为副产品( iii) 反应性偶联以在原位形成作为副产物的 solketal. 以 100,000 吨/年的菜籽油进料量模拟了这些过程。发现伴随 GLC 形成的生物柴油生产的资本投资和能源消耗低于传统工艺。GLC 流程需要 763 万美元的资本投资和 2.2 兆瓦的年发电量。传统工艺需要 875 万美元的资本投资和每年 5.4 兆瓦。然而，Solketal 生产的资本密集度更高，资本投资为 1287 万美元，装机容量为 25.8 兆瓦。三种生物柴油工艺的 20 年净现值 (NPV) 为：常规碱生物柴油工艺为 6500 万美元，solketal 联合生产为 1.28 亿美元，GLC 联合生产为 6.31 亿美元。显然，甘油就地转化为附加值更高的物质可以显着提高生物柴油生产的盈利能力，特别是对于甘油碳酸酯的形成。