Analysis of potential technological schemes for the development of oil palm industry in Colombia: A biorefinery point of view

Abstract

In this work, two biorefineries based on oil palm were designed, assessed and compared in order to establish the best route to transforms this feedstock into biodiesel, alcohols and other added value products. The first integration approach considers the simultaneous production of biodiesel and ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass and glycerol. The second integration approach includes palm oil fractionation, biodiesel production and Biomass Fired Cogeneration using a gasification technology. These two integration alternatives were analyzed according to their potential income (total sales/total production cost ratio), and environmental impact (WAR algorithm). The total sales/total production cost ratio obtained for the integrated approaches were 1.88 and 3.33 respectively. The potential environmental impacts (PEI/tonne) were 90 and 240 respectively. The economic and environmental assessment revealed a better global performance for the second integrated approach. In this sense, a biorefinery with a major number of products and low energy consumption is an important option for the development of oil palm industry. The latter is due to the maximum utilization this feedstock. On the other hand, a food product can be granted with the production of palm olein fraction.