Optimal scheduling and operation of biodiesel plants with multiple feedstocks

Abstract

Various feedstocks may be utilised to produce biodiesel. These include soybean, palm, sunflower, jatropha, rapeseed and safflower oils, as well as waste oil from the food industry. With changing prices, supply and demand of feedstocks, a need exists to consider various feedstocks options for biodiesel production. The objective of this work is to develop a systematic procedure for scheduling and operation of flexible biodiesel plants accommodating a variety of feedstocks. This work employs a holistic approach and a combination of process simulation, synthesis and integration techniques to provide: 1) process simulation of a biodiesel plant for various feedstocks, 2) integration of energy and mass resources, 3) optimisation of process design and scheduling, 4) techno-economic and environmental assessment and sensitivity analysis of proposed schemes. An optimisation formulation is developed to determine scheduling and operation for various feedstocks. A case study is solved to illustrate the merits of the devised procedure.