Title: Biodiesel production from engineered sugarcane lipids under uncertain feedstock compositions: Process design and techno-economic analysis

Abstract

In this study, different process schemes were designed and evaluated for biodiesel production from engineered cane lipids with uncertain fatty acid compositions. Four different process schemes were compared under (i) thermal glycerolysis and (ii) enzymatic glycerolysis approaches. These schemes were based on the biodiesel yield and economic indicators such as the net present value (NPV) and the minimum selling price (MSP) of biodiesel. A scheme with polar lipid separation under thermal glycerolysis resulted in the maximum NPV ($$\$$96.5$ million) and minimum MSP ($$\$$1107$ /ton biodiesel), respectively. Through local sensitivity analysis, it was concluded that the cane lipid percentage is the most significant factor influencing process economics. A conjoint analysis of the lipid procurement price and cane lipid percent suggested that 15% cane lipids with a low lipid procurement price ($$\$$0.536$ /kg) results in a positive NPV. When the cane lipid price is higher (> $$\$$0.80$ /kg), a 20% lipid content should be considered to achieve a positive NPV. At 20% cane lipids, the worst-case and best-case scenarios were evaluated by analyzing the interplay of the three most important parameters, Here, the best-case scenario revealed that the minimum NPV under any process scheme could yield more than $$\$$100$ million (or MSP: $$\$$0.80$ /L), and the worst-case analysis showed that losses incurred by the plant could be as high as 80 million (MSP: $$\$$1.36$ /L). A Monte Carlo simulation indicated that there is a 70% chance of the plant being profitable (NPV > 0).

Authors:

Arora, Amit ^[1]; Singh, Vijay ^[2]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai (India); Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States)
2. University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)

Publication Date:

Wed Oct 07 00:00:00 EDT 2020

Research Org.:

Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Urbana, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

OSTI Identifier:

1764244

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1991868; OSTI ID: 2325443

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0018420

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Applied Energy

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 280; Journal ID: ISSN 0306-2619

Publisher:

Elsevier

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

09 BIOMASS FUELS; Biofuels; Biodiesel; Techno-economic analysis; Engineered sugarcane; Monte Carlo