Enhancing Sustainable Production of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester from Palm Oil Using Bio-Based Heterogeneous Catalyst: Process Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis

A new sustainable solid carbon catalyst has been developedforbiodiesel synthesis using pyrolytic coconut shell ash (CSA). The CSAsupport was loaded with various amounts of potassium carbonate (K2CO3), and response surface methodology with a centralcomposite design was used to optimize the transesterification process.The best-performing catalyst was the 30 wt % K2CO3/CSA catalyst. The optimal conditions included a catalyst loadingof 3.27 wt %, methanol:oil molar ratio of 9.98:1, reaction time of74 min, and temperature of 65 & DEG;C, resulting in an obtained biodieselyield of 97.14%. This catalyst was reusable for up to four cycles,but a reduction in the biodiesel yield was observed due to potassiumion leaching during the recovery process. A techno-economic analysisto assess the financial viability of the project revealed a net presentvalue of 5.16 million USD for a project lifetime of 20 years, a paybackperiod time of 2.49 years, and an internal rate of return of 44.2%.An environmental assessment to evaluate the impact of global warmingpotential from the production of biodiesel revealed a lower levelof carbon dioxide emission (1401.86 ton/y) than in the conventionalprocess (1784.6 ton/y).