Development of a novel process for biodiesel production from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD)

A novel process for the non-catalytic esterification of PFAD (palm fatty acid distillate) has been developed through theoretical modeling and experimental studies. The detailed reaction kinetics and effect of reaction temperature on the performance of processes are fully analyzed. Distillation is employed to purify palm biodiesel product produced from the reactor, and it has been demonstrated that biodiesel product from the developed process meets European standard of EN 14214, while 91.2% of biodiesel product yield was obtained. Process modeling and simulation of the developed process with the production capacity of 8000 t . yr(-1), have been made, which allows to carry out rigorous techno-economic analysis for evaluating cost-effectiveness of the proposed process and comparing it with those of other processes. The estimated capital cost of a new process is $1.63 x 10(6) which requires 20.7% more than that of the alkali-catalyzed process, but 22.4% less than that of the supercritical process. For total manufacturing cost, a new process is estimated to be about 25% cheaper than the other two processes. Under the current market situations, the developed process has competitive relative payback years and break-even prices, against the other two processes, which clearly shows the competitiveness of the proposed process. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.