Energy integration of a hydrotreating process for the production of biojet fuel

Biojet fuel has been identified as the most promissory alternative to reduce CO2 emissions in the aviation sector, which contributes about 2% of the total emissions of carbon dioxide. There are several processes available for the production of biojet fuel; nevertheless, the hydrotreating process is one of the most promising, since it can be adapted to the existing refinery infrastructure and it is also certified by ASTM. Biojet fuel, nevertheless, is still not economically competitive with the conventional, petroleum-based jet fuel. Thereby, in this work we propose the energy integration of the hydrotreating process considering Jatropha Curcas as renewable raw material. We present a kinetic model for the reactive section, in order to estimate the energy released by the process, which is used to partially satisfy the energy requirements of the purification section. Finally, the effect of the energy integration on the price of biojet fuel is analyzed. Results show that the cost per liter of biojet fuel is very close to the cost of the fossil one, when the energy generated in the process is used. Thus, through a proper energy integration on the production process, the cost of biojet fuel can be competitive with that of the fossil jet fuel.