Simulation and life cycle assessment of process design alternatives for biodiesel production from waste vegetable oils

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2010

Autores

Sérgio Morais (Autor) FEUP; Teresa M. Mata (Autor) FEUP; António A. Martins (Autor) FEUP; Gilberto A. Pinto (Autor) FEUP; Carlos A. V. Costa (Autor) FEUP

Revista

Título: Journal of Cleaner Production

Páginas: 1251-1259

ISSN: 0959-6526

Editora: Elsevier

Indexação

ISI Web of Science

Scopus

COMPENDEX

INSPEC

Classificação Científica

FOS: Ciências da engenharia e tecnologias > Engenharia do ambiente

CORDIS: Ciências Tecnológicas

Outras Informações

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.04.014

Abstract (EN): This study uses the process simulator ASPEN Plus® and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare three process design alternatives for biodiesel production from waste vegetable oils that are: the conventional alkali-catalyzed process including a free fatty acids (FFAs) pre-treatment, the acid-catalyzed process, and the supercritical methanol process using propane as co-solvent. Results show that the supercritical methanol process using propane as co-solvent is the most environmentally favorable alternative. Its smaller steam consumption in comparison with the other process design alternatives leads to a lower contribution to the potential environmental impacts (PEI’s). The acid-catalyzed process generally shows the highest PEI’s, in particular due to the high energy requirements associated with methanol recovery operations.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica