Parametric Algorithm for the Study of Technical and Economic Feasibility of Biodiesel Production Plants at Small and Medium Scale in Colombia
Galeano, B.
Ladino, A.
Malagon-Romero, D.
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How to Cite

Galeano B., Ladino A., Malagon-Romero D., 2018, Parametric Algorithm for the Study of Technical and Economic Feasibility of Biodiesel Production Plants at Small and Medium Scale in Colombia, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 65, 505-510.
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Abstract

Production of biodiesel in Colombia employs as raw material palm oil. However, production costs can be reduced by using wasted cooking oil (WCO). The objective of this paper is the development of a parametric algorithm for the technical and economic analysis of the implementation of a new biodiesel production plant by, alkali transesterification process using waste cooking oil (WCO) for small and medium scale facility. The computational tool determines the internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV) as economic indicators and the specification of the equipment, plant capacity and energy consumption as technical results for the feasibility analysis as function of the quantity of WCO to storage per month and WCO price. The methodology to estimate the costs involving the biodiesel plant was supported on the technical and economic studies presented in the literature in order to determine the percentage each factor such over the total capital investment cost. Factors such as maintenance, operation costs, acquisition and total equipment cost. The methodology determines the dimension of the equipment for each plant capacity: Storage tanks, flow rate of the centrifuges and dimension of column distillation for the purification of the co-product glycerol. The obtained results show IRR in a range of 9.81% to 35.89 % for plant capacity of processing 1 million to 3 million of WCO liters collected in Bogotá D.C (Colombia), respectively in a project period of 15 years. The NPV obtained was in the range US$ 5.71 million - US$ 89.68 million. The feasibility of this project is possible when WCO prices would be lower than US$ 0.2/liter and the volume of WCO collected upper to 720,000 liters/month.
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