An integrated sustainable biorefinery concept towards achieving zero-waste production. (15th February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ullah, Humzaa Imtiaz; Dickson, Rofice; Mancini, Enrico; Malanca, Alina Anamaria; Pinelo, Manuel; Mansouri, Seyed Soheil
• Is Part Of: Journal of cleaner production. Volume 336(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-02-15
• Subjects: Biorefinery -- Process integration -- Bio-succinic acid -- Biodiesel -- Zero-waste -- Sustainability; Factory and trade waste -- Management -- Periodicals; Manufactures -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Déchets industriels -- Gestion -- Périodiques; Usines -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; 628.5
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.130317
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-6526

Abstract

Abstract: Biodiesel is a cleaner fuel for the transportation sector, to reduce greenhouse gases emission, and support economic development. Despite several advantages, biodiesel processing produces a significant amount of waste, mainly water and glycerol. In this study, using a circular economy approach, an integrated biodiesel biorefinery is designed and analyzed to assess whether it can lead to better economics and a zero-waste scenario. To achieve these goals, one stand-alone and three integrated scenarios were analyzed: (1) stand-alone biodiesel production; biodiesel production integrated with (2) methanol production from CO2 ; (3) bio-succinic acid production; and (4) methanol and bio-succinic acid production. Each scenario was evaluated based on rigorous profitability, sensitivity and environmental analysis. For each scenario, biodiesel's minimum selling price in USD/kg was 0.30, 0.39, 0.22 and 0.44 respectively. Thereby, making integration (3) and (4) the most and least profitable respectively. By sensitivity analysis, waste cooking oil price and total capital investment were the most sensitive variables. From sustainability perspective, the scenario (3) has a waste production of 0.68 kg/kg-product, in which wastewater is 0.55 kg/kg-product. Finally, to improve sustainability, two improvements were implemented: multi-effect evaporation and wastewater treatment. Through this implementation, the waste production was reduced by 81% to 0.13 kg-waste/kg-product. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Combination of four different integrated biorefinery designs integration of methanol, biodiesel and succinic acid production. Integration of biodiesel production with bio-succinic acid increases the NPV by 7% compared to a stand-alone biodiesel production. Biodiesel production integration with bio-succinic acid is more sustainable. Integration of biodiesel and bio-succinic acid design was improved by adding a multi-effect evaporator and wastewater treatment. Integrating biodiesel and bio-succinic acid reduced energy requirement, waste and CO2 by 22%, 80% and 20% respectively.