A Model to Estimate Biodiesel Production Costs in India

Authors:

Devendra Vashist (Career Institute of Technology and Management, Faridabad)

Mukhtar Ahmed (Jamia Millia Islamia, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, New Delhi)

Keywords: Biodiesel; Cost estimate; Economic analysis; jatropha oil

Abstract:

Biodiesel is the name given to a renewable diesel fuel that is produced from fats and oils. It consists of the simple alkyl esters of fatty acids, most typically the methyl esters. A model has been developed to estimate the capital and operating costs of a moderately sized industrial biodiesel production facility. The major process operations in the plant were continuous- process jatropha oil transesterification,, and ester and glycerol recovery. The model was designed taking into consideration reagent used with their present cost, equipments and supply costs, following current production practices. Crude, degummed jatropha oil was specified as the feedstock. Annual production capacity of the plant was set (assumed capacity) at 378 lakh litres. Facility construction costs were calculated to be Rs 4539.2 lakhs. The largest contributors to the equipment cost, accounting for nearly one third of expenditures, were storage tanks to contain a 25-day capacity of feedstock and product. At a value of Rs 39.8/kg for feedstock jatropha oil, a biodiesel production cost of Rs 38.17/1 was predicted. The single greatest contributor to this value was the cost of the oil feedstock, which accounted for 93% of total estimated production costs. An analysis of the dependence of production costs on the cost of the feedstock indicated a direct linear relationship between the two, with a change of Rs.95/1 in product cost per Rs 1/kg change in oil cost. Process economics included the recovery of co product glycerol generated during biodiesel production, and its sale into the commercial glycerol market as production costs by 3.50 an 80% w/w aqueous solution, which reduced production cost of biodiesel was found to vary inversely and linearly with variations in the market value of glycerol, increasing by 1% for every Rs 0.36/kg reduction in glycerol value. The model is flexible in that it can be modified to calculate the effects on capital and production costs of changes in feedstock cost, changes in the type of feedstock employed, changes in the value of the glycerol co product, and changes in process chemistry and technology.