Heat Integration between Two Biodiesel Processes Using a Simple Method

摘要

Biodiesel is a clean-burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modification. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. This paper presents heat integration between two biodiesel processes. Biodiesel can be produced by the esterification of different fatty acids (high and low boiling point) with alcohols. This simple method for heat integration is based on three possible steps. Simultaneous integration between processes can be performed using a stagewise model with a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) algorithm (step 3), which can include alternatives suggested by pinch analysis of heat transfer between the processes (step 2). The internal integration of individual processes can be performed in step 1. The fraction can be calculated for maximum integration between processes. Integration between the processes can be carried out using all three steps or by the first and third steps or by the last step only, depending on the problems' complexities. This method includes streams of different processes which are heated or cooled using a utility only. The existing heaters and coolers can be left unchanged in their original processes or can be used for integrating heat between processes, with hot and cold utilities being saved. This approach is illustrated by integrating two simulated biodiesel processes. The objective was to maximize additional annual profit for integration between processes by USD8300/a.