Biodiesel Production from Soybean Oil
Team Members Heading link
- Dulce Colindres Mendoza
- Yaser Khalid
- Nisha Patel
- Huda Usman
- Advith Vashist
Advisors: Betul Bilgin, Phd, Mike Armstrong, technical director with Advisian
Project Description Heading link
As the world population increases, there is a significant demand for the use of energy. The consumption of petroleum products such as fuels for transportation and polymers has led to the increased drilling and production of oil and natural gas across the world. Therefore, an innovative method for generating more sustainable and renewable energy is essential to reduce human dependence on fossil fuels. Biodiesel has been extensively studied as an alternate source of producing energy because of its renewable, biodegradable and non-toxic nature. Biodiesel is considered the most promising alternative fuel because it relies on a variety of combustible renewable resources such as animal fats, soybean oil, and/or reused cooking oil. The feedstock chosen for this project is refined soybean oil as it has a low amount of free fatty acids (0.5 %) compared to the other feedstocks and hence, demands little to no pretreatment. The catalyst for the transesterification stage of the plant was chosen to be sodium hydroxide along with methanol since it accelerates the rate of chemical reaction and lowers the reaction temperature. The goal of this project is to produce 49.78 million gallons per year which is 0.5 % of the predicted global production in 2020 i.e. 10.06 billion gallons. The plant will be in Peoria, IL as midwestern Illinois has the largest concentration of counties that produced 8 million bushels or more in the USA. The biodiesel produce through this process will be sold directly to refineries with a purity of 99.9%. The target gross profit of the plant is estimated to be $96.38 million per year. The main product revenue to be obtained from the sale of the biodiesel is estimated to be $196.05 million per year. The cash cost of production of the plant is calculated to be $99.67 million per year. The Net present value after 15 years of plant life is predicted to be $210 million per year.
See supporting documentation in the team’s Box drive.