DEVELOPMENT OF OPTIMIZED CONTINUOUS-PROCESS BIODIESEL PLANT

Thesis Overview

<p> </p><p><strong>1.0 &nbsp; &nbsp; INTRODUCTION</strong></p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Plant design is a collaborative effort to design, optimize the yield, mass balance and integration with existing or new feedstock facilities. In most cases, biodiesel plants are designed as part of larger oilseed processing operations. It is unlikely any new plants will be constructed as “stand alone” facilities. This allows optimization of feedstock and product storage and integration with transportation and utilities. The trend is towards large facilities instead of small. The major holdback facing the biodiesel industry against building larger plants similar to the sizes used for vegetable oil refining (an industry most can relate to considering the feed stocks used for making biodiesel) is consumer demand. As demand increases, there will be little to stop an increase in the size of the average biodiesel processing plant because current biodiesel plants are nowhere near what can be considered “large.” A modern transesterification plant is continuous instead of batch. A continuous plant leads to better heat economization, better product purity, better recovery of excess methanol, minimal operator interference, and lower capital costs per unit of biodiesel produced. One particular processor that has run both batch and continuous biodiesel plants has vowed never to run a batch plant again (Paul, 2006).</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The biofuel industry is fast growing in the world. Countries like Brazil, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and many more are increasing the budget allocation to biofuel development. Global warming and the attendant climate change issues necessitate the drive towards the carbon cut measures. Global warming entails increase in the average temperature of the atmosphere, oceans and landmass of the earth (Schnepf, 2007). Scientific evidence revealed that global warming is human induced. Its chief cause is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas by automobiles which continually release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to UNDP 2007/2008 Human Development Report, the world temperature has increased around 0.7ºC since the advent of industrialization and the rate is increasing yearly. It is argued that biofuel is environment friendly because carbon dioxide release from burning biofuels is balanced by carbon dioxide intake by growing plants from where biofuels are made (United States Department of Energy, 2007). The process reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The biofuel industry also raises domestic and international income, creates wealth, employment and accelerated rural infrastructural development. In Nigeria, biofuel industry would not only aid rural development but help in economic diversification, thus making the country less dependent on petroleum as the main source of economic growth. Again, the market size of biofuel in Nigeria is another justification for the need to develop the industry in the country. In 2007 alone, fuel ethanol demanded was 1.3 billion litres, with anticipated increase to 2.0 billion litres in 2020. Biodiesel demand in 2007 was 480 million liters, with a projected demand of 900 million liters in 2020 (Azih, 2007). &nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;There are great potentials in rural areas that would support the production of biofuel in Nigeria. About 70 percent of the country’s labour force resides in rural areas. This labour can be trained and retrained to fit innovations in the biofuel industry. The total area of Nigeria as could be seen in fig 1.1 is distributed among different utilization sector. It shows that Nigeria’s total area is 92.4 million hectares out of which 79.4 million and 13.0 million hectares are occupied by land and water respectively. Agricultural land occupies 71.9 million hectares which indicates that there is a high potential for production of agricultural produce as a biofuel feedstock.</p> <br><p></p>