operation, and scheduling of biodiesel production Optimal design

With the emphasis on biofuels research and their widespread adoption as alternative fuels, biodiesel is attracting much attention as a promising supplement to fossil fuels. To address limitations and uncertainties in the availability of biomass, future biodiesel plants should consider operations involving multiple feedstocks. Utilizing one biomass feedstock has its supply limitations and ties the production plant into the fluctuating availability and cost of the biomass. A systematic procedure for the design along with the associated scheduling and operating schemes for a biodiesel plant which employs multiple feedstocks was presented. This task involves concerted activities in process synthesis, simulation, design, operation, integration, optimization, and profitability. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11/4-9/2007).

Optimal design, operation, and scheduling of biodiesel production Conference Paper