Since the last two decades, hydrodynamic cavitation has been introduced as one of the most efficient approaches to intensify transesterification. However, the number of industrial biodiesel plants utilizing this process is still minimal. One primary reason is the lack of information on both its economic and environmental impacts. In this study, a simulation-based model was developed using Aspen HYSYS V8.4 for comparing flow-through hydrodynamic cavitation with conventional mechanical stirring in terms of total capital investment, total product cost, net present value, modified internal rate of return, materials, and energy consumption. The two plants operated 7920 hours per year and produced 100 tons of biodiesel per day from fresh sunflower oil. The results showed that total capital investment and total product cost for hydrodynamic cavitation were roughly 65% and 10% lower than those for the mechanical stirring process, respectively. While the net present value was negative for the mechanical stirring, a positive net present value and a modified internal rate of return of 25.61% were obtained in the hydrodynamic cavitation process. Performing sensitivity analysis using the Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology revealed that net present value was most affected by the linear term of the sunflower oil price. It was also found that hydrodynamic cavitation could significantly reduce materials and energy consumption, owing to higher reactor yield and lower alcohol and catalyst consumption.
کلید واژگان :biodiesel, economic analysis, hydrodynamic cavitation, response surface methodology
ارزش ریالی : 500000 ریال
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