(60h) Economically Profitable and Environmentally Sustainable Conceptual Process Design of Biodiesel Byproduct Crude Glycerol

A sustainable and clean source of energy both in the manufacturing process and upon consumption is biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from renewable resources such as vegetable oils or animal fats. However, in the biodiesel production process, 1 kg of glycerol is generated for every 9 kg of biodiesel produced. This formulates large amounts of waste materials that could be used constructively. Previous research has identified numerous industrially important chemical products that can be manufactured from glycerol. In particular, many C3 compounds, currently manufactured from propylene can also be manufactured from bio-based glycerol. Developing process models for the production of these, and other products, from glycerol will be useful because it will identify which products are the most economically viable and establish cost targets for switching production from crude oil derived propylene to glycerol. This contribution is focused on developing a conceptual design of the glycerol dehydration process. The process designs produced from this research will be based on minimizing environmental impact while providing industries with economically efficient and technically feasible processes. This analysis will be part of a holistic approach performed by applying process simulation in combination with laboratory experiments for the conceptual design of chemical processes.