Assessing energetic and available fuel demands from a soybean biorefinery producing refined oil, biodiesel, defatted meal and power

Soybean processing facilities can produce various products, readily fitting in a biorefinery concept. In addition, they can also produce their own energetic needs by using their own residues and/or products. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship among the availability of fuel, process energetic demands and different market situations in a soybean processing facility. It was observed that soybean straw or a combination of straw, hulls and biodiesel could supply all the thermal and electricity demands of the process and even produce electricity surplus. Using an extraction-condenser turbine operating at 60 bar and 480 °C to fulfil energetic demands from the process using only one fuel type, 18.33%-19.41% of the total straw brought from the field would be necessary, depending on the amount of degummed oil diverted to biodiesel production. Furthermore, the maximum electricity surplus this facility could produce is 0.95 kWh/kg of processed soybeans.