Techno-economic analysis of biodiesel production from palm oil with supercritical methanol at a low molar ratio

The techno-economic analysis of biodiesel production with supercritical methanol (SCM) at a low methanol: oil molar ratio (L-SCM) of 12:1, as well as with a homogeneous alkali-catalyzed process (Alkali-cat) and conventional SCM (C-SCM) with a methanol: oil molar ratio of 42:1 was investigated. The process simulation was performed using the Aspen plus® software based on the plant biodiesel production capacity of 40,000 tonnes/y. Even though the L-SCM had a higher total capital investment than the Alkali-cat process ($7.19 million versus $4.91 million), it was economically viable. The L-SCM process provided a lower manufacturing cost of $37.28 million and the highest net present value (NPV) of $45.48 million. However, the C-SCM process was not financially profitable because of the large amount of methanol employed in the recycling loop. Sensitivity analysis of all the processes was investigated based on variations in the feedstock and products selling price and revealed that the biodiesel selling price and palm oil price were the major effects on the sensitivity of the NPV.