Computer-Aided Heat Integration of Biodiesel Production from Chlorella Vulgaris Microalgae

Background: Microalgae have gained certain attention globally as feedstock for biodiesel production due to its fast growth rate and high potential yield of bio-fuel. Objectives: This work is focused on applying heat integration by thermal pinch point technique to a third generation biodiesel production process using Chlorella vulgaris as feedstock. Methods/Analysis: This case of study was simulated through commercial industrial process simulation software. A Cascade Diagram (CD) was constructed by defining temperature intervals and performing heat balance around them. The CD provided information about minimum cooling and heating utilities usage and maximum integrated heat exchange. In addition, a HEN was sensitized to achieve utilities targets. Findings: It was found that heat integration reduced cooling utilities and heating utilities by 38.67 and 100%, respectively, which reduces total operating costs when compared to base case. Novelty/Improvement: These results suggested that operating cost of biodiesel production from microalgae can be reduced by performing heat integration that represents an attractive process improvement for making biodiesel cost-competitive with other energy sources.