Improvement and economic analysis of bio-hydrogenated diesel production for producing bio-jet fuel

Abstract

In this study, process improvement of bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD) production to produce jet fuel as an alternative product was carried out. The BHD was produced from palm oil with NiMo/Y-Al2O3 catalyst, while the bio-jet fuel was produced by catalytic cracking of the BHD product using NiAg/SAPO-11 catalyst, followed by appropriate separations. Process simulation by using Aspen Plus program was performed to evaluate the improved process. A comparison with a base case BHD production process was also demonstrated and discussed. It was found that a conventional existing BHD process can be improved by plugging in a hydrocracking/isomerization unit to process. The product of the modified plant was 280 thousand barrel per year bio-jet fuel having the main composition of octadecane and 230 thousand barrel per year biodiesel having the main composition of pentadecane. The higher heating value (HHV) at 15 degree celsius of the bio-jet fuel is found to be 43.53 MJ/kg. The overall product yield of bio-jet fuel/biodiesel plant was 37.7% and 29.7%. The propane by-product obtained was 91.73 %mol in purity. In economic analysis, the fixed capital investment of the bio-jet/biodiesel plant was two times higher than the original BHD plant and the manufacturing cost was increased by 17%, resulting from the increase of 52% hydrogen consumption. By increasing plant capacity, the project was feasible with 29.07% of IRR.