Techno-Economic Analysis of Biodiesel Production from Microbial Oil Using Cardoon Stalks as Carbon Source

Marco Castellini, Stefano Ubertini, Diego Barletta, Ilaria Baffo, Pietro Buzzini and Marco Barbanera
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Marco Castellini: Department of Economics Engineering Society and Business Organization (DEIM), University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università s.n.c., Loc. Riello, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Stefano Ubertini: Department of Economics Engineering Society and Business Organization (DEIM), University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università s.n.c., Loc. Riello, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Diego Barletta: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Ilaria Baffo: Department of Economics Engineering Society and Business Organization (DEIM), University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università s.n.c., Loc. Riello, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Pietro Buzzini: Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121 Perugia, Italy
Marco Barbanera: Department of Economics Engineering Society and Business Organization (DEIM), University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università s.n.c., Loc. Riello, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: Today one of the most interesting ways to produce biodiesel is based on the use of oleaginous microorganisms, which can accumulate microbial oil with a composition similar to vegetable oils. In this paper, we present a thermo-chemical numerical model of the yeast biodiesel production process, considering cardoon stalks as raw material. The simulation is performed subdividing the process into the following sections: steam explosion pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, lipid production, lipid extraction, and alkali-catalyzed transesterification. Numerical results show that 406.4 t of biodiesel can be produced starting from 10,000 t of lignocellulosic biomass. An economic analysis indicates a biodiesel production cost of 12.8 USD/kg, thus suggesting the need to increase the capacity plant and the lipid yield to make the project economically attractive. In this regard, a sensitivity analysis is also performed considering an ideal lipid yield of 22% and 100,000 t of lignocellulosic biomass. The biodiesel production costs related to these new scenarios are 7.88 and 5.91 USD/kg, respectively. The large capacity plant combined with a great lipid yield in the fermentation stage shows a biodiesel production cost of 3.63 USD/kg making the product competitive on the current market of biofuels by microbial oil.

Keywords: microbial oil; yeast biodiesel; cardoon stalks; production cost; sensitivity analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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