Comprehensive Techno-Economic Analysis of a Multi-Feedstock Biorefinery Plant in Oil-Rich Country: A Case Study of Iran

Behrooz Ruhani, Parsa Movahedi, Sajad Saadi, Amir Ghasemi, Amanj Kheradmand, Mahdieh Dibaj and Mohammad Akrami
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Behrooz Ruhani: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad 8514143131, Iran
Parsa Movahedi: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz 5331817634, Iran
Sajad Saadi: Biosystems Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU), Tehran 1411713116, Iran
Amir Ghasemi: Department of Environment, School of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran 1417935840, Iran
Amanj Kheradmand: School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
Mahdieh Dibaj: Department of Engineering, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK
Mohammad Akrami: Department of Engineering, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QF, UK

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-31

Abstract: The high energy consumption in Iran, particularly in the transportation sector, has contaminated large cities and jeopardized the society health. Therefore, in this study technical and economic features of the production of biodiesel plant in Iran from various wastes are investigated. Based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method’s findings, the southern area of Iran is selected for establishing the biodiesel plant in Iran. The biorefinery, which includes three units of sewage sludge, edible waste oil and microalgae. The results of the economic evaluation show that the lowest costs of investment and production of biodiesel are related to microalgae units ($0.375/kg) and edible waste oil ($0.53/kg), respectively. Also, among all units, the lowest break even prices are related to biodiesel production ($1.17/kg) and the highest ATROR rate (29.16%) belongs to the microalgae unit. This indicates that this unit is more profitable than other units and the invested cost is returned to the investor in a shorter period of time (3.43 years). On the other hand, the results of sensitivity analysis show that the highest sensitivity of changes in the selling price of biodiesel and the cost of raw materials to ATROR to the microalgae and sludge unit. Therefore, the construction of a biorefinery in Iran has an economic justification.

Keywords: biodiesel; waste sources; AHP method; biorefinery; techno-economic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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