Karmee Sanjib Kumar, Patria Raffel Dharma, Lin Carol Sze Ki
School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Int J Mol Sci. 2015 Feb 18;16(3):4362-71. doi: 10.3390/ijms16034362.
Fossil fuel shortage is a major challenge worldwide. Therefore, research is currently underway to investigate potential renewable energy sources. Biodiesel is one of the major renewable energy sources that can be obtained from oils and fats by transesterification. However, biodiesel obtained from vegetable oils as feedstock is expensive. Thus, an alternative and inexpensive feedstock such as waste cooking oil (WCO) can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. In this project, techno-economic analyses were performed on the biodiesel production in Hong Kong using WCO as a feedstock. Three different catalysts such as acid, base, and lipase were evaluated for the biodiesel production from WCO. These economic analyses were then compared to determine the most cost-effective method for the biodiesel production. The internal rate of return (IRR) sensitivity analyses on the WCO price and biodiesel price variation are performed. Acid was found to be the most cost-effective catalyst for the biodiesel production; whereas, lipase was the most expensive catalyst for biodiesel production. In the IRR sensitivity analyses, the acid catalyst can also acquire acceptable IRR despite the variation of the WCO and biodiesel prices.
化石燃料短缺是全球面临的一项重大挑战。因此，目前正在开展研究以探寻潜在的可再生能源。生物柴油是主要的可再生能源之一，可通过酯交换反应从油脂中获取。然而，以植物油作为原料生产的生物柴油成本高昂。因此，诸如废食用油（WCO）这种替代性的廉价原料可被用作生物柴油生产的原料。在本项目中，针对香港地区以WCO为原料生产生物柴油开展了技术经济分析。评估了三种不同的催化剂，即酸、碱和脂肪酶，用于由WCO生产生物柴油。随后对这些经济分析进行比较，以确定生物柴油生产的最具成本效益的方法。对WCO价格和生物柴油价格变化进行了内部收益率（IRR）敏感性分析。结果发现，酸是生物柴油生产中最具成本效益的催化剂；而脂肪酶是生物柴油生产中最昂贵的催化剂。在IRR敏感性分析中，尽管WCO和生物柴油价格有所变化，但酸催化剂仍能获得可接受的IRR。
