Enhancing Sustainable Production of Fatty Acid Methyl Ester from Palm Oil Using Bio-Based Heterogeneous Catalyst: Process Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis

A new sustainable solid carbon catalyst has been developed for biodiesel synthesis using pyrolytic coconut shell ash (CSA). The CSA support was loaded with various amounts of potassium carbonate (K$_2$CO$_3$), and response surface methodology with a central composite design was used to optimize the transesterification process. The best-performing catalyst was the 30 wt % K$_2$CO$_3$/CSA catalyst. The optimal conditions included a catalyst loading of 3.27 wt %, methanol:oil molar ratio of 9.98:1, reaction time of 74 min, and temperature of 65 °C, resulting in an obtained biodiesel yield of 97.14%. This catalyst was reusable for up to four cycles, but a reduction in the biodiesel yield was observed due to potassium ion leaching during the recovery process. A techno-economic analysis to assess the financial viability of the project revealed a net present value of 5.16 million USD for a project lifetime of 20 years, a payback period time of 2.49 years, and an internal rate of return of 44.2%. An environmental assessment to evaluate the impact of global warming potential from the production of biodiesel revealed a lower level of carbon dioxide emission (1401.86 ton/y) than in the conventional process (1784.6 ton/y).