Techno-Economic Assessment and Sensitivity Analysis of Glycerol Valorization to Biofuel Additives via Esterification

Glycerol is a valuablefeedstock, produced in biorefineries asa byproduct of biodiesel production. Esterification of glycerol withacetic acid yields a mixture of mono-, di-, and triacetins. The acetinsare commercially important value-added products with a wide rangeof industrial applications as fuel additives and fine chemicals. Esterificationof glycerol to acetins substantially increases the environmental sustainabilityand economic viability of the biorefinery concept. Among the acetins,diacetin (DA) and triacetin (TA) are considered high-energy-densityfuel additives. Herein, we have studied the economic feasibility ofa facility producing DA and TA by a two-stage process using 100,000tons of glycerol per year using Aspen Plus. The capital costs wereestimated by Aspen Process Economic Analyzer software. The analysisindicates that the capital costs are 71 M$, while the operating costsare 303 M$/year. The gross profit is 60.5 M$/year, while the NPV ofthe project is 235 M$ with a payback period of 1.7 years. Sensitivityanalysis has indicated that the product price has the most impacton the NPV.