G. Yusem et Pn. Pintauro, COMPUTER-AIDED ELECTROCHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN - SIMULATION AND ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS OF AN ELECTROCATALYTIC SOYBEAN OIL HYDROGENATION PLANT, Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, 27(10), 1997, pp. 1157-1171
The process flowsheet for a soybean oil electrohydrogenation plant has
been devised and heat and mass balance calculations on unit operation
s equipment were performed using a commercially available process simu
lation software package (PRO/II from Simulation Sciences, Inc.). The d
esign and anticipated performance (current efficiency and power requir
ements) of the electrochemical flow cells were based on a laboratory-s
cale radial-flow-through Raney nickel powder electrocatalytic hydrogen
ation reactor. A semiempirical porous electrode model, that reproduced
laboratory-scale reactor data, was incorporated into the PRO/II softw
are as a unit operations subroutine module. Operation of a 3.0 x 10(6)
kg y(-1) electrochemical plant was simulated on a computer for differ
ent soybean oil/electrolyte feeds and reactor current densities. Based
on the PRO/II results, an economic analysis of the process, including
capital, installation and operating costs of all equipment was carrie
d out. The lowest total production cost for a brush hydrogenation oil
product (20% reduction in the number of double bonds) was obtained at
a current density of 15 mA cm(-2) and a feed composition of 10 wt:vol
% soybean oil in solvent/supporting electrolyte (US$ 0.13 kg(-1) for a
n assumed five year straight line depreciation of capital equipment).
This cost was higher than that for a comparable-size chemical catalyti
c soybean oil hydrogenation plant (US$ 0.019 kg(-1)). When the cost of
the soybean oil starting material (US$ 0.68 kg(-1)) was factored into
the economic analysis, the production plus raw material cost of the e
lectrocatalytic process was only 16% greater than that for the chemica
l catalytic plant. The production cost for the electrosynthesized hydr
o-oil product may be tolerable because the oil has a high nutritional
value (a lower trans isomers content) which may command a higher selli
ng price.