Renewable Diesel Production from Canola and Camelina
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University of Alberta Renewable Diesel Production from Canola and Camelina by Patrick Miller A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering Management Mechanical Engineering ©Patrick Miller Fall 2012 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Abstract Hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel (HDRD) is a promising alternative fuel due to its excellent low-temperature properties, cetane number, and similarity to fossil diesel. Using Alberta as a basis, data-intensive techno-economic models and life cycle assessment models were developed to estimate costs and environmental impacts of HDRD produced from canola and camelina. The estimated vegetable oil production costs, total HDRD production costs, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and net energy ratios (NERs) are: • Canola: $0.55/L, $1.09/L, 33 – 94 gCO2e/MJ, 1.2 – 2.2 MJ/MJ • Camelina: $0.28/L, $0.85/L, 30 – 82 gCO2e/MJ, 1.0 – 2.3 MJ/MJ These costs are for processing and production plants at their economically optimum sizes of 190 million L/year canola oil plant, 120 million L/year camelina oil plant, and 812 million L/year HDRD plant. HDRD appears to be less expensive and more environmentally friendly to produce from camelina than canola. However, if camelina meal cannot be sold, the total camelina-based HDRD production cost rises to $1.37/L, GHGs rise and NER drops, making canola-based HDRD more attractive. Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Amit Kumar, for his support and guidance during my Master’s work. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Dr. Kumar and I deeply appreciate the knowledge and experiences that I have acquired over the course of my graduate studies at the University of Alberta. I am also very grateful for the funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (AARD), and North West Upgrading Inc. (NWU). Furthermore, I would like to thank Kyle Wells and Hong Qi of AARD, Bob Rimes of Agri-Food Discovery Place (AFDP), and Terry Kemp of NWU for their input regarding vegetable oil characterization, hydroprocessing reactions, and various economic assumptions. I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of the Sustainable Energy Research Laboratory – Arifa Sultana, Babatunde Olateju, Mahdi Vaezi, Veena Subramanyam, Babkir Ali, Saeid Radpour, and Marziyeh Bonyad – for making the research lab such a pleasant place to work. I would also like to recognize Arifa Sultana for her contributions to the feedstock availability and cost portions of Chapter 2 of this thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Rebecca and my parents Rich and Cheryl for their continual support and encouragement. Table of Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Objective of the study ............................................................................................ 4 1.3 Scope and limitations of the study ......................................................................... 6 1.4 Organization of the thesis ...................................................................................... 7 2 Techno-Economics of Producing Vegetable Oil from Canola and Camelina . 13 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 13 2.2 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 16 2.2.1 Feedstock characteristics .............................................................................. 16 2.2.2 Processes for canola oil and camelina oil production .................................. 17 2.2.3 Feedstock yield and availability ................................................................... 18 2.2.3.1 Gross yield ......................................................................................................... 19 2.2.3.2 Net yield ............................................................................................................. 20 2.2.4 Input data and assumptions for techno-economic models ............................ 23 2.2.4.1 Field cost ............................................................................................................ 24 2.2.4.2 Storage cost ........................................................................................................ 27 2.2.4.3 Transportation cost ............................................................................................ 27 2.2.4.4 Oil extraction capital and operating costs .......................................................... 29 2.2.4.5 Co-products ........................................................................................................ 38 2.3 Results and discussion ......................................................................................... 38 2.3.1 Probable location of processing plant ........................................................... 38 2.3.2 Optimum sizes and minimum oil production cost ........................................ 38 2.3.3 Comparison of results with existing plants in Alberta ................................. 44 2.3.4 Comparison with past oil prices ................................................................... 45 2.3.5 Implications for renewable fuels standards in Canada ................................. 45 2.3.6 Sensitivity analysis ....................................................................................... 46 2.4 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 49 3 Techno-Economics of Converting Canola Oil and Camelina Oil to Renewable Diesel ..................................................................................................................... 60 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 60 3.2 Background .......................................................................................................... 63 3.2.1 Biodiesel vs. Renewable Diesel ................................................................... 63 3.2.2 Commercial Renewable Diesel Production .................................................. 66 3.2.3 Renewable Diesel Production Methods ........................................................ 68 3.2.4 Feedstock Characteristics ............................................................................. 70 3.2.5 Vegetable Oil Hydroprocessing ................................................................... 72 3.3 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 75 3.3.1 Model Development with Aspen Plus® ........................................................ 75 3.3.2 Input Data and Assumptions for the Techno-Economic Models ................. 77 3.3.2.1 Capital Cost ....................................................................................................... 79 3.3.2.2 Operating Costs ................................................................................................. 82 3.3.2.3 Feedstock Cost ................................................................................................... 84 3.3.3 Study Limitations ......................................................................................... 88 3.4 Results and Discussion ........................................................................................ 89 3.4.1 Influence of Plant Size on Cost of Production ............................................. 89 3.4.2 Comparison to Fuel Price Estimates and Actual Fuel Prices ....................... 94 3.4.3 Sensitivity Analysis ...................................................................................... 97 3.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 100 4 Environmental Sustainability of Producing HDRD from Canola Oil and Camelina Oil ........................................................................................................ 114 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 114 4.2 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 116 4.2.1 Scope .......................................................................................................... 116 4.2.1.1 Goal Definition ...............................................................................................