Producción de biodiesel a partir de aceite crudo de palma: 2. Evaluación económica

The economical assessment of two continuous processes for biodiesel production from crude palm oil was carried out. The capital, operative and manufacturing costs were calculated for both processes. As profitability evaluation criteria, the discounted cash flow rate of return (DCFROR) and the net present value (NPV) were used. A price sensitivity analysis was performed. Both processes require a capital cost of 2 million dollars (± 25%) and a total manufacturing cost of 2.2 dollars/gallon. The process with previous neutralization of the free fatty acids showed a greater profitability in all the economic scenarios evaluated.