The technical and economic feasibility of an alternative process for biodiesel production from residual oil and fats (ROF) was compared to two cases of the conventional two-step alkali-catalyzed process. A reliable set of thermophysical properties, kinetic data, and a rigorous thermodynamic modeling were used in the simulations. The alternative process employed liquid−liquid extraction to separate the free fatty acids from triacylglycerols, with methanol as the solvent. Both processes were found to be technically feasible based on a design specification of 99.65% esters for the product. The alternative process proved to be slightly more economically viable than the conventional process based on the selected economic indicators and thus is a promising alternative for biodiesel production from ROF.
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