Thermodynamic sustainability assessment of biofuel production from oil palm biomass

Abstract

In reality, all production processes proceed with the generation of entropy and destruction of useful energy of resource inputs. In view of this, the second law of thermodynamics can be directly linked with sustainability and sustainable development. Estimation of a system's exergy status in order to know the distribution of energy and matter, especially emissions, would help identify the efficiency of the system, hence improving it for sustainable development. In this chapter, the thermodynamic sustainability of biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas, and briquettes production from oil palm biomass are investigated via exergy analysis. Most studies on exergy analysis of biofuels production systems do not consider the production of the feedstocks though these stages are materials and energy intensive. The production of oil palm biomass for palm biofuels is assessed for thermodynamic feasibility in this study in order to give a complete overview of the contributions of every single unit within the palm biofuels production systems. Aspen Plus software was used for the mathematical modeling for all the case studies considered in this chapter. Potential causes and improvement options are also discussed in this chapter for sustainable palm biofuels production. © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2013.