Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

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Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Economic assessment of batch biodiesel production processes

using homogeneous and heterogeneous alkali catalysts
Tsutomu Sakai a,*, Ayato Kawashima b, Tetsuya Koshikawa c
a

Environment and Chemical Process Research Laboratory, KRI Inc., Kyoto Research Park, 134 Chudoji Minami-machi, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600-8813, Japan
Environmental Science for Industry, Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, 3-5-7 Tarumi, Matsuyama, Ehime 790-8566, Japan
c
Revo International Inc., 11 Hiroosa-cho, Shimotoba, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto 612-8473, Japan
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 2 December 2008
Received in revised form 6 February 2009
Accepted 6 February 2009
Available online 9 March 2009
Keywords:
Biodiesel
Heterogeneous catalyst
Calcium oxide
Manufacturing cost
Feasibility study

a b s t r a c t
An economic feasibility study on four batch processes for the production of biodiesel ranging from
1452 tonnes/year (5000 l/day) to 14,520 tonnes/year (50,000 l/day) is conducted. The four processes
assessed are the (1) KOH-W process, characterized by a homogeneous KOH catalyst and hot water purication process; (2) KOH-D process, characterized by a homogeneous KOH catalyst and vacuum FAME
distillation process; (3) CaO-W process, characterized by a heterogeneous CaO catalyst and hot water
purication process; and (4) CaO-D process, characterized by a heterogeneous CaO catalyst and vacuum
FAME distillation process. The costs of the waste cooking oil, xed costs, and manufacturing costs for producing 7260 tonnes/year (25,000 l/day) of biodiesel by means of the four processes are estimated to be
$248256, $194232, and $584641 per tonne of biodiesel, respectively. Among the four processes,
the manufacturing costs involved in the CaO-W process are the lowest, in the range from 1452 tonnes/
year to 14,520 tonnes/year.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In recent years, diminishing fossil fuel, global warming and
environmental pollution have become major global issues. The
use of biomass fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol can help resolve
such issues because these fuels are renewable sources of energy.
Biodiesel fuels such as fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) produced
by the transesterication of vegetable oils or animal fats with
methanol have been characterized by aromatic-free compounds,
high biodegradability, and low SOx and particulate matter content
in diesel fumes (Graboski and McCormick, 1998; Schuchardt et al.,
1998; Ma and Hanna, 1999). Therefore, FAME is considered to be a
biomass-derived fuel. Currently, FAME is commonly produced by
the transesterication of homogeneous base catalysts such as
KOH or NaOH in methanol. This production process yields large
quantities of FAME under atmospheric pressure at 60 C (Vicente
et al., 2004; Meher et al., 2006a). However, for practical applications as diesel fuel in the market, the FAME produced must be puried by removing impurities such as the base catalyst and glycerol
by means of hot water washing and purication processes, which
involve wastage of a large amount of water.
In order to decrease wastage of water, several types of FAME
production processes have been studied, such as the homoge-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 75 322 6824; fax: +81 75 322 6823.
E-mail address: t-sakai@kri-inc.jp (T. Sakai).
0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2009.02.010

neous acid-catalyzed process (Freedman et al., 1984; Edgar

et al., 2005), supercritical process (Demirbas, 2006; Minami and
Saka, 2006), enzymatic process (Shimada et al., 2002; Nie et al.,
2006; Akoh et al., 2007), and heterogeneous catalyst process. Heterogeneous catalysts are of two typesacids and bases. The use
of several acid heterogeneous catalysts such as sulfated metal
oxide (Furuta et al., 2004; Jitputti et al., 2006), heteropolyacid
(Narasimharao et al., 2007), sulphonated amorphous carbon
(Toda et al., 2005), and acid ion exchange resin (Lpez et al.,
2007; Kiss et al., 2006) has been reported. However, acid catalysts
generally indicate weak catalytic activities and require high reaction temperatures and long reaction times; base catalysts indicate
high activities, and a large number of basic heterogeneous catalysts such as metal oxides (Xie et al., 2006; Meher et al.,
2006b), zeolites (Suppes et al., 2004), hydrotalcites (Cantrell
et al., 2005), and anion exchange resins (Shibasaki-Kitakawa
et al., 2007) have been developed. Among these base catalysts,
CaO is considered to be one of the well-researched heterogeneous
catalysts because it has higher basicity, lower solubility, lower
price, and is easier to handle as compared to KOH (Peterson
and Scarrah, 1984; Granados et al., 2007; Reddy et al., 2006).
Thus far, we have studied heterogeneous base catalysts containing CaO for FAME production (Kawashima et al., 2008, 2009; Kouzu et al., 2008).
In previously conducted economic studies on biodiesel production, continuous processes were mainly evaluated. Van Kasteren
and Nisworo (2007) estimated the costs involved in the production

T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

of 8000 to 125,000 tonnes/year of biodiesel for a continuous

supercritical methanol process involving waste cooking oil. You
et al. (2008) evaluated the costs involved in the production of
8000100,000 tonnes/year of biodiesel for a continuous homogeneous alkali-catalyzed process involving soybean oil. West et al.
(2008) assessed the costs involved in producing 8000 tonne/year
of biodiesel for four processes involving waste cooking oil; (1) a
continuous homogeneous alkali-catalyzed process, (2) a continuous homogeneous acid-catalyzed process, (3) a continuous heterogeneous acid-catalyzed process and (4) a continuous supercritical
methanol process. Similarly, Marchetti and Errazu (2008) assessed
the costs involved in producing 36,036 tonnes/year of biodiesel for
same four processes. In these both four processes, the continuous
heterogeneous acid-catalyzed process had the lowest manufacturing costs.
Continuous processes, such as the homogeneous alkali-catalyzed process, homogeneous acid-catalyzed process, heterogeneous acid-catalyzed process, and supercritical methanol process,
were assessed as biodiesel production processes. However, the
homogeneous and heterogeneous alkali-catalyzed batch processes
were not evaluated. In this study, we assessed the homogeneous
and heterogeneous alkali-catalyzed batch processes for a biodiesel
production ranging from 1452 tonnes/year (5000 l/day) to
14,520 tonnes/year (50,000 l/day). We selected KOH as a homogeneous catalyst and CaO as a heterogeneous catalyst for this cost
evaluation.

2. Method
To assess biodiesel manufacturing costs, we developed the basic
design of the processes for a production capacity of 1452 tonnes/
year. We evaluated the equipment cost and estimated the plant
cost involved in a biodiesel production capacity of 1452 tonnes/
year by using a parametric estimation method. Plant costs for
capacities ranging from 2904 to 14,520 tonnes/year were estimated by using an analogous estimation method. Variable costs
were calculated on the basis of the quantities and the unit prices
of raw materials, products, and utilities; xed costs were calculated on the basis of plant costs and employee costs. The procedure
for estimating the production costs is as follows:

3269

3. Basic design
3.1. Process block owsheet
Four different batch processes were designed to produce biodiesel from waste cooking oil. As shown in Fig. 1, the four batch processes are (1) KOH-W process, which is characterized by a
homogeneous KOH catalyst and hot water purication process,
(2) KOH-D process, which is characterized by a homogeneous
KOH catalyst and vacuum FAME distillation process, (3) CaO-W
process, which is characterized by a heterogeneous CaO catalyst
and hot water purication process, and (4) CaO-D process, which
is characterized by a heterogeneous CaO catalyst and vacuum
FAME distillation process.
All processes have a vacuum dehydration sub-process to evaporate water from waste cooking oil under vacuum conditions at
90 C as a pretreatment process for waste cooking oil; a glycerol
separation sub-process to separate waste glycerol containing
methanol, dissolved catalyst and unconverted oil from the reaction
mixture; and vacuum methanol removal sub-process to evaporate
excess methanol from the reaction mixture under vacuum conditions at 60 C. Both the KOH-W and KOH-D processes have a
transesterication sub-process to convert oil into FAME by using
a homogeneous KOH catalyst under atmospheric conditions at
60 C, whereas both the CaO-W and CaO-D processes have a
transesterication sub-process to convert oil into FAME by using
a heterogeneous CaO catalyst under atmospheric conditions at
60 C. Both the KOH-W and CaO-W processes have a hot water
purication sub-process to remove small amounts of glycerol,
methanol, dissolved catalyst, and unconverted oil into hot water;
in addition, the processes have a vacuum dehydration sub-process
to evaporate water from FAME under vacuum conditions at 90 C.
Both the KOH-D and CaO-D processes have a vacuum FAME distillation sub-process to evaporate FAME from the reaction mixture
under vacuum conditions at 200 C. The distilled FAME and waste
oil are obtained after the distillation. The evaporated excess methanol is reused as raw material, the waste glycerol and waste oil are
burned as fuel, and the waste water is disposed by waste water
treatment.

3.2. Material balance

1. Basic design of biodiesel processes for obtaining a capacity of
1452 tonnes/year.
1.1. Development of process block owsheets.
1.2. Development of material balances.
1.3. Development of process time charts for achieving a
capacity of 1452 tonnes/year.
1.4. Development of material and energy balances for achieving a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year.
1.5. Development of equipment lists for obtaining a capacity
of 1452 tonnes/year.
2. Estimation of manufacturing cost.
2.1. Estimation of equipment costs for obtaining a capacity of
1452 tonnes/year.
2.2. Estimation of the plant costs for obtaining a capacity of
1452 tonnes/year.
2.3. Estimation of plant costs for obtaining a capacity ranging
from 2904 to 14,520 tonnes/year.
2.4. Estimation of variable costs for obtaining a capacity of
1452 tonnes/year.
2.5. Estimation of xed costs for obtaining capacities ranging
from 1452 to 14,520 tonnes/year.
2.6. Sensitivity analysis of capacities ranging from 1452 to
14,520 tonnes/year.

As shown in Fig. 2, in the KOH-W process, 100 parts of waste

cooking oil are supplied and 0.5 part of waste water is removed
in the vacuum dehydration sub-process; subsequently, 40 parts
of methanol, which comprises 16 parts of fresh methanol, 24 parts
of recycle methanol, and 0.6 part of caustic potash, are supplied.
After the transesterication sub-process, 21.5 parts of waste glycerol containing methanol are removed by decantation and 24 parts
of methanol are recycled. In the hot water purication sub-process,
20 parts of tap water are supplied and 21 parts of waste water containing methanol are removed by decantation. In the vacuum
dehydration sub-process, 1.6 parts of waste water are removed
and 92 parts of FAME are produced. These material balance data
were estimated on the basis of data recorded from a commercial
plant.
In the KOH-D process, sub-processes from the vacuum dehydration sub-process to the vacuum methanol removal sub-process are
similar to those in the KOH-W process. In the FAME distillation
sub-process, 89 parts of FAME are distilled and 5.6 parts of waste
oil are left in the distillation vessel. These material balance data
were estimated on the basis of data obtained from a commercial
plant and pilot plant.
In the CaO-W process, 100 parts of waste cooking oil are supplied and 0.5 part of waste water is removed by using the same

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T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

(1)KOH-W Process
Waste
cooking oil

Vacuum
dehydration

Transesterification
by KOH

Glycerol
separation

Vacuum
methanol
removal

Hot water
purification

Vacuum
dehydration

Transesterification
by KOH

Glycerol
separation

Vacuum
methanol
removal

Vacuum
FAME
distillation

Vacuum
dehydration

Transesterification
by CaO

Vacuum
methanol
removal

Glycerol
separation

Hot water
purification

Vacuum
dehydration

Transesterification
by CaO

Vacuum
methanol
removal

Glycerol
separation

Vacuum
FAME
distillation

Vacuum
dehydration

FAME

(2)KOH-D Process
Waste
cooking oil

FAME

(3)CaO-W Process
Waste
cooking oil

Vacuum
dehydration

FAME

(4)CaO-D Process
Waste
cooking oil

FAME

Fig. 1. Process block owsheets of four batch processes to produce biodiesel from waste cooking oil.

(3)CaO-W and (4)CaO-D Process

(1)KOH-W and (2)KOH-D Process

Waste cooking oil

Vacuum

Waste water

Wast e cooking oil

Vacuum

Wast e wat er

100.0

dehydration

0.5

100.0

dehydration

0.5

Fresh methanol

Transeste-

Fresh methanol

Transeste-

16.0

rification

13.0

rification

Recycle methanol
24.0

Recycle methanol
Glycerol

Waste glycerol

separation

21.5

37.0

Caustic potash

Vacuum methanol

Recycle methanol

removal

37.0

Calcium oxide

0.6

0.02
Vacuum methanol

Recycle methanol

Glycerol

Waste glycerol

removal

24.0

separation

13.8

(1)KOH-W

(2)KOH-D

(3)CaO-W

(3)CaO-D

Tap water

Hot water

Waste water

Tap water

Hot water

Waste water

20.0

purification

21.0

20.0

purification

25.1

Vacuum

Waste water

Vacuum FAME

Waste oil

Vacuum

Waste water

Vacuum FAME

Waste oil

dehydration

1.6

distillation

5.6

dehydration

1.6

distillation

9.7

FAME

FAME

FAME

FAME

92.0

89.0

92.0

89.0

Fig. 2. Material balances for the four batch processes.

method in the KOH-W process; subsequently, a mixture of 99.5

parts of dehydrated oil and 50 parts of methanol, which comprise
13 parts of fresh methanol and 37 parts of recycle methanol, are
circulated into the CaO reactor vessel into which the heterogeneous CaO catalyst is packed. In the transesterication sub-process, 0.02 part of calcium oxide is dissolved in the reaction
mixture and then consumed. After this reaction sub-process, 37
parts of methanol are recycled and 13.8 parts of waste glycerol
containing methanol are removed by decantation. In the hot water
purication sub-process, 20 parts of tap water are supplied and
25.1 parts of waste water containing methanol are removed by
decantation. In the vacuum dehydration sub-process, 1.6 parts of
waste water are removed and 92 parts of FAME are produced.
These material balance data were estimated on the basis of data
obtained from a pilot plant.
In the CaO-D process, sub-processes from the vacuum dehydration sub-process to the glycerol separation sub-process are similar
to those in the CaO-W process. In the FAME distillation sub-process, 89 parts of FAME are distilled and 9.7 parts of waste oil are
left in the distillation vessel. These material balance data were estimated on the basis of data obtained from a pilot plant.

3.3. Process time chart

Process time charts for the four processes are shown in Fig. 3.
Each process time chart was developed on the basis of a biodiesel
production capacity of 1452 tonnes/year (5000 l/day). In other
words, the batch cycle time of each process was within 24 h and
5000 l of FAME were produced per batch cycle. Specications of
the equipment such as tank volume, vessel volume, pump capacity,
heat exchange area, and motor power were determined from the
duration of sub-processes in the four processes.

3.4. Material balance and energy balance

The summary of the material balances and energy balances for
the four processes required to produce 1452 tonnes/year (4416 kg/
day) of biodiesel are shown in Table 1. The material balances for
the KOH-W process and CaO-W process are 48 times the number
of parts of the raw materials and the by products. Similarly, those
for the KOH-D and CaO-D processes are 49.62 times the number of
parts of the raw materials and the by products.

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T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

1h
Temp.,

2h

3h

4h

5h

6h

7h

8h

9h

10 h

11 h

12 h

13 h

14 h

15 h

16 h

17 h

18 h

19 h

20 h

21 h

22 h

23 h

24 h

(1)KOH-W Process

100
80

Vacuum
dehydration

60
40
20
Temp.,

Heating

Cooling

Transesterification

Supply

Glycerol
separation

Vacuum
methanol removal

Glycerol
separation

Vacuum
methanol removal

Vacuum
dehydration
Hot water
purification

FAME
discharge

Cooling

Heating

(2)KOH-D Process

200
180
160
140
120
100
80
40
20

Supply

1h
Temp.,

Heating

Cooling

2h

3h

Vacuum FAME
distillation

Heating

Vacuum
dehydration

60

Transesterification

4h

5h

6h

7h

8h

9h

10 h

11 h

Cooling
Waste oil
discharge

13 h

12 h

14 h

15 h

16 h

17 h

18 h

19 h

20 h

21 h

22 h

23 h

24 h

(3)CaO-W Process

100
80

Vacuum
dehydration

60
40

Heating

20

Supply

Temp.,

(4)CaO-D Process

Cooling

Vacuum
dehydration

Transesterification

Vacuum
vval
methanol remo

Glycerol
separation

Transesterification

Vacuum
methanol removal

Glycerol
separation

Hot water
purification

Heating

FAME
discharge

Cooling

200
180
160
140
120
100
80
40
20

Supply

Heating

Cooling

Vacuum FAME
distillation

Heating

Vacuum
dehydration

60

Cooling
Waste oil
discharge

Fig. 3. Process time charts for the four batch processes.

Table 1
Summary of material balance and energy balance for the four batch processes with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year biodiesel.
Materials & utilities

(1) KOH-W process

(2) KOH-D process

(3) CaO-W process

(4) CaO-D process

Parts

kg/day

Parts

kg/day

Parts

kg/day

Parts

kg/day

FAME
Waste cooking oil
Fresh methanol
Tap water
Caustic potash
Calcium oxide

92
100
16
20
0.60

4416
4800
768
960
28.8

89
100
16

4416
4962
794

92
100
13
20

4416
4800
624
960

89
100
13

4416
4962
645

0.60

29.8
0.02

1.0

0.02

1.0

By products

Waste glycerol
Waste oil
Waste water

21.5

1032

663

1109

1067
278
25

13.8

23.1

21.5
5.6
0.5

27.2

1306

13.8
9.7
0.5

686
481
25

Utilities

Steam, MJ/day
Hot oil, MJ/day
Power, k Wh/day

Product
Raw materials

2743
880

In the KOH-W process, 2743 MJ of low pressure steam and

880 kW h of electric power are utilized. In the KOH-D process,
2743 MJ of low pressure steam, 3274 MJ of hot oil, and
1075 k Wh of electric power are utilized. In the CaO-W process,
3280 MJ of low pressure steam and 880 kW h of electric power
are utilized. In the CaO-D process, 3280 MJ of low pressure steam,
3274 MJ of hot oil and 1075 kW h of electric power are utilized. In
the CaO-W or CaO-D processes, which less contain methanol in the
waste glycerol, the consumption of fresh methanol is less than
those in the KOH-W or KOH-D processes. The KOH-D or CaO-D processes having the vacuum FAME distillation sub-process has less
emission of waste water, more emission of waste oil, and more
consumption of hot oil.
3.5. Equipment list
The main specications of the equipment with a biodiesel production capacity of 1452 tonnes/year in a raw material and product yard, main process yard, and utility yard are shown in Table
2. In order to estimate the plant investment costs, not only the
main process yard but also the raw material, product and utility
yards are designed.

2743
3274
1075

3280
880

3280
3274
1075

4. Cost estimation
4.1. Equipment cost
The procurement costs or fabrication costs of the equipment for
obtaining a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year, as shown in Table 2, were
evaluated on the basis of the prices quoted by several engineering
rms in Japan. The costs involved in the main process and utility
yard for the KOH-D ($338,636 and $304,091) and CaO-D processes
($366,818 and $304,091) are higher than those for the KOH-W
($253,636 and $204,091) and CaO-W processes ($280,909 and
$204,091) because the KOH-D and CaO-D processes utilize the
equipment necessary to perform the vacuum FAME distillation
sub-processes, such as the FAME vessel, FAME heater, hot oil heater unit, and mechanical booster.
4.2. Plant cost
The total investment plant costs for the four processes with a
capacity of 1452 tonnes/year were estimated by using the cost factored method. As shown in Table 3, the total plant cost factor was
determined to be 333% for a total equipment cost of 100% on the

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T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

Table 2
Equipment specications and procurement costs for the four batch processes with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year biodiesel.
Service

Specication

(1) KOH-W process

Price ($)

(2) KOH-D process

Price ($)

(3) CaO-W process

Price ($)

(4) CaO-D process

Price ($)

Waste cooking oil tank

Fresh methanol tank
Hot water tank
FAME tank
Waste glycerol tank
Waste water tank
Waste cooking oil pump
Fresh methanol pump
Hot water pump
FAME pump
Waste glycerol pump
Waste water pump
Raw material & product yard total

30 kl
15 kl
5 kl
30 kl
5 kl
5 kl
15 kl/h
3 kl/h
3 kl/h
15 kl/h
10 kl/h
10 kl/h

40,909
27,273
18,182
40,909
13,636
13,636
3636
2727
2727
3636
3182
3182
173,636

40,909
27,273

40,909
27,273
18,182
40,909
13,636
13,636
3636
2727
2727
3636
3182
3182
173,636

40,909
27,273

Transesterication vessel
Methanol vessel
Waste water vessel
FAME vessel
Waste glycerol vessel
Waste water vessel
CaO reactor vessel
FAME heater
Vessel condenser
Vessel aftercooler
FAME lter(1)
FAME lter(2)
FAME pump
Methanol pump
FAME pump
Waste glycerol pump
Waste water pump

10 kl
2 kl
0.2 kl
7 kl
2 kl
2 kl
5 kl
20 m2
30 m2
5 m2
5 m2
5 m2
10 kl/h
5 kl/h
10 kl/h
3 kl/h
3 kl/h

136,364
22,727
4545

181,818
22,727
4545
32,727
11,818

136,364
18,182
4545

181,818
18,182
4545
32,727
11,818

Main process yard total

Cooling tower
Cooling water tank
Cooling water pump
Cooling water pump
Chilling unit
Chilling water tank
Chilling water pump
Chilling water pump
Steam boiler unit
Hot oil heater unit
Vacuum pump unit
Mechanical booster
Air compressor unit
Nitrogen generator unit

840,000 kJ/h
5 kl
40 kl/h
40 kl/h
69,000 kJ/h
1 kl
5 kl/h
5 kl/h
500 kg/h
800 MJ/h
51 kl/h
2400 kl/h
75 N m3/h
30 N m3/h

Utility yard total

Plant cost

11,818
11,818

27,273
8182
9091
9091
3636
2727
3182
3182
253,636
13,636
9091
2727
4545
27,273
4545
2273
3636
45,455

40,909
13,636
3636
2727
3636
3182
135,909

27,273
27,273
8182
9091
3636
2727
3636
3182

11,818
11,818
31,818
27,273
8182
9091
9091
3636
2727
3182
3182

40,909
13,636
3636
2727
3636
3182
135,909

31,818
27,273
27,273
8182
9091
3636
3636
3636
3182

280,909
13,636
9091
2727
4545
27,273
4545
2273
3636
45,455

18,182
63,636

338,636
13,636
9091
2727
4545
27,273
4545
2273
3636
45,455
72,727
9091
27,273
18,182
63,636

18,182
63,636

366,818
13,636
9091
2727
4545
27,273
4545
2273
3636
45,455
72,727
9091
27,273
18,182
63,636

204,091
631,364

304,091
778,636

204,091
658,636

304,091
806,818

9091

9091

Estimated as 110/$.

basis of the factors responsible for the commercial biodiesel batch

plant in Japan. Consequently, the total plant costs for the KOH-W,
KOH-D, CaO-W, and CaO-D processes with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year are $2.10 million, $2.59 million, $2.19 million, and $2.69
million, respectively. Plant costs with a capacity of 2904
14,520 tonnes/year were estimated by means of the analogous
estimation method. In short, the ratio of calculating plant cost
and based plant cost is proportional to 0.7th power of the ratio
of calculating plant capacity and based plant capacity. Plant costs
for achieving capacities of 2904, 7260, 14,520 tonnes/year biodiesel were estimated by using this method. For example, the total
plant costs for the KOH-W, KOH-D, CaO-W, and CaO-D processes
for obtaining a capacity of 7260 tonnes/year are $6.48 million,
$7.99 million, $6.76 million, and $8.30 million, respectively.
4.3. Manufacturing cost
The manufacturing costs for the four processes with a capacity
of 1452 tonnes/year are estimated, as shown in Table 4. The unit

prices of the waste cooking oil, fresh methanol, tap water, caustic
potash, and calcium oxide used as raw materials are xed at
$0.227/kg, $0.455/kg, $2.27/tonne, $1.82/kg, and $0.364/kg,
respectively. The waste water is treated in an incinerator at a cost
of $0.0909/kg. The waste glycerol and the waste oil are burned as
fuel in the incinerator or a boiler at no cost. The unit prices of the
heating energy and electric power are xed at $0.0227/MJ and
$0.136/kW h, respectively. The annual costs of depreciation and
repair are estimated at 9% and 3% of the plant investment cost,
and the annual cost of interest and tax are estimated at 3% of
the plant cost. An annual personnel expenses of $0.436 million
($54,545 per capita, 8 persons (2 persons/shift  4 shifts)) is
considered.
Variable costs for the KOH-W, KOH-D, CaO-W, and CaO-D processes to obtain a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year are $404/tonne,
$416/tonne, $384/tonne, and $391/tonne, respectively, and the
costs of the CaO-W and CaO-D processes using the CaO catalyst
are lower than the others. The xed costs for the KOH-W, KOHD, CaO-W, and CaO-D processes with the same capacity are

3273

T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

Table 3
Total plant investment costs for the four batch processes with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year biodiesel.

Equipment
Installation
Piping
Insulation & painting
Civil & structure
Electric & instrumentation
Computer system
Subtotal
Engineering & supervising
General
Plant cost (1452 tonnes/year)
Plant cost (2904 tonnes/year)
Plant cost (7260 tonnes/year)
Plant cost (14,520 tonnes/year)

Factor
%

(1) KOH-W process

Price ($)

(2) KOH-D process

Price ($)

(3) CaO-W process

Price ($)

(4) CaO-D process

Price ($)

100
10
30
5
70
35
25
275
36
22
333

631,364
63,136
189,409
31,568
441,955
220,977
157,841
1,736,250
227,291
138,900
2,100,000
3,409,091
6,481,818
10,527,273

778,636
77,864
233,591
38,932
545,045
272,523
194,659
2,141,250
280,309
171,300
2,590,909
4,209,091
7,990,909
12,981,818

658,636
65,864
197,591
32,932
461,045
230,523
164,659
1,811,250
237,109
144,900
2,190,909
3,563,636
6,763,636
10,981,818

806,818
80,682
242,045
40,341
564,773
282,386
201,705
2,218,750
290,455
177,500
2,690,909
4,372,727
8,300,000
13,490,909

Estimated as 110/$.

Table 4
Variable costs and xed costs for the four batch processes with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year biodiesel.
Expenses

Raw materials

By products

Utilities

Unit price

(1) KOH-W process

(2) KOH-D process

(3) CaO-W Process

(4) CaO-D process

/day

$/tonne

/day

$/tonne

/day

$/tonne

/day

$/tonne

247.9
79.3
0.5
11.9
0.0
340

4962 kg
794 kg

256.3
82.0
0.0
12.3
0.0
351

4800 kg
624 kg
960 kg

247.9
64.5
0.5
0.0
0.1
313

4962 kg
645 kg

256.3
66.6
0.0
0.0
0.1
323

0.0
0.0
22.9
22.9

863 kg
481 kg
25 kg

0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5

663 kg

14.2
0.0
27.3
41.4
404

2743 MJ
3274 MJ
1075 kW h

14.2
16.9
33.3
64.4
416

3280 MJ

Waste cooking oil

Fresh methanol
Tap water
Caustic potash
Calcium oxide
Subtotal

0.227$/kg
0.455$/kg
2.27$/tonne
1.82$/kg
0.364$/kg

4800 kg
768 kg
960 kg
29 kg

Waste glycerol
Waste oil
Waste water
Subtotal

0.0$/kg
0.0$/kg
0.0909$/kg

1032 kg

Steam
Hot oil
Electric power
Subtotal

0.0227$/MJ
0.0227$/MJ
0.136$/kW h

2743 MJ

1109 kg

880 kW h

Variable cost
Expenses

Capital cost

Personnel
Fixed cost
Manufacturing cost

Depreciation
Repair
Interest & tax
8 People

30 kg

1 kg

1306 kg

880 kW h

1 kg

0.0
0.0
27.0
27.0

686 kg
481 kg
25 kg

0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5

16.9
0.0
27.3
44.2
384

3280 MJ
3274 MJ
1075 kW h

16.9
16.9
33.3
67.2
391

Ratio

(1) KOH-W process

(2) KOH-D process

(3) CaO-W process

(4) CaO-D process

Investment, $

$/tonne

Investment, $

$/tonne

Investment, $

$/tonne

Investment, $

$/tonne

9.0
3.0
3.0

2,100,000

130.2
43.4
43.4
300.5
517
921

2,590,909

160.6
53.5
53.5
300.5
568
984

2,190,909

135.8
45.3
45.3
300.5
527
911

2,690,909

166.8
55.6
55.6
300.5
579
969

436,364

436,364

436,364

436,364

Estimated as 110/$.
Estimated as 330 operation days/year.

$517/tonne, $568/tonne, $527/tonne, and $579/tonne, respectively,

and the costs of the KOH-W and CaO-W processes without the
FAME distillation sub-processes are lower than the others. The
manufacturing costs for the KOH-W, KOH-D, CaO-W, and CaO-D
processes with the same capacity are $921/tonne, $984/tonne,
$911/tonne, and $969/tonne, respectively, and the cost of the
CaO-W process is the lowest.
The manufacturing costs for the four processes with a capacity
of 7260 tonnes/year are estimated, as shown in Table 5. All variable
costs are the same as the costs for achieving a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year. The conditions required to calculate the xed costs are as
same as the conditions in the case of the 1452 tonnes/year biodiesel. Fixed costs of the KOH-W, KOH-D, CaO-W, and CaO-D processes with a capacity of 7260 tonnes/year biodiesel are $194/
tonne, $225/tonne, $200/tonne, and $232/tonne, respectively. Owing to a vefold scale-up, the xed costs of with a capacity of

7260 tonnes/year biodiesel are approximately 40% of the xed

costs with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year biodiesel.
4.4. Sensitivity analysis
The manufacturing costs for obtaining a capacity of 7260 tonnes/year are shown in Fig. 4. Although the xed costs comprise
5660% of the manufacturing cost in the case of the 1452 tonnes/
year biodiesel plant, the xed costs fall to 3237% of the manufacturing cost by scale-up effect in the case of the 7260 tonnes/year
biodiesel plant. The raw materials cost comprise 8185% of the
variable cost. A graph of the manufacturing costs vs. plant capacity
for the four processes is shown in Fig. 5. Compared with the plant
with a capacity of 1452 tonnes/year, the manufacturing costs for
obtaining a capacity of 7260 tonnes/year or above fall to below
65%. The manufacturing costs for the CaO-W process are the lowest

3274

T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

Table 5
Variable costs and xed costs for the four batch processes with a capacity of 7260 tonnes/year biodiesel.
Expenses

Raw materials

By products

Utilities

Unit price

(1) KOH-W process

/day

$/tonne

/day

$/tonne

/day

$/tonne

/day

$/tonne

Waste cooking oil

Fresh methanol
Tap water
Caustic potash
Calcium oxide
Subtotal

0.227$/kg
0.455$/kg
2.27$/tonne
1.82$/kg
0.364$/kg

24,000 kg
3840 kg
4800 kg
144 kg

247.9
79.3
0.5
11.9
0.0
340

24,810 kg
3970 kg

256.3
82.0
0.0
12.3
0.0
351

24,000 kg
3120 kg
4800 kg

247.9
64.5
0.5
0.0
0.1
313

24,810 kg
3226 kg

256.3
66.6
0.0
0.0
0.1
323

Waste glycerol
Waste oil
Waste water
Subtotal

0.0$/kg
0.0$/kg
0.0909$/kg

5160 kg

3316 kg

0.0
0.0
27.0
27.0

3429 kg
2407 kg
124 kg

0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5

Steam
Hot oil
Electric power
Subtotal

0.0227$/MJ
0.0227$/MJ
0.136$/kW h

13,715 MJ

16.9
0.0
27.3
44.2
384

16,400 MJ
16,370 MJ
5375 kW h

16.9
16.9
33.3
67.2
391

Ratio

(1) KOH-W process

(2) KOH-D process

(3) CaO-W process

Investment, $

$/tonne

Investment, $

$/tonne

Investment, $

$/tonne

Investment, $

t, $/tonne

9.0
3.0
3.0

6,481,818

80.4
26.8
26.8
60.1
194
598

7,990,909

99.1
33.0
33.0
60.1
225
641

6,763,636

83.8
27.9
27.9
60.1
200
584

8,300,000

102.9
34.3
34.3
60.1
232
622

5544 kg

4400 kW h

Variable cost
Expenses

Capital cost

Personnel
Fixed cost
Manufacturing cost

Depreciation
Repair
Interest & tax
8 People

436,364

(2) KO H-D process

149 kg

0.0
0.0
22.9
22.9

4317 kg
2407 kg
124 kg

0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5

14.2
0.0
27.3
41.4
404

13,715 MJ
16,370 MJ
5375 kW h

14.2
16.9
33.3
64.4
416

436,364

(3) CaO-W process

5 kg

6528 kg
16,400 MJ
4400 kW h

436,364

(4) CaO-D process

5 kg

(4) CaO-D process

436,364

Estimated as 110/$.
Estimated as 330 operation days/year.

1200
By products

Utilities

Fixed cost

(1)KOH-W

Manufacuring cost, $/tonne

Raw materials

(1)KOH-W

(2)KOH-D

(3)CaO-W

(2)KOH-D
(3)CaO-W

1000

(4)CaO-D

800

600

(4)CaO-D

200

400

600

800

1000

Manufacturing cost, $/tonne

Fig. 4. Variable costs and xed costs for the four batch processes with a capacity of
7260 tonnes/year biodiesel.

costs for capacities ranging from 1452 tonnes/year to 7260 tonnes/

year.
4.5. Comparison between previous studies and this study
The manufacturing cost comparison between the previous studies and this study is shown in Table 6. Van Kasteren and Nisworo,
and West et al. estimated the costs of waste cooking oil per tonne
of biodiesel at about $200, while we estimated the costs to be
approximately $250 in this study. The costs of virgin oil feedstock
were estimated at $779 per tonne of biodiesel by You et al.
Although Van Kasteren and Nisworo, Marchetti and Errazu, and
West et al. estimated the glycerol credit at $67 to $127 per tonne
of biodiesel and You et al. estimated the glycerol credit at $380
per tonne of biodiesel, we estimated the credit at $0 on condition

400
0

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

Plant capacity, tonne/year

Fig. 5. Manufacturing costs vs. plant capacity for the four batch processes.

that the waste glycerol was utilized as heat energy by burning at

a incinerator or boilers in the biodiesel production plant. West
et al. estimated the xed costs and the plant costs with a capacity
of 8000 tonnes/year at $59 to $83 and $0.63 million to $2.15 million and You et al. estimated the xed cost and the plant costs with
a capacity of 8000 tonnes/year at $118 and $1.35 million. On the
other hand, we estimated the xed costs and the plant costs for
obtaining a capacity of 7260 tonnes/year at $194 to $232, and
$6.48 million to $8.30 million in this study. As West et al. and
You et al. only estimate the plant costs in main process yard, they
appear to underestimate the total plant costs. If sales price per
tonne of biodiesel is $800, yearly sales for their plants are $6.4 million and yearly sales for our plants are $5.8 million. Their investment turnovers, which are the ratio of the yearly sales to the
plant investment cost are 3.0 to 10.2, while our investment turnovers range from 0.70 to 0.90. Generally, the investment turnover
of chemical industries is about 1.0; our estimation of the xed

3275

T. Sakai et al. / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 32683276

Table 6
Manufacturing cost comparison between previous studies and this study for biodiesel production plants.
Plant
capacity
tonne/year

Process type

Van Kasteren and

Nisworo
(2007)

8000
125,000

Continuous
Continuous

Noneb
Noneb

Waste cooking oil

Waste cooking oil

You et al. (2008)

8000
30,000
100,000

Continuous
Continuous
Continuous

Homogeneous alkali
Homogeneous alkali
Homogeneous alkali

West et al. (2008)

8000
8000
8000
8000

Continuous
Continuous
Continuous
Continuous

Marchetti and
Errazu (2008)

36,036
36,036
36,036
36,036

This workd

7260

a
b
c
d
e
f

Catalyst

Oil Feedstock

Glycerol
credit
$/tonnea

Manufacturing
costc
$/tonnea

Fixed cost

Plant cost

$/tonnea

$million

214
209

127
127

442
150

290
21

2.00e
10.40e

Soybean oil
Soybean oil
Soybean oil

779
779
779

380
380
380

685
582
547

118
68
50

1.35
4.04
11.67

Homogeneous alkali
Homogeneous acid
Heterogeneous acid
Noneb

Waste cooking oil

Waste cooking oil
Waste cooking oil
Waste cooking oil

208
204
208
208

73
76
71
75

526
485
386
459

75
81
59
83

1.59
1.99
0.63
2.15

Continuous
Continuous
Continuous
Continuous

Homogeneous alkali
Homogeneous acid
Heterogeneous acid
Noneb

Waste cooking oil

Waste cooking oil
Waste cooking oil
Waste cooking oil

445f
460f
442f
905f

74
71
99
67

429
439
425
918

49
40
31
36

7.42e
7.33e
5.15e
8.44e

Homogeneous alkali

Waste cooking oil

248

598

194

6.48e

7260
7260

Batch KOHW
Batch KOH-D
Batch CaO-W

Waste cooking oil

Waste cooking oil

256
248

0
0

641
584

225
200

7.99e
6.76e

7260

Batch CaO-D

Homogeneous alkali
Heterogeneous
alkali
Heterogeneous
alkali

Waste cooking oil

256

622

232

8.30e

$/
tonnea

based on tonne-FAME.
Supercritical methanol process.
Manufacturing cost = Variable cost + xed cost
Estimated as 110/$.
Includes utility equipment.
Raw material cost.

glycerol credit, not includes general expenses.

costs and the plant costs appears to be more realistic. Although our
manufacturing costs are higher than the costs of West et al., the
manufacturing costs for our four processes are sufciently competitive as they are considered the glycerol credits and underestimated xed costs.
5. Conclusion
In this study, in order to assess biodiesel manufacturing costs
for the (1) KOH-W, (2) KOH-D, (3) CaO-W, and (4) CaO-D processes,
we developed a basic design for four processes and we estimated
the plant costs and the manufacturing costs for obtaining a capacities of 1452, 2904, 7260 and 14,520 tonnes/year. The manufacturing costs for the CaO-W process has the lowest costs to travel to
obtain 145214,520 tonnes/year for the biodiesel plant. Although
our manufacturing costs are relatively expensive as compared to
the costs of West et al., the manufacturing costs for (3) CaO-W
and (4) CaO-D process are enough competitive as they considered
the glycerol credits and underestimated xed costs.
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