ABSTRACT

This study aimed at predicting models and techno-economic analysis of biodiesel produced from neem seed oil using catalyst derived from animal waste bones as a heterogeneous catalyst. The animal waste bone was thermally activated. A total of 32 experiments was conducted to study the effect of methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time and agitation speed as obtained using RSM based on a two- level-five variable central composite designs (CCD).The optimum biodiesel yield of 92.5% was obtained at 6:1 methanol oil ratio, 4wt% catalyst 600C temperatures at reaction time of 4h and agitation speed of 350 rpm. The result showed that methanol to oil molar ratio, catalyst weight and temperature has significant effect on transesterification of neem oil to methyl ester. The  regression  model  was  found  to  be  highly significant  at  95%  confidence  level  as  correlation coefficients  for  R-Squared  (0.9922),  adjusted  R-Squared  (0.9780)  and  predicted  R-Squared  (0.8218). Techno-economic evaluation studies was conducted via Aspen Batch Process Developer (ABPD). The low cost of feedstock, methanol and catalyst reusability reduced the operating cost as well increases the profitability of the production process. The annual production cost was obtained as $3537105 at a payback time of 2.67years with IRR of 43% and NPV value of $900534. The sensitivity and profitability analysis of the project were evaluated and the project was observed to be economically viable. It was recommended that plant scale production of biodiesel production from neem seed oil should be undertaken to reduce the cost of biodiesel