Evaluating heat integration scheme for batch production of oleic acid

Abstract

Research works on Process System Engineering are well established for conventional sectors of bulk chemical manufacturing, such as that in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries. However, relatively less attention has been given to the area of bio-related and fine chemical production. This paper demonstrates the use of process synthesis and analysis tools in evaluating heat integration schemes for a batch production of oleic acid from palm olein using immobilised lipase. Oleic acid is a fatty acid found in animal and vegetables oils. It is mainly used in the food industry to make synthetic butters and cheeses, as well as to flavour baked goods, candy, ice-cream and sodas. In the first section of this paper, a case study involving the production of oleic acid from palm olein using immobilised lipase is modelled in a commercial batch process simulation software SuperPro Designer v5.0. Apart from performing the mass and energy balances on the overall process, detailed scheduling of the batch manufacturing has also been carried out. This provides the necessary information to carry out the batch heat integration scheme, i.e. the exact start and end time, as well as the duration when the process hot and cold streams exist. In the second section of this paper, technique is presented for integrating hot and cold process streams in the oleic acid production case study. Unlike continuous processes, apart from the heat transfer driving force, time dimension is another important decision variable to be considered in a batch heat integration work. In this case study, the maximum energy recovery (MER) objective is achieved without the use of heat storage system.