Optimización del proceso de extracción de aceite de palma africana de la planta San Daniel mediante el aprovechamiento de energía residual para generar un ahorro energético.

Abstract

The objective of this research project is to optimize the African palm oil extraction process at the San Daniel plant by using residual energy to generate energy savings. An initial diagnosis was made at stationary operating conditions where operational data were taken from the plant's digital panels for several days. To determine the amount of residual energy produced in each of the process stages, a mass and energy balance was developed from the data collected in the current process diagnosis, where it was determined that the boiler blowdown has a flow rate of 0.592 tn/h and a residual heat of 424.3 KW, the boiler chimney exhaust gases have a flow of 10.18 tn/h and a residual heat of 1543 KW, the oil drying operation has a flow of 0.244 tn/h and a residual heat of 211.1 KW, the palm fruit digestion has a flow of 0.448 tn/h and a residual heat of 35.82 KW, and the sterilization of the African palm bunches has a flow of 1.47 tn/h and a residual heat of 1723 KW. To optimize the process, three individual and two combined proposals were evaluated. The first consisted in adding either a steam microturbine, heat recuperators or an Organic Rankine Cycle and the second in combining these options. According to the results obtained, the most convenient proposal to optimize the process was selected, which consists of implementing heat recuperators and a Regenerative Organic Rankine Cycle, which will generate a reduction of steam consumption produced by the boiler from 5.86 to 4.61 tn/h and 163929.6 KW/month of electrical energy. Finally, the selected proposal was validated with models established in several bibliographic sources and simulation in the DWSIM software.