The potential of petroleum nut (Pittosporum resiniferum) oil (PNO) as raw material for biodiesel and source of valuable compounds demands the investigation of its large-scale extraction. Previous laboratory extraction experiments of PNO were already conducted. This study investigates the scale-up of the laboratory process. DWSIM, a free chemical process simulation software, was used to generate a process model for PNO solvent extraction with a capacity of 8,881 kg/day. The Hansen solubility parameters were applied. The generated process model had comparable oil recovery to other solvent extractions. Using the process data from DWSIM, carbon footprint intensity method was applied to estimate the carbon footprint of the extraction process and determine hotspots for carbon footprint reduction. The theoretical oil yield from the simulation is 33.73%, based on theoretical solubility interactions. The total cost and carbon footprint of the process is USD 1.03 M and 143 Mg CO2/day. The cost is high because the current price of petroleum nut is for small-scale production. The overall carbon footprint can be reduced by 3.60% if the de-oiled cake were turned to briquettes and used as fuel to generate steam. This study contributes to alternative renewable energy sources as well as carbon footprint reduction analysis for process industries.
Gallarte et al. (Sun,) studied this question.