TITLE:
Exergetic Efficiencies Evaluation of Flows and Operations on the Mechanical Extraction Process of Jatropha curcas Oil
AUTHORS:
Rolf Nirahina Rakoto Harifidy, Hery Tiana Rakotondramiarana
KEYWORDS:
Jatropha Oil, Extraction Process, Exergetic Efficiency, Pretreatment, Mass Exergy
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Energy Efficiency,
Vol.8 No.1,
January
18,
2019
ABSTRACT: Jatropha curcas oil is
one of the most promising renewable energy sources for rural areas due to its
ease of production, which can be used as an alternative to diesel and
fuel oil. The development of sustainable energy has been the issue of the
discussion about biofuel production given the considerable consumption amount
of fossil fuel during the transformation process. And any production process
that consumes a lot of energy records a significant destruction of useful
energy, which leads to thermodynamic inefficiencies of the process. Besides,
the focus on environmental safety is gradually shifting towards energy
efficiency in industrial processing. Exergetic analysis is an effective tool
for measuring the performance of a production process since exergy is a
quantity that measures energy quality. This study assesses the scale of
resource degradation in Jatropha oil mechanical extraction processes and finds
improving possible pretreatments options for more efficient production. Data
from experiments combined with existing databases have permitted to establish
the exergy flow balance at each stage of production. The process exergetic
yield varies from 29.85% to 35.41% according to the chosen pretreatment
process. Mass exergy accounts for 67% of incoming flows and, for outgoing
flows, more than 60% is associated with the mass exergy generated by the
process waste. The uncertainties analysis on the results was used to validate
model results, and to
visualize the minimum values for the most unfavorable cases and the maximum
values when all the parameters are at their optimum values.