ABSTRACT
Glycerine pitch is a byproduct of the glycerine concentration process in the oleochemical industry, and it is normally disposed of as waste in landfills. Recent research has discovered the potential of glycerine pitch as a boiler fuel when blended with diesel. However, there are no studies done on the utilization of glycerine pitch and diesel to power a polygeneration system. In this work, a superstructure optimization approach is proposed to synthesize a glycerine pitch and diesel-driven polygeneration network integrated with waste heat recovery technologies including an absorption refrigeration system and multi-effect desalination. The optimization results have shown that the proposed polygeneration network driven by glycerine pitch and diesel fuel has reduced the total annual cost by 21% compared to a combined cycle gas turbine alone. However, the sensitivity analysis on glycerine pitch percentage indicated that a minimum of 70% glycerine pitch is needed in the fuel blend. Fuel with a lower glycerine pitch percentage is unable to justify its usage as a boiler fuel in the polygeneration network due to insufficient savings.
