Training Simulator Development for Palm Oil Based Biodiesel Production

This research aims at developing anoperator training simulator (OTS) using AspenOTS Frameworkfor fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) production plant. All over the world, there is an increasing interest towards the use of vegetable oils in much desired ecofriendly biodiesel production. In view of environmental concerns due to high polluting nature of fossil fuels and also because of the limited availability of non-renewable energy sources e.g. fossil fuels, biodiesel is seen as a future fuel alternative. In order to improve the process efficiency and hence the profitability with the satisfaction of environmental concerns, in-depth analysis of process is inevitable. Simulation provides a platform to study and analyse the process in detail. In addition, safety and productivity in the plant is mainly dependant on the ability of the operators to deal with emergency situations in the running plant. Therefore, the training of operators is a tremendously important activity in the chemical industry to avoid accidental hazards in the plant. In present contribution, a steady state and dynamic simulator has been developed using Aspen Plus7.3 and Aspen Plus Dynamics 7.3. Subsequently, a high fidelity operator training simulator that can be used to explore normal and emergency conditions, is developed using Aspen OTS Framework.