Heuristic framework for the debottlenecking of a palm oil-based integrated biorefinery

Abstract This paper presents a heuristic framework that can be used for the debottlenecking of a palm oil-based integrated biorefinery with multiple processes and products. In current industrial practice, any individual unit within these systems is generally designed for a required size. Besides, it also takes into account of an additional margin for safety to meet the requirement of the baseline state of the process. In case there is a variation in the quality of the supplied feedstock or an increase for product demand, it becomes necessary to identify the bottleneck process unit in order to handle the new variation and meet all requirements. In response, the system has to be debottlenecked by altering important operating parameters from the baseline state that limits the change. This stage entails formulating and solving a detailed model for this particular process. In this paper, frameworks are presented to aid decision makers to first identify a bottleneck and subsequently debottleneck the process. The frameworks are essentially a guide for design and safety engineers for decision making at conceptual design stage. A design stage palm oil-based integrated biorefinery case study is solved to demonstrate the proposed approach.