This study evaluates improvements made to a biodiesel production process from Chlorella sp. micro algae in a locomotive pilot plant using simulation. Energy and the main variables of the operation such as temperature, reaction time, alcohol molar concentration, vegetable oil, and use of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts and their concentration, mixing intensity, and moisture control were collected from operational data, and mass balances were tested in the SuperPro Designer retail package v.9.5. The result was an increase in the efficiency of the process of obtaining company biodiesel from 86% to 92% by volume, the same that were scaled taking into account the species’ production locality, and the results obtained showed that 26% was met by obtaining 10 MM (millions) of liters of biodiesel from the scaled plant.
The selection of proper materials for a structural component is critical in engineering design. Existing design procedures may currently be sufficient, especially where experience exists, but fierce industrial competition is spurring the search for improved methods and tools. The main drivers are quality, life-cycle cost, and time-to-market. Improved design efficiency and accuracy may have an enormous impact on the economic viability of the final product. The use of computer-aided systems can assist the designer in selecting the ap- propriate material these may potentially reduce product cost and time-to-market while assisting the concur- rent engineering activities, thereby resolving problems related to materials presented during the initial phase of design. This paper focuses on specific issues such as material selection at early design stage. In this paper material selection algorithm is developed using fuzzy logic technique for selection of proper material from database as per design engineers’ criteria. The information obtained from the selection algorithm is ex- changed through a properly secured web page through pure internet communication to different users in the enterprise so that it can create concurrent engineering environment throughout the product life cycle
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