Forecasting the life cycle costing of a biofuel production plant in Hong Kong

Biodiesel is generally made by transesterification which is a chemical reaction between lipids and alcohol producing fatty acid esters. Waste cooking oil which is collected from restaurants is the commonly used feedstock in Hong Kong. Using waste cooking oil as the feedstock for biodiesel production would reduce disposal and wastewater treatment cost, and the overall production cost of biodiesel. Biodiesel is one of the solutions for environmental issues such as global warming and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The objectives of this study are to find out the life cycle costing of biodiesel in Hong Kong, and to compare the costs between biodiesel and diesel, and to provide suggestions to the industry or consumers whether they should increase biodiesel applications. Conventional life cycle costing methodology was conducted. The life cycle costing began from feedstock collection and ended with biodiesel production. This included raw materials collection, transportation of raw material, manufacture and waste treatment of a biodiesel production plant in Hong Kong, as well as the transportation of biodiesel to customers.