1 a) Exploring different processes and looking into potential projects for a sustainable and promising

outcome we found that plastic pollution has been a problem that has been for a long time and a a
growing concern. We think innovative enzymes can break waste plastics and make them reusable to
reduce plastic production and pollution. However, there are certain challenges associated with this
route. The first issue is plastics are polymer which creates a challenge to balance them in reactions. In
this study we are mainly targeting PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) [1]. The chemical formula for PET is
C12H14O4 . The overall reaction for plastic degradation is as follows:

PET +enzyme = Terephthalic acid + ethylene glycol

Here the main product Terephthalic acid is used as a precursor for polyesters2]. The byproduct
Ethylene glycol is used as a precursor for polyester fibers and for antifreeze solutions [3]. What enzyme
is being used is crucial in this process and an enzyme that can break PET close to ambient temperature is
highly desirable. The key website that we are interested to investigate claims that a new enzyme is
found which degrades the PET at close to ambient temperature with a fast rate [4].

References

1. Austin, H. P., Allen, M. D., Donohoe, B. S., Rorrer, N. A., Kearns, F. L., Silveira, R. L., ... &
Beckham, G. T. (2018). Characterization and engineering of a plastic-degrading aromatic
polyesterase. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(19), E4350-E4357.
2. Short, G. N., Nguyen, H. T., Scheurle, P. I., & Miller, S. A. (2018). Aromatic polyesters from
biosuccinic acid. Polymer Chemistry, 9(30), 4113-4119.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethylene_glycol
4. This AI-Designed Enzyme Can Devour Plastic Trash In Hours: Video (forbes.com)

1(b) While evaluation the feasibility of PET degradation through enzyme one of the key areas to look
into is how much energy or heat is required in the reactor so that the enzyme operates optimally and
degrades the PET at a fast rate. Energy cost can be a major operating cost. Another aspect to evaluate is
the raw material (PET) economics. Things to look at would be how much money is being spent to collect
waste plastics and convert them into Terephtalic acid. As per the current technological status recycled
PET material through enzymes using waste PET cost higher that regular route of producing PET. This is
due to the fact that there is a significant energy cost and processing cost of the waste PET. We will also
look at the government policy to find routes where we take the advantage of environmental friendly
policies like carbon credit, government environmental subsidy etc.
1.c

Figure: I/O diagram for Enzyme degradation process of PET

2 (a) There has a lot of studies on producing biodiesel from soyabin oil. In this study were are
referencing a recent article where the author gives some valuable insights into the massbalance of
biodiesel from soyabin oil [1]. Further details of the calculation are given below:

10000 Kg/hr of biodiesel will be produced. The key reaction here is

Sources [1]

Hence if biodiesel has 98.39 % yield Total Soyabin oil mass flow rate = (10000*100/98.39)= 10163.63
Kg/hr

Density of methanol =0.791 g/ml, hence 0.2 ml methanol= 0.2*0.791=0.158 g

Hence 0.7 g Soyabin oil requires 0.158 g mrthanol

10163.63 kg/hr of Soyabin oil will require methanol for transesterification =
0.158/0.7*10163.63=2296.98 kg/hr

The remaining mass will glycerol hence the total mass flow of glycerol produced= (10163.63-
10000+2296.98) = 2460.616 Kg /hr.

We are assuming 100 % conversion in the reactor and also glycerol is also considered as a byproduct.
Even though glycerols market price is low considered it will be 80% purity from this process it has some
uses as solvent, food colors and skin improvement [3].

Hence the I/O diagram is given below:

Figure: I/O diagram for biodiesel production from Soyabin oil

1. Rajkumari, K., & Rokhum, L. (2020). A sustainable protocol for production of biodiesel by
transesterification of soybean oil using banana trunk ash as a heterogeneous catalyst. Biomass
Conversion and Biorefinery, 10(4), 839-848.
2. https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/TW/en/product/sial/322415#:~:text=0.791%20g%2FmL%20at%20
25%20%C2%B0C%20(lit.).
3. Wexler, P., Anderson, B. D., Gad, S. C., Hakkinen, P. B., Kamrin, M., De Peyster, A., ... &
Shugart, L. R. (Eds.). (2005). Encyclopedia of toxicology (Vol. 1). Academic Press.
2(b)

Memorandum
To: Instructor

From: Manny, Process Enginner

Date: 09/03/2022
Subject: Project on producing Biodiesel from Soyabean oil

As per the last meeting with you and our team we are excited to let you know that we have made some
initial progress to analyze the project. Biodiesel from Soyabean oil has been extensively studied in the
literature. Hence we have picked a recent article which sheds light on the mass balance of the biodiesel
production reaction. One of the key initial steps of analyzing a project feasibility is to draw an I/O
diagram. As shown above by going through mass balance we were able to calculate the mass flowrates of
our inputs and outputs of the I/O diagram. The I/O diagram gives an overview of the inlet and outlet
streams. Our next step is to develop a quantitative BFD diagram to further elaborate the process and look
for possible ways of optimizing the process.