Abstract:
Farming operations in Africa have, in general, not adopted small-scale biodiesel production
technology well for on-farm fuel usage. This is mainly due to the lack of an acceptable method to
assess the economic feasibility of constructing small-scale biodiesel production facilities, and the
impact of such operations on existing farming production processes. The research study
summarised in this paper subsequently set out to develop a model, termed the Biodiesel Production
System Optimisation Model (BPSOM), which predicts the cost of producing biodiesel on a smallscale,
and optimises on-farm production processes to maximise profits. The model was validated
using a South African case study to evaluate the predicted cost of biodiesel per litre produced, and
the economic impact of a small-scale facility on the production profits of a farm. A proxy indicator,
profit per hectare cultivated land, is introduced to measure the impact. BPSOM predicts a positive
profit increase of 33% for the specific farm case study, which proves the economic potential of
small-scale biodiesel production facilities for fuel usage at farm level in Africa.
