Theses and Dissertations

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7930-5155

Advisor

Fortuin, Christine

Committee Member

Himes, Austin

Committee Member

Basu, Chakrabarti Priyadarshini

Committee Member

Hill, Jovonn

Date of Degree

12-12-2025

Original embargo terms

Immediate Worldwide Access

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Forestry

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering

Abstract

As the world population grows and the standard of living improves in developing countries, global energy demand will continue to rise, with energy use in the developing world expected to increase dramatically more than the per capita reductions in developed countries from efficiency improvements. Nearly a third of the total global energy demand is used for transportation, resulting in a substantial contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While the demand for energy rises, initiatives and regulations are underway to mitigate the amount of GHG emissions to Earth’s atmosphere. As efforts progress in industry, governments, and society to reduce the total amount of carbon emissions, improvements in the transportation sector will play a significant role. Fuels produced from renewable feedstock demonstrate promise as alternatives to traditional petroleum-based fossil fuels. Alternative fuel sources can play a significant role in vehicle GHG emissions reductions. Plant based oils such as soybean oil are a significant group of feedstocks for these alternate fuels. However, attention is increasing on sources outside the primary food supply chain to avoid competition between energy production and food stocks. This dissertation provides considerations for the use of cottonseed oil as a feedstock for renewable diesel production via hydroprocessing, develops the preliminary design of a processing facility for this purpose along with economic modeling that could be used as a template for similar research, and proposes specific areas for further research to enable expanded technical assessment of CSO for this purpose.

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