Technoeconomic analysis of co-hydrothermal carbonization of coal waste and food waste

Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

The aim of this research was to evaluate the technoeconomic prospect of hydrochar production through co-hydrothermal carbonization of coal waste (CW) and food waste (FW). A process flow diagram was developed that considered seven reactors, six pumps, and other necessary equipment for producing 49,192 kg/h hydrochar. Three different cases were considered for the economic analysis. Case II considered both CW and FW transportation cost while cases I and III considered only FW and only CW transportation, respectively. The economic analysis revealed the break-even costs to be $62.24 per ton for case I, $69.90 per ton for case II, and $60.26 per ton for case III. The fixed capital investment (FCI) was $11.4M for all the cases while total capital investment (TCI), working capital (WC), and manufacturing costs were higher for case II compared to cases I and III. A sensitivity analysis examined the effect of nine different variables on the break-even cost. The raw materials’ cost as well as their transportation costs significantly affected the corresponding break-even cost. Additionally, increasing the hydrochar production capacity has drastically decreased the break-even cost. However, the analysis also revealed that excessive increase of production capacity can have negative impact on the process economics.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO R-17-05) and NSF INFEWS 1856058.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, 1 Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Shanta Mazumder, Pretom Saha & Akbar Saba

  2. Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W Univ Blvd, Melbourne, FL, 32901, USA

    Kyle McGaughy & M. Toufiq Reza

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  1. Shanta Mazumder
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  2. Pretom Saha
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  3. Kyle McGaughy
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  4. Akbar Saba
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  5. M. Toufiq Reza
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Correspondence to M. Toufiq Reza.

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Highlights

• Technoeconomic prospect of co-HTC of coal waste and food waste were evaluated.

• Break-even cost varied within $62.24, $69.90, and $60.26 per ton for three separate cases.

• Sensitivity analysis considered nine parameters to analyze the effect on break-even cost.

• Raw material purchasing and transportation cost were key factors in economic analysis.

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Mazumder, S., Saha, P., McGaughy, K. et al. Technoeconomic analysis of co-hydrothermal carbonization of coal waste and food waste. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00817-8

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Keywords

  • Food waste
  • Coal waste
  • Co-hydrothermal carbonization
  • Technoeconomic analysis
  • Sensitivity analysis