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Techno-economic feasibility study for concurrent activated and modified palm kernel shell–derived activated carbon

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Abstract

Palm oil production is vital for Asian countries economy. Substantial amount of oil palm waste yielded has created significant disposal problem. One of the mitigate approaches involves usage of these wastes as activated carbon precursor. This work introduces concurrent activation and modification (CAM) to synthesize palm kernel shell–derived activated carbon (PKSdAC) with sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and barium chloride (BaCl2) as activating and modifying agent. Assessment of CAM-PKSdAC production economic viability is investigated in terms of capital cost, production cost, net present value (NPV), return on investment (ROI), and payback period (PBP). CAM process of PKS facilities to produce 2313 kg AC/day requires a total fixed capital investment of $13.37 million and production cost of $4.83 million with estimated product cost of $6.53 per kg. CAM-PKSdAC production estimates an NPV of $1.08 million with annual 0.13% ROI and 2.77 years PBP, whereas a conventional single-step H2SO4 activation and subsequent BaCl2 modification process of PKS facilities require $16.30 million fixed capital investment and production cost of $5.40 million annually with estimated product cost of $5.73 per kg. Conventional surface modified-activated PKSdAC production estimates a negative NPV of − $0.14 million with annual 0.13% ROI and 3.02 years PBP.

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Acknowledgements

This research was pursued under the support by Yayasan Sarawak Tun Taib Scholarship.

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  1. Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Jalan Simpang Tiga, 93350, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia

    Jia Yen Lai & Lock Hei Ngu

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Appendix. Estimated capital cost and operating cost for PKSdAC production

Appendix. Estimated capital cost and operating cost for PKSdAC production

Table 7

Table 7 Estimated capital cost and operating cost for CAM of palm kernel shell (reproduced from [15])
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Table 8

Table 8 Estimated capital cost and operating cost for conventional single-step H2SO4 activation and subsequent BaCl2 modification of palm kernel shell (reproduced from [15])
Full size table

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Lai, J.Y., Ngu, L.H. Techno-economic feasibility study for concurrent activated and modified palm kernel shell–derived activated carbon. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-03520-y

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