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Detailed economic assessment of polylactic acid production by using glucose platform: sugarcane bagasse, coffee cut stems, and plantain peels as possible raw materials

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Abstract

This paper presents a detailed economic assessment of the polylactic acid (PLA) production line in an existing petrochemical facility in Colombia. The detailed economic assessment was done by applying an integrated methodology for the economic assessment to reduce the existing gap between the capital expenditures estimated from conceptual design and detailed engineering. The integrated economic assessment approach was developed involving conceptual and detailed design aspects. For this purpose, the PLA production process was evaluated using the glucose platform from sugarcane bagasse, coffee cut stems, and plantain peels as raw materials. The yield of glucose, operating and investment costs were considered from the open literature. The mass and energy balances for the process were obtained using Aspen Plus V.9.0. software. The capital cost estimation (CapEx) was made using the Aspen Capital Cost Estimator. CapEx and operational expenditures (OpEx) estimates were adjusted using industry guidelines. Finally, financial analysis methods and key ratios were used to measure the investment profitability and prefeasibility of the process at various PLA gross incomes. Regarding the methodology proposed, a comparison between the traditional economic assessment and the proposed integrated strategy showed a deviation of 256%. The results are more similar than those reported by the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies. Finally, the CapEx for the PLA process with an annual production rate of 2000 MT reached up to USD 10.35 million with a gross income of USD 1400/MT and 9.5 years payback period from containing economic prefeasibility.

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Funding

The authors express their gratitude to the project ESENTTIA-CNBT COLCIENCIAS code No 665173454353 B Desarrollo del Producto y Proceso de Producción de Terpolímeros de Propileno-Etileno-Buteno and the research program entitled “Reconstrucción del tejido social en zonas posconflicto en Colombia” SIGP code: 57579 with the project entitled “Competencias empresariales y de innovación para el desarrollo económico y la inclusión productiva de las regiones afectadas por el conflicto colombiano” SIGP code 58907. Contract number: FP44842-213–2018. Moreover, this work was also supported by the research project “Aprovechamiento y valorización sostenible de residuos sólidos orgánicos y su posible aplicación en borrefinerías y tecnologías de residuos a energía en el departamento de Sucre” code BPIN 2020000100189. The authors express their gratitude to the call PROGRAMA NACIONAL PARA LAS MUJERES EN LA CIENCIA UNESCOL’ORÉAL-MINCIENCIAS-ICETEX.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Instituto de Biotecnología y Agroindustria, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 170003, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia

    Cesar-Augusto Rueda-Duran, Mariana Ortiz-Sanchez & Carlos Ariel Cardona-Alzate

  2. Grupo de Investigación en Tecnología de Polímeros, ESENTTIA S.A, Zona Industrial de Mamonal Km 8, A.A, 4336, Cartagena, Colombia

    Cesar-Augusto Rueda-Duran

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  1. Cesar-Augusto Rueda-Duran
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Contributions

C. Rueda-Duran: investigation, methodology, analysis, writing—original draft, edition; M. Ortiz-Sanchez: investigation, methodology, simulation, analysis, writing—original draft; C.A. Cardona-Alzate: funding acquisition, conceptualization, supervision, writing.

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Correspondence to Carlos Ariel Cardona-Alzate.

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Rueda-Duran, CA., Ortiz-Sanchez, M. & Cardona-Alzate, C.A. Detailed economic assessment of polylactic acid production by using glucose platform: sugarcane bagasse, coffee cut stems, and plantain peels as possible raw materials. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12, 4419–4434 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-022-02501-5

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