Economic Engineering of biodegradable mulch film process and nanocellulose crystal from the empty fruit bunch

Abstract

Thailand has many palm plantations for oil production, producing the Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) wastes of 8,281 tons per year. This study used secondary data to extract EFB to cellulose and lignin. Then cellulose was converted to nanocellulose crystalline (NCC). At the same time, lignins were produced into biodegradable mulch film. This research aimed to simulate the process model of NCC and Biodegradable mulch film from EFB using Aspen Plus and to perform an economic analysis to estimate the net profit and payback period. The manufacturing process contained 3 procedures: 1 using sodium hydroxide to extract lignin out of EFB to get cellulose in the solid and lignin in the liquid portions, 2 separations of lignin from liquid and manufacturing biodegradable mulch film using lignin mixed Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), 3 purifying cellulose and producing NCC using sulfuric acid. The simulation result showed that using an EFB of 2 tons per day makes an NCC of 22 kilograms and a biodegradable mulch film of 41 kilograms per day. Furthermore, the economic assessment results revealed that the internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), and payback period methods were 352%, 363,412,341 Baht, and 3.41 months, respectively.