Feasibility Study of Setting up a Coconut Shell Charcoal Briquette Plant in Prachuapkhirikhan

Abstract

Objectives of this research are to study feasibility for setting up a coconut shell charcoal briquette plant in Prachuapkhirikhan in four areas - marketing, engineering, administration, and finance – and to analyze factors affecting project feasibility, including selling price, production cost, and sale volume. Results show that the use of charcoal is continuously increasing. Coconut shell charcoal briquette is an alternative energy with a specific property for particular functions. Its use also supports efficiency of energy management associated with resource, economy, social, and environment. This project includes 2,704,664 baht of initial investment, 364.8 ton/year of production volume, and 8 years of project lifetime. The project consists of 4,345,739 baht of net present value, 42.9% of internal interest rate and 2.3 years of payback period. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis also indicates that if selling price decreases by 10% or production cost increases by 20% or sale volume decreases by 30%, this project is still suitable for the investment.