Production of activated carbon from bamboo scaffolding waste—process design, evaluation and sensitivity analysis

Abstract

A feasibility study has been carried out on the preliminary process design of the production of activated carbon from the bamboo scaffolding waste based on 30 tonnes of bamboo waste per day throughput. A comparison of the process economics of the stand-alone bamboo carbonization plant with a plant that is integrated into another major processing facility has been studied. The preliminary process design was based on various literature sources and an economic evaluation, in which the total capital investment (TCI), the production cost, the return on investment (ROI), the cash flow and the internal rate of return (IRR) of the stand-alone plant and integrated plant were estimated. The TCI of the stand-alone plant and integrated plant are HK$ 7,430,000 and HK$ 6,430,000, respectively. Net present values of two plants at various discount factors have been determined and the IRR have been estimated as 13.0 and 20.1% for the stand-alone plant and integrated plant, respectively. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the cash flow of the project would be increased or decreased up to 40, 65 and 120% by varying production factors of cost of chemical activation agent, production capacity and selling price of activated carbon, respectively, in the extent of ±25%.