Abstract
Biomass from palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) is considered as potential renewable energy sources to be developed in Indonesia. Palm EFB can be efficiently converted into valuable and useful methanol products through gasification. Research about methanol synthesis from various biomass has been done. However, Little research about methanol production based on palm empty fruit bunch gasification has been found, and no research yet on technoeconomic analysis of methanol plant construction based on palm empty fruit bunch gasification. The purpose of this research is to find early-stage feasibility of small-scale methanol plant model based on gasification of palm EFB. Method methanol plant design, investment cost estimation, operating cost estimation, and calculation to estimate profitability in terms of economic feasibility parameters. Economic analysis calculated that the total investment to build a methanol plant in this study was USD 87 508 479 with manufacturing cost per annum USD 6 127 014. Net Present Value (NPV) calculated was USD -51 721 064 and IRR at 1.1 %. Based on NPV and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) value, the construction of methanol plant is not feasible. Feasibility predicted to be obtained when the capacity of the plant increased fivefold.
Highlights
The utilization of biomass to be used as one of the energy sources can be done through a gasification process
Syngas is a raw material for most other chemical products, such as methanol, ammonia, and dimethyl ether (DME)
This paper exhibits the mass and energy balance and economic aspect of the proposed methanol plant based on gasification of empty fruit bunch (EFB) and the model of a methanol plant was designed and simulated by using Aspen Hysys
Summary
The utilization of biomass to be used as one of the energy sources can be done through a gasification process. Gasification is a thermochemical process that converts biomass into a gas called producer gas or synthetic gas (syngas). Syngas is a fuel-based mixture consisting mainly of Hydrogen (H2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), and Methane (CH4) [1]. Biomass that has big potential to be utilized is palm EFB waste. In 2015, in Indonesia, the total EFB waste generated was 30.6 106 t yr–1 [2]. Based on Inayat et al [3], Indonesia is currently the world's largest producer of palm oil resulted in very large EFB. Every kg of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) produced, it will produce 4 kg of dry biomass
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