Techno-Economic evaluation of oil palm empty fruit bunch-based encapsulated lignin production process

Abstract

Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) is the main solid waste from the palm oil processing industry. One of the main constituent polymers of Oil Palm EFB is lignin. Currently, lignin is used as wood adhesives. The antioxidant activity of lignin has received much attention recently because of the structure of the polyphenols possessed by lignin. Although previous studies have shown that lignin has antioxidant activity, lignin is easily oxidized while in storage. Therefore, we need materials to maintain lignin stability. This research analyzes the investment feasibility of a lignin production plant encapsulated from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) as raw material. The factory will be built in the Kertajaya area, Banten, Indonesia, with a project life span of 15 years and is targeted to meet a 1% market share. This study compared four pretreatment processes: alkaline with NaOH, acid-alkaline, steam explosion, and alkaline with NH4OH. The production process simulation uses the SuperPro Designer v9.5 to obtain mass, energy, and economic parameter data. Simulations show the production of encapsulated lignin with the alkaline pretreatment using the NaOH method as the best alternative with the profitability parameters in the form of NPV, IRR, and PBP, of USD 6,078,000; 35.23 % and 3.19 years, respectively, at the product selling price of USD 40/kg.