Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Techno-Economic Analysis and Feasibility of Industrial-Scale Activated Carbon Production from Agricultural Pea Waste Using Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis: A Circular Economy Approach

Zein, Sharif H.; Antony, Ansu

Authors

Profile Image

Dr Sharif Zein S.H.Zein@hull.ac.uk
Senior Fellow HEA| Reader in Biorefinery Processes and Reaction Engineering| PI of Bioref Group

Ansu Antony



Abstract

This paper examines a novel approach to activated carbon (AC) production that uses pea waste (PW) and to what extent it is economically competitive with current production methods. Additionally, the outcome is to provide a detailed economic analysis to understand whether this process is viable. The focus of this production route and the economic analysis will be on a United Kingdom (UK) basis. The plant will be located within the north UK to minimise storage and transportation costs. It also has extensive links to other clusters of nearby industries that would produce from this process in air pollution control or wastewater treatments. The overall production process is detailed, and detailed equipment specifications, including the sizing of equipment and utility requirements, were also given. Material balance calculations are carried out to assess the performance and improve process design. An economic analysis is performed to study the potential of biomass-to-AC conversion costs and commercialisation viability. The project’s investment is about £100 million. The cost of the plant can be recovered from year 3 (mid) for the 20-year life of the plant. The Net Present Value (NPV) is based on cumulative cash flow. The NPV is calculated as GBP 4,476,137,297.79 for 2020, and the associated internal rate of return (IRR) and the return on investment (ROI) for the project are 55% and 52%, respectively.

Citation

Zein, S. H., & Antony, A. (2022). Techno-Economic Analysis and Feasibility of Industrial-Scale Activated Carbon Production from Agricultural Pea Waste Using Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis: A Circular Economy Approach. Processes, 10(9), Article 1702. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10091702

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 23, 2022
Online Publication Date Aug 26, 2022
Publication Date 2022-09
Deposit Date Aug 30, 2022
Publicly Available Date Sep 8, 2022
Journal Processes
Electronic ISSN 2227-9717
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 10
Issue 9
Article Number 1702
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10091702
Keywords Activated carbon (AC); Pea waste (PW); Microwave heating; Techno-economic analysis; Inside battery limits (ISBL); Offsite battery limits (OSBL); Operational expenditure (OPEX); Capital expenditure (CAPEX); Fixed capital investment
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4063025

Files

Published article (1.3 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).





You might also like



Downloadable Citations