ECONOMICAL STUDY OF BIO-BASED POLYBUTYLENE SUCCINATE PRODUCTION FROM OIL PALM BIOMASS

This work demonstrates the economic feasibility of the production of bio-polybutylene succinate (bio-PBS) with 99.69% purity. Based on an extensive literature review, bio-succinic acid (bio-SA) was produced via fermentation from oil palm fronds (OPF), which was then purified via vacuum filtration, evaporated, crystallised and dried to attain 99.27% purity. The purified bio-SA was then hydrogenated to produce 1,4-butanediol (BDO), prior to polymerisation with bio-SA to produce bio-PBS via esterification. The mass balance analysis performed with SuperPro Designer ® showed a negligible error. The proposed design gained profit in a short period of time based on 24.14% internal rate of return (IRR), 6.33 years dynamic payback period (DPP) and RM3366.31 million net present value (NPV). Direct comparison between simulation data and manual calculations showed <25.00% difference, which proved the dependability of the simulation results. Sensitivity analysis predicted that an increment in either bio-PBS’s production rate or bio-PBS and by-products pricing can increase the value of NPV and IRR. However, the increment in raw material price and fixed capital investment (C FCI ) can lower their values. Collectively, the results highlighted the feasibility of this process on a large scale as it has the potential to generate revenues, ultimately resulting in a sustainable bioplastic industry for packaging applications.