Techno Economic Analysis of Cotton Stalk Biomass Based Bio-Oil Production Using Slow Pyrolysis Process

Abstract

In Indian context, green energy mission can be fulfilled through harvesting green energy from agriculture residue which is available abundantly. Slow pyrolysis may be a prominent technology to convert these low value agricultural biomasses into high value products such as Bio-oils, Pyro- gas and Bio-char, which finds vast applications as energy sources. Authors in this paper have presented a Techno-economic analysis of cotton stalk through slow pyrolysis process .Lab scale slow pyrolysis process was performed in batch scale Pyrolyzer at 500 °C temperature, 10 C°/min heating rate and 1-hour residence time as input parameters and Bio-Oil, Bio-Char and Pyro-Gas were obtained as output of slow pyrolysis process having process yields of 36.60 %, 37.78% and 25.25% respectively. Bio-oil and bio-char can be used to generate direct revenue, while pyro-gas may be used as energy source for process heating. Entire plant was assessed economically by considering nth process plant assumption and 20 Tone/day capacities. Techno economic viability of plant was assessed by evaluating plant capital investment and operating cost. Plant capital investment was calculated based on total purchased equipment cost where as Total purchased equipment cost was calculated using equipment scale factor. Operating cost of entire plant was analyzed based on fixed capital investment. Plant economic evaluation was carried out by evaluating Minimum fuel selling price; Payback period and net present value. Estimated Minimum fuel selling price of the plant was ₹66.30/Liter ($ 0.068/liter), payback period of the plant was 3 years and Positive cash flow in Net Present Value.