Techno-economic assessment of whey protein-based plastic production from a co-polymerization process
Name
polymers-12-00847-v2.pdf
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2.49 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
931a852d0d1cf1d07f07220e4eb4ada5
Author(s)
Chalermthai, Bushra
Ashraf, Muhammad Tahir
Bastidas-Oyanedel, Juan-Rodrigo
Olsen, Bradley D.
Schmidt, Jens Ejbye
Taher, Hanifa
Date Issued
April 7, 2020
Journal
Polymers
Publisher
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Citation
Chalermthai, Bushra, et al., "Techno-economic assessment of whey protein-based plastic production from a co-polymerization process." Polymers 12, 4 (Apr. 2020): no. 847 doi 10.3390/polym12040847 ©2020 Author(s)
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Bio-based plastics, produced from natural and renewable sources, have been found to be good replacers to petroleum-based plastics. However, economic analyses have not been carried out for most of them, specifically those from whey. In this study, a techno-economic assessment of the industrial-scale production of plastics from whey protein is carried out considering two different scenarios: (1) low-cost dairy waste whey (DWP) and (2) purchased whey protein concentrate (WPC), as feedstocks, using SuperPro Designer software. Key economic indicators such as operating cost, capital investment, annual revenue, payback time, and return-on-investment (ROI), were analyzed. Sensitivity analyses of different parameters were performed to account for market fluctuations and other uncertainties, using Scenario 2 as the base case. Results showed that both scenarios have the capacity of producing over 3200 metric tons/year (t/yr) (or 5.5 t/batch) of plastic. With the unit selling price of plastic set at $7,000/t, both the scenarios showed profitable outcomes with the plant’s payback time of 3.7 and 2.4 years, and ROI of 27.1% and 42.2%, for Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, respectively. Sensitivity analyses showed that the unit plastic selling price was the most sensitive parameter, followed by the amount of feedstock WPC, and the number of batches. ©2020
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12040847
