Abstract

PEREZ SANCHEZ, Amaury; SINGH, Sonali; PEREZ SANCHEZ, Eddy Javier  and  SEGURA SILVA, Rutdali María. Techno-economic evaluation and conceptual design of a liquid biofertilizer plant. Rev. colomb. biotecnol [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.2, pp.6-18. ISSN 0123-3475.  https://doi.org/10.15446/rev.colomb.biote.v20n2.77053.

Biofertilizers have become an effective, eco-friendly and low cost alternative to chemical fertilizers. Process engineering and cost models for a biofertilizer plant with a production capacity of 44 tons of liquid biofertilizer per year (568 kg/batch) were developed. The models were obtained using process simulator (SuperPro Designer®), version 8.5 (Intelligen, 2012), while the 3D conceptual design and layout of the biofertilizer plant was developed with (OptiPlant®) software (ASD Global, 201 5). The total capital investment required to erect the plant is $ 3 975 000, the unit production cost of one 1.5 L bottle of liquid biofertilizer is $ 24.009, while the economic indicators Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) had values of $ 716 000 and 2.55%, respectively. Also, the total revenues are $ 985 000/year, the Return on Investment (ROI) is 14.93 %, and the payback time is 6.70 years.

Keywords : Biofertilizer; simulation; conceptual design; economics.

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