Feasibility Study on the Production of Granular Activated Carbon from Coconut Shell
Author : Garcia, Florencio N.
Major Adviser : Capareda, Sergio C.
Committee Members : Movillon, Jovita L.; Alcanzare, Edilberto A.
Year : 1994
Month : March
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract
A project feasibility on the production of granular activated carbon (AC) was made. The study used coconut shell as the raw material and steam activation was employed. In the manufacturing process, the major operations involved were dust-extraction, crushing, grinding, screening, activation, and the cooling process. In the activation process where the rotary calciner was used, the analysis showed that the activation gas produced which contains CO and H2 has enough heat content so that it was used as a fuel for the boiler-superheater that supplies the steam, and for the furnace that provides the energy during activation. However, the activation gas alone was not sufficient to provide the whole energy requirement of the system. Hence, an outside heat source was used to supply the rest of energy requirements.
Regarding the economic aspect of the study, it showed that for a plant having an annual production capacity of 1080 metric tons (MT) AC, the total capital investment can reach up to P 59.280M, and the annual production costs can be as high as P 28.685M. Although the capital investments and production costs were high, the profitability analysis showed that the company can still realize as much as P 10.057M-net profit annually. This corresponds to 16.96% return on investment (ROI), and a payback period of 3.84 years. Other benefits that can be derived from the project include: its capacity for job generation; it contributes to local government revenue, and its big potential as foreign exchange earner.
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