Production of Biochar using Oil Palm Fiber for Ammonia Removal: Process Description and Economic Analysis

Oil palm fiber (OPF) derived biochar was feasible to be used as an adsorbent in removing pollutants from wastewater, especially ammonia. OPF had shown a significant performance in the removal of ammonia from aquaculture wastewater which is comparable to other studies and commercially available biochars. This study focuses on developing a process flow diagram for an up-scale production of OPF biochar and the economic analysis of the production plant. The process flow diagram includes the transportation, shredding, carbonization, sieving, cooling, and final storage of OPF biochar. Estimated costs were calculated based on 5,000 kg of OPF as the starting material. It is estimated based on the lab scale study that approximately 33% of OPF biochar will be produced on daily basis. The system is expected to produce about 1,567.50 kg/day of OPF biochar. The total production cost was found to be RM1,002,923.18 which includes RM535,217.34 of total operating cost per annum and RM467,705.84 of total capital investments respectively. The production cost for OPF biochar/kg was found to be only RM1.99/kg or $0.44/kg. The price is comparable with other commercially available biochars.