Abstract

Lignin nanoparticles (nanolignin, NL) are sustainable, green material which can be derived from industrial and agricultural waste. NL has enhanced properties compared to standard lignin due to a larger surface to volume ratio. Hence, it’s suitable for a wide range of applications including drug delivery, stabilising agent, substitute for silver nanoparticles and reinforcement material. This study analyses the commercial feasibility of NL production from high pressure homogenization. The production process was simulated based on the basic laboratory results using commercial simulation software, SuperPro Designer. Manufacturing cost and minimum selling price for NL was estimated to be 5.1 USD/kg and 6.1 USD/kg for a continuous plant with 15t/day production rate. The sensitivity of three factors; Lignin concentration to the homogenizer, production rate and lignin price on process economics was analysed and results shown lignin concentration has a severe impact on manufacturing cost and selling price. The production cost reduces to 2.46 USD/kg when the lignin concentration increases to 6%.

Details

Title
Process Modelling and Economic Evaluation for NanoLignin Production
Author
Perera, Udari Prasadini 1 ; Foo, Mei Ling 1 ; Khang Wei Tan 2 ; Irene Mei Leng Chew 1 

 School of Engineering, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia 
 School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Selangor Darul Ehsan 43900, Malaysia; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Oct 2019
Publisher
IOP Publishing
ISSN
17578981
e-ISSN
1757899X
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2561341828
Copyright
© 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.