Production of Dissolving Pulp from Oat Husks. Process Design with Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment in a Life Cycle Perspective
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Innovative and sustainable chemical engineering (MPISC), MSc
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Ulefors, Amanda
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
To face the environmental concerns arising in the world, a green industrial revolution
is required. Presently, the textile industry highly contributes to these environmental
concerns and, thus, needs to play its part in the revolution. Textile producing
processes needs to be adapted to reduce their environmental impact and alternative
raw material needs to be identified to contribute to a green, circular economy. Agricultural
residues might be one part of the solution. In this thesis, the production
of dissolving pulp for the textile industry, from the agricultural residue oat husks,
is evaluated. By a techno-economic and environmental assessment, in a life cycle
perspective, the purpose of this thesis is to assess the possibilities of implementing
oat husks as a raw material for the production of dissolving pulp in industrial
scale. The technical assessment has been performed by simulating a scale-up of a
lab process in Aspen Plus, based on provided lab data and conducted mass and
energy balances. The results from the simulation have been implemented as a life
cycle inventory in the environmental assessment, which has been carried out as a
prospective life cycle assessment in the software GaBi. Furthermore, the expected
capital and operating costs for the potential plant as well as the break-even price of
the pulp have been determined. Uncertainties in the results are seen mainly due to
the chemical recovery not being part of the simulation of the process. The results
from the techno-economic assessment as well as the environmental assessment indicate
potential for oat husks as a favourable alternative raw material in the textile
industry.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
textile , dissolving , pulp , circular , green , oat , husks , residue , scale-up