Process Simulation of Integrated Xanthan Gum and Sorbitol Bioproduction: Economic and Sensitivity Analysis with Taguchi Approach

Saydam D. D., Koulouris A., Dalgıç A. C.

Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability, vol.4, no.3, pp.279-295, 2020 (ESCI) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 4 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s41660-020-00117-8
  • Journal Name: Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability
  • Journal Indexes: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.279-295
  • Keywords: Sensitivity analysis, Simulation, Sugar beet molasses, Taguchi design, Xanthan gum
  • İstanbul Yeni Yüzyıl University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the economics of xanthan gum manufacturing in an integrated system with sorbitol productions from sugar beet molasses using SuperPro Designer software. Twenty-five scenarios created with a design matrix including raw material transportation distance, income taxes, main product price, and the costs of electricity, water, and labor as operational and economic variables were generated by Taguchi method. The sensitivity of variables on profitability indices of payback time, internal rate of return, and unit production cost was analyzed. The total investment cost and payback time for the capacity with a 14,235 tons raw material/year are $61.9 million and 4.99 years, respectively. Profitability indices are the most sensitive to the main product price and transportation cost. It is observed that raw material cost has no effect on profitability, which indicates that sugar beet molasses assessment is important for economic and environmental issues.