Techno-Economic Sensitivity of Bio-Hydrogen Production from Empty Palm Fruit Bunches under Colombian Conditions

Colombia is the fourth largest palm oil producer worldwide, and local research policies are favoring the study of palm production chain in order to satisfy specific demands detected for the process, which includes the increase of economic feasibility, this aim can be achieved via generation of valuable co-products as hydrogen from residues obtained in different stages taking advantage of the biorefinery concept. This work presents an economic sensitivity evaluation of the hydrogen production from empty fruit bunches (EFB) under Colombian conditions. Economic feasibility was measured taking into account a processing capacity of Colombian to process the EFB obtained from north, central and eastern zones with a hydrogen yield of 8747 t/y. Economic parameters as Net Present Value, Payback Period and economic potentials were calculated. Results shows that process presents a high sensitivity to the feedstock cost, in addition an increase of operating costs up to 1500 USD/t can affect significantly he payback period of the plant.