Technoeconomic Analysis of Torrefaction and Steam Explosion Pretreatment Prior to Pelletization of Selected Biomass

Lignocellulosic biomass has demonstrated great potential as feedstock for pellet production, notwithstanding the fact that the industrial production of pellets is faced with some economic challenges. This study presents a technoeconomic analysis of six scenarios to develop a process model for pellet production from sawdust and oat straw that employs torrefaction and steam explosion pretreatment prior to pelletization. SuperPro Designer was used to carry out this evaluation. The pellet plants were designed to have a capacity of 9.09 t/h of sawdust and oat straw each. The pellet yield ranged from 59 kt to 72 kt/year. The scenarios analyzed included variations of steam explosion and torrefaction. In some scenarios, materials were lost in the form of liquid and gas due to the pretreatment process. The breakdown of equipment purchase cost showed that the torrefaction reactor is the most expensive unit with approximately 51% of the purchase cost. Facility-dependent and feedstock costs were the major significant contributors to the pellet production cost. The minimum selling prices of the pellets obtained from Scenarios 1–6 were $113.4/t, $118.7/t, $283.4/t, $298.7/t, $200.5/t, and $208.4/t, respectively. The profitability of pellet production as determined by the net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period was found to be sensitive to variations in feedstock cost.