Avaliação técnico-econômica da produção de Ácido Succínico por rota fermentativa

Abstract

Succinic acid is a carboxylic compound of great economic interest due to its wide application, since it can be produced from at least 9 other compounds directly and up to 30 compounds indirectly and can be used in different sectors of the chemical industry. The traditional method of producing succinic acid is via petrochemicals. However, routes that are less harmful to the environment, by sequestering CO2 and having a renewable source as the main raw material, have been studied, with an emphasis on production by sugar fermentation. Alternative route production can be implemented as long as it is economically viable. Thus, in this work, cash flows were analyzed for three scenarios of the production process of succinic acid produced from sugarcane bagasse, considering the scenarios: initial estimate, pessimistic and optimistic scenario. Based on estimates of CAPEX and OPEX obtained in the literature, the values were corrected in time using the CEPCI and the IPP from IBGE, obtaining a CAPEX of US$346,722,970.36, an OPEX of US$ 117,154484.69 and an Income of US$208,274,817.23. Construction time of two years, plant life of 25 years and income tax rate of 34% were considered. The initial estimate presented a Net Present Value of US$ 127,196,426.50 for a discount rate of 12% p.y. and the internal rate of return was 16.73%, with payback of 11 years and three months. Considering a 10% reduction in sales scenario (pessimistic scenario), the NPV, IRR and Payback were, respectively, US$85,751.639.65, 15.26% and 13 years. On the other hand, an increase in sales of 10% (optimistic scenario) resulted in a NPV of US$ 168,641,213.35, an IRR of 18.14% and a Payback of 10 years. Thus, the production of succinic acid via fermentation route using sugarcane bagasse as raw material showed economic attractiveness for the analyzed scenarios. This is in line with the growing demand for this substance in recent years and the forecasts for a continued increase in demand in the post-pandemic world scenario