Cost-Benefit Analysis of Biodiesel Production from Spent Coffee Grounds
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Abstract
The world’s demand for coffee beans has been continuously increased, leading to more available spent coffee grounds. The spent coffee grounds can be used as a raw material for biodiesel. Apart from avoiding fossil resource consumption in conventional diesel production, spent coffee ground biodiesel can reduce the use of food product, i.e. palm oil, in producing biodiesel. This study analyzed the cost-benefit of spent coffee ground biodiesel production. 15-year project period and 92 million Thai baht (THB) investment were considered in this study. The results showed that payback period of the project was 14 years, net present value was 96.56 million THB, internal rate of return was 23 and benefit to cost ratio was 1.54. It can be concluded that the spent coffee ground biodiesel project is financially possible. The results of this study can support the decision-making of instant coffee production companies on the investment of spent coffee ground biodiesel project which has implications to sustainable alternative energy development of the country.
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