Torrefaction of almond shell as a renewable reinforcing agent for plastics: techno-economic analyses and comparison to bioethanol process

In 2016, the US state of California alone produced nearly 3.5 billion kilograms of almonds, accounting for approximately 84% of the world’s almond production. This generated about 2.58 million metric tons (MTs) of almond residues. Almond shells are currently either burned to generate power or disposed of in landfill. Valorizing almond shells and hulls provides an opportunity to replace petroleum-derived products and divert organic material from landfill. Here we demonstrate a detailed techno-economic analysis (TEA) of an almond shell torrefaction process capable of utilizing the 520 000 MTs of almond shells produced annually in California. Our process also includes preprocessing the torrefied biomass to exploit it as a reinforcing agent for plastics. We further compared the revenue generated from the torrefied biomass and bioethanol derived from the same quantity of almond shells. We considered three different torrefaction facility scales to evaluate trade-offs between economies of scale at the facility and trucking costs to deliver almond shells. A facility that takes in 200 000 MT yr–1 of almond shells results in lower per-unit-output basis capital and operating cost relative to other smaller-scale torrefaction facilities, including 10 000 MT yr–1 and 50 000 MT yr–1, considered for analysis in this study. The large-sale facility results in a minimum selling price (MSP) of the torrefied biomass of $311.4 MT–1. An analogous TEA on converting almond residues into bioethanol is also investigated. The MSP of almond shell derived ethanol ($1.71 kg−1) is higher than that of corn ($0.48 kg−1) or cellulosic biomass ($0.88 kg−1) derived ethanol. Compared with the bioethanol route, the torrefied almond shells result in three times more revenue if utilized as a reinforcing agent for plastics.