APIX_PILOT PLANT (Based on Banana Plantation Resources) – PRODUCT-1

Our First APIX_PILOT Plant would be based on the conversions of about 60, 000 banana stems (about 450 T organic solids), along with 300 T "green weight" other organic materials (about 75 T solids). The following end-products are planned:

Please look here for better illustration: Banana Wastes Based APIX-SEP

1. 192 KW Power (Heat & Electricity)
2. 110 T Banana Fiber Molded Crockery
3. 1170 T Carbon Sequestered Engineering Product (Molded Tiles)
4. 99 T (Solids) Biofertilizer
5. 2.95 T Green Sulfur.

COMMERCIAL/ SOCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• Expected ROI > 50%
• Break-even is expected by first year end
• Repayment envisaged in 4 years
• All water, organics and CO2 recycled
• Local village transforms into wealth creation center (there is scope for direct employment to 150 local people)
• True Green Clean-Tech, Zero-Waste Zero-Carbon Business (No grid electricity used; no fossil fuel system used; no effluents/ wastage)

Energy and Molded Crockery are the primary products. The entire Power (both Heat and Electricity) would be utilized, insitu; and we shall not depend on either grid-power nor would there be any use of fossil fuels (as noted above).

60, 000 Banana stems/ agrowastes produce the following initial materials:

• Fibrous materials (Banana fibers; 100 T used for Composite Moldings) ... 300 T
• Non fibrous Organic Solids ….............................................................. 150 T
• Recoverable water (Total = 2, 550, 000 L) …..................................... 2, 450, 000 L

350 T solids (Out of 450 T total solids from Banana plant wastes, both fibrous and non fibrous) + 75 T solids from the 300 T "Green" weight input of Animal/ Organic wastes (Total solids = 425 T) would generate 118 T methane gas. This in turn would generate 1, 387, 199.76 KWH (= 192.66 KW @ 24 hrs 300 day). This would be used entirely for the process operations. This saves a total of 252.47 T of Diesel/ Petroleum fuel, and offsets 732.163 T of CO₂. Money to be saved in manufacturing = $190, 000

We shall now look at the Marketable products (one by one):

1. NFPC SUBSTITUTED MELAMINE MOLDED CROCKERY

This project would manufacture high value Fiber Substituted Melamine Molded Crockery (Fiber Crockery), wherein the base raw materials would be the fibrous portions of banana plants. It is noted that normally, about 50% by weight of the molding compound that becomes crockery is constituted by specialty paper/wood pulp. We shall replace this 100% by banana fibers. The environmental benefits and social benefits are enormous. While, a ton of standard Melamine Crockery would need pulp from about three tons of wood, one hundred banana plant stems (of average size, having non-fruit portion of 50 Kg) could replace the same [Here we may also note that 3.3 Tons of Banana Fiber Substituted Melamine Crockery would help offset one ton of CO₂]. If the price offered for this agrowaste is $0.02 per kg, a local farmer could get a total of $100 (@ 50 Kg per stem green weight, average) for these hundred banana plant stems! At present nothing is earned on the banana stem. In fact, each ha of banana plantation would have between 2, 150 to 2, 250 stems. If we consider only 2, 000 as the average available, every ha of banana plantation would fetch (@ 50 Kg per green stem, including all leaves and roots) not less than $2, 000 for mere agrowastes! These could be converted into not less than 20 Tons of Fiber Crockery (valued $146, 000 in the market). Note: In practice, as we have various other ingredients added to the molding compound, each ton of dried fiber could be converted into 2.2 T of Fiber Crockery. This project would convert 10, 000 banana stems (50 T fibers) into 110 T of Fiber Crockery. We shall produce the following: One 24 pcs Set of Tableware consisting Four Full Plates, Four Half Plates, Four Cups & Saucers, and Four Soup Bowls & Spoons … net wt = 2.02 Kg per "set" (total 54, 455 Fiber Crockery Table sets) … valued @ $14.746 per Set

We shall look at every other such product in this APIX_Pilot Plant, one-by-one, over the coming days