Techno-economic assessment of recycling acidic sludge project of reprocessing industries to value-added gaseous products using Plasmatron

Background: Plasmatron is a hydrocarbon reformer of fuels and heavy oil sludge with high efficiency in gasification operation. The gasification of acidic sludge (AS) was investigated to assess the technical and financial demands in a model. AS is a by-product of used motor oil (UMO) recycling industries with a large quantity that its reprocessing, refining, and re-refining operations are not performed in Iran. Methods: In this empirical study, the inventory of requirements for generating value-added gaseous products was tabulated based on the recent studies. To develop a techno-economic model, the costs of reactor configuration, equipment, and installation outlay, materials and product costs, facilities, staff salary, land and landscaping budget, and energy demand expenses were taken into consideration. Results: The initial requirements of the project in the screening step were identified and a framework of the economic model was provided to develop and identify the technical dimension of the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor. Conclusion: The findings expanded the technology and its technical demands for identification of screening step of project prior to competing for development and establishment.