Estudo de viabilidade económica de implantação de unidade fabril para a produção de embalagens biodegradáveis a base de micélio

Abstract

Since 1950, 9 billion tons of plastic have been produced, 30% are still in use, and of the discarded plastics, only 9% are recycled, 12% are incinerated and 79% are accumulated in landfills or in nature. The use of biodegradable plastic reduces environmental pollution and contributes to mitigating climate change as it decomposes more quickly than plastic based on fossil fuels. The possibilities of using mushroom mycelium in the development of ecological packaging have attracted great attention. interest in industrial application. This raw material is generally discarded and is easily accessible, somewhat conditioning the opportunities to develop innovations for the industry in a sustainable way. The purpose of the presented project is to analyze the economic viability of implementing a manufacturing unit for the production of biodegradable packaging. The objectives of the work contained in the project are: market analysis and analysis of economic viability. From the location analysis, it was found that the most suitable location for installing the manufacturing unit was in the province of Maputo, due to the region's infrastructure and proximity to raw material suppliers and consumer customers. The manufacturing unit was designed to process 1.35 tons of sugarcane bagasse per day, resulting in the production of 900,000 packaging units per year with an approximate mass of 0.27 kg per package. The selected production process consists of the steps of sieving sugarcane bagasse, sterilization, and inoculation of sugarcane bagasse with mycelia, molding, fermentation, drying and shipping. The production of the inoculum will be carried out through liquid fermentation in the laboratory. From the economic analysis, it was concluded that the project is viable, since the net present value was positive, with the internal rate of return being approximately 23% and the calculated return on investment period being approximately 3.3 years.