Techno-Economic Analysis of Caustic Soda Production in Indonesia Based on Membrane Technology

Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or known as caustic soda is a type of caustic metallic base that is available in liquid or solid form. Many industries highly require caustic soda as the main raw material or supporting materials such as the paper and pulp industry, soap and detergent industry, oil and gas industry, alumina processing, etc. National demand for sodium hydroxide reaches 987 million tons in the last year. To encourage increased production of caustic soda to support the chemical industry in Indonesia, a techno-economic analysis is required for the production of caustic soda to fulfill the supply. Therefore, in this study, the design of the NaOH plant process will be studied according to the product specifications and its economic analysis. The design of the caustic soda plant process has been developed based on membrane technology with a capacity of 100000 tons of product per year using SNI industrial salt raw materials. The product specification from this plant is 50% NaOH solution and HClO solution as byproduct. With this capacity, the estimated investment for the caustic soda plant is around US$ 44.45 million and its operational cost is around US$ 67.93 million per year. Using the current price of raw materials and products, the net present value (NPV) is US$ 206.58 million, the internal rate of return (IRR) is 40.75%, and its payout time (POT) is 4 years and 7 months. Based on these parameters, the design of the developed caustic soda plant was technically and economically feasible.