NOAr: gases industriais

Abstract

The production of industrial gases in Brazil dates back to mid-1974, when a wide variety of products started to be produced. Among their varieties, these can be classified as industrial, special or even medical gases, where criteria such as composition, purity and care with storage and transportation differentiate such classification. The production of gases is largely related with the progress of geopolitics and world economy, where its performance is directly related to the world finances and relevant events that may impact the consumption of some of its varieties, such as the pandemic of COVID-19 which resulted on a high demand for medical gases. Based on this, this work will evaluate the implementation of an industry for production and purification of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide, with the purpose of trading for use in all of the aforementioned classifications. Such intention is justified because of the growing demand, observed by the prosperous turnover of this branch in the last decades. In order to achieve this goal, the production process of cryogenic distillation will be used, resulting in nitrogen, oxygen and argon gases, while to obtain carbon dioxide, purification will be performed from the fermentation tanks of a sugar and alcohol industry. The industry under development will be implemented in Juazeiro, located in Bahia. Such decision was made based on the AHP methodology in conjunction with TOPSIS and the criteria were determined distributed in a priority ranking, which were used correlating logistical, financial and market, impacting directly on the decision. It was estimated a production of 194,28 tons in the sugar cane harvest period and 69,28 tons in other periods, which are sufficient to meet the state demand, enabling the development and deployment of this company. Mass and energy balances were carried out for all sectors of the company, aiming to reach the estimated production. The demands of utilities, the power of the compressors and the inlet and outlet temperatures of the streams were determined. The integration was carried out at strategic points in the process, reducing utility demand by 54.4%. The financial analysis was conducted to ensure the efficiency and sustainability of the industry's operation. The payback period was determined to be 5 years and 9 months, with a TIR of 20.08% from the third year, a net profit of R$ 79,879,903.65 per year, and a breakeven point of 61.3%. The NOAr has a strong investment potential.