Sivakumar Kumaresan

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• Phytochemical Process
• Debottlenecking Economic Studies

Sivakumar Kumaresan CEPP, UTM
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Outline

• Herbal industry and Tongkat Ali
• CEPP Tongkat Ali production
• Base case simulation
• Debottlenecking alternatives
• Scheme 1
• Scheme 2
• Scheme 3
• Scheme 4
• Economic comparisons
• Conclusion
• Question and Answer

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Malaysias Rich Herbal Heritage

• Malaysias rainforest - worlds oldest rainforest
• 4th most bio-diverse nation in Asia after India,
  China and Indonesia
• The one of the only 12 countries in the world
  with mega diversity of plants, medicinal and
  aromatic plants
• Home to about 12 of all the plant species on
  earth, which has not been fully exploited and
  cultivated
• One of the primary centres of biodiversity
• 15,000 known plant species,
• 3,700 are known to be useful,
• 2,000 species with medicinal value
• the balance remain largely unexploited.

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Herbal Industry and Tongkat Ali

• Herbal Industry
• Local Market worth at least RM 2 Billion
• Over 90 of products imported
• Global Market USD300-500 Billion
• Tongkat Ali
• Traditionally used as aphrodisiac, postpartum
  tonic, energy tonic, anti fever and anti malarial
• Scientically proven for its aphrodisiac, energy
  boosting, and anti malarial properties
• Also has anti tumor potential
• Currently sold at RM2500/kg extract and between
  10 -15,000 /kg in capsule form
• Needs better engineering work to increase yield
  and quality

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CEPP Tongkat Ali production
Tongkat Ali
Water extract
EXTRACTOR
Deionised Water
HOLDING TANK
Hot air
SPRAY DRYER
Extract fibre
Dehydrated water extract (final product)
FILTER
Slurry
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Base case simulation
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Base case simulation

• Production process has long cycle time
• Minimum cycle time is 24 hours
• Bottleneck is Spray drier, 22 hours
• Annual number of batches limited to 323
• Process is economically infeasible
• Production is insufficient to cover operating
  costs
• Revenue is USD257883 based on 391 kg Extract
  produced
• Need to debottleneck process
• Tackle spray drier first

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Throughput analysis
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Operation Gantt chart
Time bottleneck spray drying (22.44 hrs)
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Scheme 1
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Scheme 1

• Added second spray drier with same capacity
• Improvements in
• Minimum cycle time reduced from 24 hours to 13.4
  hours
• Number of Batches increased to 591
• Total extract yield increased to 714 kg
• Process Economics still infeasible
• Revenues insufficient to cover operating costs
• Debottlenecking
• Spray drier remains the bottleneck
• Try an alternative process to reduce
  time/throughput bottleneck

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Scheme 2
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Scheme 2

• Added evaporator to reduce extract liquid
• Improvements in
• Minimum cycle time reduced from 24 hours to 13.6
  hours
• Number of Batches increased to 583
• Total extract yield increased to 698 kg
• Process Economics still infeasible
• Extractor cost was lower, thus lower capital cost
• Revenues still insufficient to cover operating
  costs
• Debottlenecking
• Evaporator becomes new bottleneck
• Continue to try an alternative process to reduce
  time/throughput bottleneck

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Scheme 3
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Scheme 3

• Added evaporator AND spray drier
• Improvements in
• Minimum cycle time reduced from 24 hours to 8.0
  hours
• Number of Batches increased to 984
• Total extract yield increased to 1178 kg
• Bottleneck has shifted to V-102, thus drying
  section no longer bottleneck
• Process Economics still infeasible
• Revenues still insufficient to cover operating
  costs
• Product selling price is too low!
• Need value added scheme

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Scheme 4
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Scheme 4

• Added capsuling, bottling, and packaging line
• Improvements in
• Batch cycle time reduced from 24 hours to 8.3
  hours
• Number of Batches increased to 950
• Total extract yield increased to 1137 kg
• Slight cycle time reduction compared to Scheme 3
  due to increase in cycle time
• Bottleneck shifted to capsuling process
• Process Economics FINALLY feasible
• Capsules sold at USD8700/kg vs Extract at
  USD655/kg
• Return on Investment of 33
• Annual revenue of USD6.3 Million

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Throughput economic analysis results
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Equipment specifications purchase cost for
Scheme 4
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Equipment specifications purchase cost for
Scheme 4 (cont)
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Conclusion recommendation

• QA session