Sodium borohydride hydrolysis and regeneration: Simulation, economics, and forecasting

Abstract

In this study, the hydrolysis and regeneration process of NaBH4 is simulated using Aspen Plus software. Using three different kinetics including zero-order, first-order and LHHW, H2 production quantities and NaBH4 production by regeneration from NaBO2 are compared. LHHW kinetic model has the highest amount H2 with 198.83 kmol/h. Techno-economic analysis is also carried out for three reaction kinetics using different economic metrics. NPV of all the kinetic models result in infeasible due to negative NPV which is -$12580.73, -$1642.51, and $-15478.66, respectively. Moreover, econometric analysis is conducted on the Mg price and production using R software for through five years onwards using ARIMA model. ARIMA (1,0,3) model is the most appropriate time series model for Mg price forecasting whereas ARIMA (0,1,0) are available time series model for Mg production. The ARIMA (0,1,0) is also denoted as random walk model means that Mg production is not forecasted five years onwards.