PRARANCANGAN PABRIK KALIUM HIDROKSIDA DARI KALIUM KLORIDA DAN AIR KAPASITAS 20.000 TON/TAHUN

Abstract

Several factors that establish an industry are the large market demand for products and the avalibility stock of raw materials. One of the chemicals currently that widely used in Indonesia industries is Potassium Hydroxide (KOH). Potassium hydroxide which has other names Caustic Potash, Potassia, and Potassium Hydrate. Potassium hydroxide is widely used in the soap industry, alkaline batteries, rubber manufacture, fertilizer industry and textiles. In food products, potassium hydroxide used as a pH controlling agent, stabilizer and thickener. By considering all of that, the capacity of the potassium hydroxide plant is planned to be built in the Gresik Industrial Estate, East Java, with a 20,000 tons/year production capacity. The process used to produce potassium hydroxide is an electrolysis process with 57.96% potassium chloride as raw material and 42.04% of water. The general stages of production are the preparation of KCl raw materials dissolved in water into a homogeneous solution with a concentration of 33% KCl. Furthermore, the KCl solution that has been made is flowed to the electrolysis reactor which in this reaction process KCl and water will be ionized to produce a KOH solution. The KOH solution that comes out of the reactor will be purified by evaporating the water content and then going to the crytallizer to form KOH crystals. The last stage of purification is drying which is carried out in a rotary dryer where the product will be dried using dry air. The product will enter the ball mill and screener, so that the product has the same size which is 300 µm. The utilities that needed in this factory are 421.9825 kg/hour of water, 3494.6554 kW of electricity, 4588.1651 kg/hour of superheated steam, and 73.15241 kg/hour of compressed air. The number of workers needed is 169 workers. Based on the results of economic evaluation calculations, the result were obtained that the required total capital investment (TCI) is IDR 500,976,896,632.11 and working capital is IDR 117,799,525,100.26. At 100% production capacity, the ROIb value is 65.9783%, ROIa is 49.4837%, POTB is 1.5156 years, POTa is 2.0208 years, BEP is 14.3921%, SDP is 8.0955%, IRR by 10%. From the results of this economic analysis and if it is supported by a stable economy in Indonesia, a potassium hydroxide plant with a capacity of 20,000 tons per year is feasible and can be established in Indonesia.