PROCESS DESIGN AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF TRADITIONAL SHEA BUTTER PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA

The promotion of agricultural diversification emerges as a critical component of broader strategies aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and fostering the development of sustainable production systems. Nigeria stands out as a significant exporter of shea butter, which play a vital contribution to poverty alleviation, particularly in rural areas through creation of opportunities for participation of local women in the shea butter industry using local technologies in sheanuts pre-processing, roasting, grinding, oil extraction and refining. However, this production route is said to be severely affecting the final product yield and quality in addition to possible significant impacts on the environment. Evaluation of this production pathway is necessary for identification of areas of resource inefficiency, such as excessive utility (water, energy) consumption, implementation of more efficient and eco-friendly production processes. This study presents a process design and economic analysis of the local technology for shea butter production using advanced process simulation software (Aspen Plus ^® V11) and Aspen economic analyser following 1 ^st quarter 2018 price basis. The simulation result showed that nearly 230 kg/day shea butter could be produced from 1 tonne shea fruit, which translate to only about 23 wt%. Pulp, shell and cake representing waste streams account for approximately 70 wt%. Utility analysis revealed daily water footprint of 585kg and 500 kJ heating requirement/day with carbon emission of 63 kgCO ₂. The economic evaluations of the entire process plant showed that the traditional technology requires approximately $1.70M capital cost and $0.066M operating cost/year for 25-year economic life of the project with net present value of $158M. This study suggests that the local shea butter production technology is profitable with a payback period of 7years. However, the technology generates huge amount of waste streams and have negative impact on the environment. Consequently, there is need to adopt best practices in the shea butter processing that will generate more income and promote environmental sustainability.