Study for the establishment of a composting and organic fertilizer production center within an agri-food factory in Cote d’Ivoire

In a context of continuous improvement and sustainable development, industries are part of a dynamic of recycling the waste they produce. This study was carried out on the establishment of a composting and organic fertilizer production center from the waste (mud and ash) produced by the oil mills of a palm oil production company. The first step consisted in quantifying the waste produced. This quantification gave an average ash production of 2.41 tonnes/day and a quantity of sludge of approximately 54.474 tonnes/day. The second step was the choice of composting technology and the process set up for the production of organic fertilizers. The last step was the description of the site, the infrastructure and equipment necessary to guarantee better production and the placing of the organic fertilizers produced at the disposal of the farmers of the region. This study has shown that there is an opportunity to set up a composting unit in the said plant. In addition, the nominal compost production of this center is estimated at 20,000 tonnes per year and that of organic fertilizer is 6,174.34 tonnes per year. The financial indicators including the NPV (net present value or discounted profit), the IRR (the internal rate of return) and the capital recovery time, respectively 20,176,567,240 FCFA, 128.6% and 0.83 years are excellent. The invested capital is recovered after 0.83 years or 8 months 3 days. The project is therefore profitable. In addition, the great flexibility of the supply and delivery of compost and organic fertilizer to the center will secure the production of organic amendment from the region's plantations.