Abstract

CADEZA-ESPINOSA, Marisol; BRAMBILA-PAZ, J. de Jesús; CHALITA-TOVAR, L. Eduardo  and  GONZALEZ-ESTRADA, Adrián. Financial evaluation with the real options methodology of an investment to produce chitosan based on shrimp waste. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2017, vol.14, n.4, pp.533-545. ISSN 1870-5472.

Enterprises in modern economies face the challenge of being profitable and reducing their ecological impact. A scientific, technological and economic effort is being made to substitute petrol products for products obtained from organic raw materials. Shrimp production (Peneus vannamei) generates 400 kg of waste per ton. Nowadays it is viable technically and economically to use this waste to produce chitosan that serves as a polymer to produce biodegradable materials. Investing in a shrimp and chitosan production system with shrimp waste is more profitable than remaining only in production. The financial evaluation of the shrimp-chitosan project with a traditional methodology of Net Present Value (NPV) must be complemented with the real options methodology that allows considering the volatility of the shrimp and chitosan prices in the analysis. The result is that a shrimp-chitosan project is more profitable (NVPTOTAL=$1 790 000) than if only shrimp is produced (NVP=$182 000). It is concluded that it is possible to increase the profitability of the shrimp productive chain through the treatment of its waste to produce chitosan.

Keywords : biopolymer; waste; ecological impact; profitability; volatility.

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