Financial Cost Comparison of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and BioABS

BioABS, which is a light-weight, recyclable green composite made from engineered soybean hulls, is a potential replacement for the petroleum-based plastic Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). The purpose of this study is to assess the financial feasibility of BioABS relative to ABS. ABS and BioABS are substitute outputs sold for the same price and the production processes are essentially the same. Thus, the differences in net returns are based on differences in variable costs. ABS consists of 25% acrylonitrile, 20% butadiene, and 55% styrene, while BioABS is made up of 6.75% acrylonitrile, 5.4% butadiene, 14.85% styrene, 63% PLA, which is made from corn, sugar beets or rice, and 10% soybean hulls. The variable cost of producing BioABS is $1896.55/t, which is 4% higher than traditional ABS. If the price of styrene increases by 12.5% or if the price of PLA falls by 5.7%, BioABS then can be produced cheaper than ABS.