Abstract
In ethanol production from sugarcane juice, sugarcane bagasse is used as fuel for the boiler, to meet
the steam and electric energy demand of the process. However, a surplus of bagasse is common,
which can be used either to increase electric energy or ethanol production. While the first option
uses already established processes, there are still many uncertainties about the techno-economic
feasibility of the second option. In this study, some key parameters of the second generation
ethanol production process were analyzed and their influence in the process feasibility assessed.
The simulated process includes the enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse pretreated with
liquid hot water, and the analyzed parameters were the solid consistency in the hydrolysis and
pretreatment reactors and the hydrolysis reaction time. The solid consistency in the hydrolysis
reactor had the highest influence on the economic feasibility of the process. For the economic
scenario considered in this study, using bagasse to increase ethanol production yielded higher
ethanol production costs compared to using bagasse for electric energy production, showing that
further improvements in the process are still necessary.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 25th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering |
Editors | Krist V. Gernaey, Jakob K. Huusom, Rafiqul Gani |
Volume | 37 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Publication date | 2015 |
Pages | 1349-1354 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Event | 25th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering : 12th International Symposium on Process Systems Engineering - Copenhagen, Denmark Duration: 31 May 2015 → 4 Jun 2015 http://www.pse2015escape25.dk/ |
Conference
Conference | 25th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering |
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Country/Territory | Denmark |
City | Copenhagen |
Period | 31/05/2015 → 04/06/2015 |
Internet address |
Series | Computer Aided Chemical Engineering |
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ISSN | 1570-7946 |
Keywords
- Bioethanol
- Sugarcane
- Techno-economic analysis
- Process simulation