LAPSE:2019.1256
Published Article
LAPSE:2019.1256
A Feasibility Study of Cellulosic Isobutanol Production—Process Simulation and Economic Analysis
Avraam Roussos, Nikiforos Misailidis, Alexandros Koulouris, Francesco Zimbardi, Demetri Petrides
December 3, 2019
Renewable liquid biofuels for transportation have recently attracted enormous global attention due to their potential to provide a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. In recent years, the attention has shifted from first-generation bioethanol to the production of higher molecular weight alcohols, such as biobutanol, from cellulosic feedstocks. The economic feasibility of such processes depends on several parameters such as the cost of raw materials, the fermentation performance and the energy demand for the pretreatment of biomass and downstream processing. In this work, two conceptual process scenarios for isobutanol production, one with and one without integrated product removal from the fermentor by vacuum stripping, were developed and evaluated using SuperPro Designer®. In agreement with previous publications, it was concluded that the fermentation titer is a crucial parameter for the economic competitiveness of the process as it is closely related to the energy requirements for product purification. In the first scenario where the product titer was 22 g/L, the energy demand for downstream processing was 15.8 MJ/L isobutanol and the unit production cost of isobutanol was $2.24/L. The integrated product removal by vacuum stripping implemented in the second scenario was assumed to improve the isobutanol titer to 50 g/L. In this case, the energy demand for the product removal (electricity) and downstream processing were 1.8 MJ/L isobutanol and 10 MJ/L isobutanol, respectively, and the unit production cost was reduced to $1.42/L. The uncertainty associated with the choice of modeling and economic parameters was investigated by Monte Carlo simulation sensitivity analysis.
Keywords
isobutanol, Monte Carlo simulation, process simulation, Technoeconomic Analysis
Suggested Citation
Roussos A, Misailidis N, Koulouris A, Zimbardi F, Petrides D. A Feasibility Study of Cellulosic Isobutanol Production—Process Simulation and Economic Analysis. (2019). LAPSE:2019.1256
Author Affiliations
Roussos A: Intelligen Europe, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Misailidis N: Intelligen Europe, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Koulouris A: Alexander Technological Education Institute of Thessaloniki, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Zimbardi F: Trisaia Research Centre, ENEA, 75026 Rotondella, Italy
Petrides D: Intelligen Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ 07076, USA
Journal Name
Processes
Volume
7
Issue
10
Article Number
E667
Year
2019
Publication Date
2019-09-27
Published Version
ISSN
2227-9717
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Original Submission
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PII: pr7100667, Publication Type: Journal Article
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LAPSE:2019.1256
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doi:10.3390/pr7100667
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Dec 3, 2019
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CC BY 4.0
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Dec 3, 2019
 
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Calvin Tsay
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