Integrated techno-economic and environmental analysis of butadiene production from biomass

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 239; pp. 37 - 48
• Main Authors: Farzad, Somayeh, Mandegari, Mohsen Ali, Görgens, Johann F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Bio-based butadiene; Bioethanol; Biomass; Bioreactors; Butadienes; Environment; Environmental Pollutants; Ethanol; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Monte Carlo simulation; Ostromisslensky process; Ostromisslensky process; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Bioethanol; Bio-based butadiene; Monte Carlo simulation
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.130

[Display omitted] •Techno-economic and environmental study of butadiene process annexed to sugar mill.•Fossil-based butadiene (BD) and bioethanol production considered as the baseline.•Co-combustion of coal with biomass improves the economic due to economies of scale.•Bio-BD shows better performance over the investigated environmental impact categories.•Bioethanol production has higher probability of economic feasibility than Bio-BD. In this study, lignocellulose biorefineries annexed to a typical sugar mill were investigated to produce either ethanol (EtOH) or 1,3-butadiene (BD), utilizing bagasse and trash as feedstock. Aspen simulation of the scenarios were developed and evaluated in terms of economic and environmental performance. The minimum selling prices (MSPs) for bio-based BD and EtOH production were 2.9–3.3 and 1.26–1.38-fold higher than market prices, respectively. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, capital investment, Internal Rate of Return and extension of annual operating time had the greatest impact on the MSP. Monte Carlo simulation demonstrated that EtOH and BD productions could be profitable if the average of ten-year historical price increases by 1.05 and 1.9-fold, respectively. The fossil-based route was found inferior to bio-based pathway across all investigated environmental impact categories, due to burdens associated with oil extraction.