Abstract:
This paper investigates the economic potential of a macroalgal biorefinery considering three separation techniques for bioethanol dehydration, including, pressure swing distillation (PSD), extractive distillation (ED), and membranes (MEM). Rigorous process simulation models were developed in Aspen Plus for each of the aforementioned pathways to estimate mass and energy balances at a plant scale of 50 million gallons per year of bioethanol. In addition, wastewater and solid waste (fermentation residue) treatment were also considered to maximize circular economy and environmental sustainability. Regarding techno-economic assessment, a discounted cash flow rate of return analysis model was developed to calculate key economic indicators, such as net present value (NPV) and minimum ethanol selling price (MESP). Results showed that bioethanol dehydration via membranes is the most promising strategy, leading to an NPV of 145 million dollars while PSD is found to be the second to the best strategy for bioethanol dehydration with an NPV of 36 million dollars considering a project life of 20 years. Extractive distillation was found to be the worst pathway for bioethanol dehydration, leading to a negative NPV of - 102 million dollars. Furthermore, MESP for PSD, ED, and MEM was calculated to be 2.35 $/gal, 3.08 $/gal, and 1.76 $/gal, respectively. Furthermore, our results show that biofuels are a sustainable energy source that can be employed at large scales reducing the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels
Page(s):
0-0
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Sixth International Conference on Sustainability in Process Industries (SPI) 19-20 Octover 2022 (Book of Abstracts), Volume: 0, Issue: 0, Year: 2022
Keywords:
macroalgae
,
Techno Technoeconomic
,
Bioethanol dehydration
,
Process simulation