The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the diagnosis of urban solid waste (USW) in the State of Mexico, through the framework of sustainability. Urban areas represent a focus of attention for local administrations since they represent spaces of economic importance in the Gross Domestic Product. At the same time, these areas favor the concentration of population and air, water and soil pollution in these areas. The analysis included documentary review and diagnosis of urban solid waste (USW) in the State of Mexico, for which it is necessary to investigate different aspects of utmost importance, as well as some background information that involves not only the state, since in order to compare it is necessary to know the management of USW in Mexico at a national level first and then focus on the State of Mexico. As we know, MSW has increased over time due to the demographic and industrial growth of the country, the change in consumption habits of the population, the increase in welfare levels, and the tendency to abandon rural areas to concentrate in urban centers. This has substantially modified the quantity and composition of MSW.

In this work, a sustainable process for the production of ethanol from the monosaccharide glucose was simulated. The thermodynamic model used for the process was NRTL-RK (based on activity coefficients) due to the polar nature and non-ideal behavior of the species involved. The process was carried out in three steps. First, glucose in aqueous solution was subjected to a fermentation process using a stoichiometric reactor. The second stage consisted of carbon dioxide degassing using two flash tank systems. In the third stage, a RadFrac distillation column was used to facilitate the separation of ethanol and water. According to the results obtained, the molar flow rate of the distilled product stream was 5.04 kmol/h with a composition of 82.15% mol of ethanol, 15.37% mol of water and 2.47% mol of carbon dioxide, while the bottom stream whose molar flow rate was 143.39 kmol/h had a composition of 99.99% mol of water with traces of ethanol and carbon dioxide. The results obtained demonstrate that ethanol production from glucose is possible.