Techno-economic and ex-ante environmental assessment of C6 sugars production from spruce and corn. Comparison of organosolv and wet milling technologies

Sugar production is essential for the production of foods, biochemicals, and biofuels via biochemical or catalytic routes. Sugar‐containing crops, and starch‐based and cellulosic feedstocks are resources for sugar production via juice extraction, starch saccharification, and pretreatment and hydrolysis, respectively. Technologies have been developed to attain a high sugar yield; however, production costs are a major consideration in commercializing newly developed approaches to the production of sugars. In this review, the fixed capital and production costs of sugar produced from first‐ and second‐generation crops are summarized. As expected, first‐generation crops provide the lowest fixed capital costs, ranging from 0.01 to 0.13 $ kg−1 feedstock, and have production costs ranging from 0.22 to 0.55 $ kg−1 sugar. For cellulosic crops, because of their recalcitrant structure and complex processing, the fixed capital and production costs are higher, ranging from 0.02 to 1.10 $ kg−1 feedstock and 0.10 to 3.37 $ kg−1 sugar, respectively. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Section: Cellulosic Sugar Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cellulosic Sugar Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cellulosic Sugar Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cellulosic Sugar Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The costs of sugar production from different feedstocks and processing technologies

Cheng

Huang

Dien

et al. 2019

Production of 1,3‐butadiene and ε‐caprolactam from C6 sugars: Techno‐economic analysis

Moncada

Gürsel

Worrell

et al. 2018

Self Cite

This study assesses the techno‐economic performance of production lines for obtaining 1,3‐butadiene and ε‐caprolactam from C6 sugars. Process models were developed to assess their technical performance and to derive inputs for economic analysis. The economic assessment was carried out using net present value (NPV) and production costs as indicators. Sensitivity analyses were carried out to account for the effects of variations in inputs, such as processing capacity, valorization of humins, and prices, on the economic outputs. Results indicate that both production lines perform similarly from an energy intensity point of view (34–50 MJ/kg of main product). However, in terms of yield (kg of product per kg C6 sugar), caprolactam shows higher values by a factor of 1.6–3.6 in comparison to that of butadiene. The butadiene production line is not economically attractive, showing a negative NPV (−647 to −642 M€) and production costs 3–5 times higher than the reference market price (Case I 4369 €/tonne, Case II 3406 €/tonne). The caprolactam production line seems to be unfeasible with negative NPV (−229 M€) and production costs 30% higher than the reference price (Case III 2595 €/tonne, Case IV 1875 €/tonne). However, if the production yield is increased, the caprolactam production line becomes economically attractive with production costs 6% lower than its reference market price. The production costs of caprolactam can be further decreased if the process capacity is increased, reflecting the benefits of the economies of scale, as well as including heat and power produced from humins. Overall, the caprolactam production line shows higher economic potential. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Techno‐economic and life‐cycle assessment of a wood chips‐based organosolv biorefinery concept for production of lignin monomers and oligomers by base‐catalyzed depolymerization

Zeilerbauer

Lindorfer

Süss

et al. 2021

More wood for technical valorization is to be expected in Europe over the coming years, due to climate change and the bark beetle. To further independence from fossil-fuel resources a novel approach to the base-catalyzed depolymerization (BCD) of organosolv lignin into monomers and oligomers, while maximizing yields and minimizing coke formation, was scaled up in a theoretical wood-based biorefinery with a yearly input of 40 000 t of wood chips. Other process steps were modeled from the literature. A novel work-up approach was evaluated under laboratory conditions, implemented, and compared with a simulation-based pervaporation technique. The life-cycle assessment (LCA) showed that the biorefinery provided a significantly lower global warming potential (GWP) (excluding biogenic carbon) than its fossil counterparts. Moreover, the majority of impacts on the other midpoint categories was also smaller than for the fossil reference. However, after allocating the GWPs, it was evident that subsequent conversion of the C6 fraction to value-added products is necessary for optimal results. The discounted cash flow analyses for the biorefinery setups (40 to 400 kt year -1 ) showed that they were not profitable with prices based on fossil references. However, when using higher prices/t from the literature, such as €1615 for monomers, €2000 for oligomers, and €510 for C6 sugars, a positive net present value could be reached at