title: Cost evaluation of cellulase enzyme for industrial-scale cellulosic ethanol production based on rigorous Aspen Plus modeling.
abstract: Cost reduction on cellulase enzyme usage has been the central effort in the commercialization of fuel ethanol production from lignocellulose biomass. Therefore, establishing an accurate evaluation method on cellulase enzyme cost is crucially important to support the health development of the future biorefinery industry. Currently, the cellulase cost evaluation methods were complicated and various controversial or even conflict results were presented. To give a reliable evaluation on this important topic, a rigorous analysis based on the Aspen Plus flowsheet simulation in the commercial scale ethanol plant was proposed in this study. The minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) was used as the indicator to show the impacts of varying enzyme supply modes, enzyme prices, process parameters, as well as enzyme loading on the enzyme cost. The results reveal that the enzyme cost drives the cellulosic ethanol price below the minimum profit point when the enzyme is purchased from the current industrial enzyme market. An innovative production of cellulase enzyme such as on-site enzyme production should be explored and tested in the industrial scale to yield an economically sound enzyme supply for the future cellulosic ethanol production.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China. jbao@ecust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bao
mesh_terms: D002480:Cellulase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D000431:Ethanol / Q000737:chemistry / Q000191:economics*; D018803:Models, Economic
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D002482:Cellulose; D002480:Cellulase
keywords: Aspen Plus modeling; Cellulase; Cost evaluation; Ethanol; Lignocellulose