title: Techno-economic comparison of centralized versus decentralized biorefineries for two alkaline pretreatment processes.
abstract: In this work, corn stover subjected to ammonia fiber expansion (AFEX™)1pretreatment or alkaline pre-extraction followed by hydrogen peroxide post-treatment (AHP pretreatment) were compared for their enzymatic hydrolysis yields over a range of solids loadings, enzymes loadings, and enzyme combinations. Process techno-economic models were compared for cellulosic ethanol production for a biorefinery that handles 2000tons per day of corn stover employing a centralized biorefinery approach with AHP or a de-centralized AFEX pretreatment followed by biomass densification feeding a centralized biorefinery. A techno-economic analysis (TEA) of these scenarios shows that the AFEX process resulted in the highest capital investment but also has the lowest minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) at $2.09/gal, primarily due to good energy integration and an efficient ammonia recovery system. The economics of AHP could be made more competitive if oxidant loadings were reduced and the alkali and sugar losses were also decreased.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Stoklosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Del Pilar Orjuela
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA.
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: da Costa Sousa
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA.
authors.forename: Nirmal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uppugundla
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA.
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Dale
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA; Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Division of Sustainable Process Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden. Electronic address: hodgeda@egr.msu.edu.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Hodge
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, Michigan State University, USA.
authors.forename: Venkatesh
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balan
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000737:chemistry; D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004798:Enzymes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000431:Ethanol / Q000191:economics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D006868:Hydrolysis; D009005:Monosaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004798:Enzymes; D009005:Monosaccharides; D000431:Ethanol; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D000641:Ammonia; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide
keywords: AFEX; AHP; Biorefinery; Enzyme hydrolysis; Pretreatment; Techno-economic analysis