Process design for hemicelluloses valorization in polymers in a biorefinery platform

CLAUSER, NICOLÁS M.; FELISSIA, FERNANDO E.; AREA, M. CRISTINA; VALLEJOS, MARÍA E.

Congreso; CIADICYP; 2022

The design of biorefinery processes requires several factors assessment like available biomass, involvedprocess, and obtained products, among others. Several products could be obtained to valorize thebiomass in a biorefinery. In the last years, polymers production has gained attention. This study assessessugarcane bagasse valorization in a biorefinery frame (see Figure 1). The proposed layout consideredPHB and levulinic acid (LA) production through a fermentative pathway. Mass and energy balanceswere developed. After autohydrolysis, the residual solid was used for the energy production of char andtar. Two alternatives were evaluated for the fermentation step of the liquid fraction (with and withoutacetate addition).It is possible to obtain between 5 and 31 kg of PHB and between 24 and 54 kg of LA per dry ton ofsugarcane bagasse from the autohydrolysis spent liquor, and 227 and 162 kg of char and tar,respectively, from the solid fraction. Regarding energy consumption, autohydrolysis consume about760 kWh per ton of dry biomass pretreated. For liquid fraction valorization, the concentration step isthe process with the highest energy consumption (about 2345 kWh per dry ton of biomass). Thepyrolysis step gases could satisfy the energy demand for the solid fraction treatment. The future stepsof the present study are to develop a techno-economic assessment to evaluate the feasibility of theproposed scheme and determine critical factors.