Macroalgae-based integrated biorefinery for hydrocolloids, chemicals and advanced biofuels production

CASONI, ANDRÉS I.; PEDROZO, H. ALEJANDRO; RAMOS, FEMANDO D.; ESTRADA, VANINA; DIAZ, MARIA SOLEDAD

COMPUTER AIDED CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2022 vol. 51 p. 715 - 720

1570-7946

In this work, we address the simultaneous design of an integrated macroalgae-based biorefinery and its heat exchanger network for the production of alginates, high added- value chemicals and advanced biofuels. We apply a superstructure approach, which is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model. The resulting MINLP model has more than 53000 constraints and continuous variables and 14000 discrete variables. Net present value is the objective function. Numerical results show that heat utility costs are reduced by 41 % due to heat integration, as compared to a base case, and the production of alginates and dimethyl-isosorbide (DMI) via sorbitol, as well as methane as biofuels are selected in the optimal scheme.