Abstract
Conversion of lignocellulose to value-added products is normally focussed on fuel production via ethanol or heat. In this work, a techno-economic assessment of a biorefinery with three product streams, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin is presented. Moreover, the techno-economic assessment is evaluated in the context of the supply chain through optimisation. A mixed integer linear program was developed to allow for flexible scenarios in order to determine effects of technological and pre-processing variations on the supply chain. The techno-economic and optimisation model integration was demonstrated on a case study in Scotland using woody biomass, either as sawnlogs or sawmill chips. It was established that sawmill chips is the preferred option, however sawnlogs became competitive once passive drying to 30% moisture content (wet basis) was considered. The flexibility of the modelling approach allowed for consideration of technology savings in the context of the supply chain, which can impact development choices.
Highlights
Biorefinery supply chain analysis, including techno-economic assessment of conversion technologies for lignocellulosic feedstock has traditionally focussed on ethanol or heat production for fuel [1]
Previous supply and/or value chain related research efforts have focussed on ethanol production via lignocellulose with specific targets on the distribution of processing hubs [2], comparison of biomass sources [3, 4], first and second generation bioethanol technology assessments [5], weather uncertainties [6] and feedstock properties such as moisture content [7]
Transport cost and distance were demonstrated to be an important consideration for biofuel supply chain networks [8]
Summary
Biorefinery supply chain analysis, including techno-economic assessment of conversion technologies for lignocellulosic feedstock has traditionally focussed on ethanol or heat production for fuel [1]. The multi-product biorefinery system is necessary to capitalise on all of the biomass components, desires increased purity of the separated core polymers in order to increase the value of these commodities To this end, a selection of pre-treatment solvents have been considered in techno-economic analyses i.e. ionic liquid treatment [16], organosolv treatments [12, 17, 18] and acid pre-treatment [19] which are used for a variety of products such as ethanol, lignin, furfural, cellulose, succinic acid and acetic acid. In combination to the pre-treatment solvent, efficient technologies need to be developed to make use of the whole lignocellulose for higher value products [13] To this end, novel methods for pre-treatment which enhance current treatment options without losses in yields of the three key polymers are required, one of which is ultrasonic processing [22]. The heuristic technology model was developed in Microsoft Excel, using criteria
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