Abstract
Separation process is very crucial in bioethanol production as it consumes the highest energy in the process. Unlike other works, this research systematically designed a suitable separation process for bioethanol production from corn stover by using thermodynamic insight. Two separation processes, i.e., extractive distillation (case 2) and pervaporation (case 3), were developed and compared with conventional molecular sieve (case 1). Process design and simulation were done by using Aspen Plus program. The process evaluation was done not only in terms of energy consumption and process economics but also in terms of environmental impacts. It was revealed that pervaporation is the best process in all aspects. Its energy consumption and carbon footprint are 60.8 and 68.34% lower than case 1, respectively. Its capital and production costs are also the lowest, 37.0 and 9.88% lower than case 1.
Highlights
Bioethanol (C2H5OH) has been well-accepted and used in the transportation sector worldwide
The bioethanol production process from lignocellulosic biomass consists of four main steps, which are pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation [4]
Hemicellulose inside the biomass is completely hydrolyzed into sugars, which can be directly converted to ethanol in a later fermentation process [5, 6]
Summary
Bioethanol (C2H5OH) has been well-accepted and used in the transportation sector worldwide. Each year corn stover is produced in vast quantities in many countries The management of this agricultural waste is essential. Corn stover could be an excellent candidate for Generally, the bioethanol production process from lignocellulosic biomass consists of four main steps, which are pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation, and separation [4]. The pretreatment step is used to remove lignin and alter cellulose structures by increasing cellulose accessibility for a further hydrolysis process. During this step, hemicellulose inside the biomass is completely hydrolyzed into sugars, which can be directly converted to ethanol in a later fermentation process [5, 6]. Furfural and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) that act as fermentation inhibitors are formed in this step
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