Title: Understanding cost drivers and economic potential of two variants of ionic liquid pretreatment for cellulosic biofuel production

Abstract

Background: Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment could enable an economically viable route to produce biofuels by providing efficient means to extract sugars and lignin from lignocellulosic biomass. However, to realize this, novel IL-based processes need to be developed in order to minimize the overall production costs and accelerate commercial viability. In this study, two variants of IL-based processes are considered: one based on complete removal of the IL prior to hydrolysis using a water-wash (WW) step and the other based on a “one-pot” (OP) process that does not require IL removal prior to saccharification. Detailed techno-economic analysis (TEA) of these two routes was carried out to understand the cost drivers, economic potential (minimum ethanol selling price, MESP), and relative merits and challenges of each route. Results: At high biomass loading (50%), both routes exhibited comparable economic performance with an MESP of $6.3/gal. With the possible advances identified (reduced water or acid/base consumption, improved conversion in pretreatment, and lignin valorization), the MESP could be reduced to around $3/gal ($3.2 in the WW route and $2.8 in the OP route). Conclusions: It was found that, to be competitive at industrial scale, lowered cost of ILs used and higher biomass loadings (50%) are essentialmore » for both routes, and in particular for the OP route. Overall, while the economic potential of both routes appears to be comparable at higher biomass loadings, the OP route showed the benefit of lower water consumption at the plant level, an important cost and sustainability consideration for biorefineries.« less

Authors:

Konda, NVSN Murthy ^[1]; Shi, Jian ^[2]; Singh, Seema ^[2]; Blanch, Harvey W. ^[3]; Simmons, Blake A. ^[2]; Klein-Marcuschamer, Daniel ^[4]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Physical Biosciences Division
2. Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States). Biological and Materials Science Center
3. Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Physical Biosciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
4. Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), Emeryville, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Physical Biosciences Division; Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia). Dow Center for Sustainable Engineering Innovation,

Publication Date:

Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014

Research Org.:

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1626662

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-05CH11231

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Biotechnology for Biofuels

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1754-6834

Publisher:

BioMed Central

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

09 BIOMASS FUELS; Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Energy & Fuels; Lignocellulosic biofuels; Ionic liquid pretreatment; Techno-economic analysis; One-pot process; Lignin valorization; Process modeling