Superstructure optimization of Lignocellulosic Bioethanol plants

摘要

In this paper we present the superstructure optimization for the production of bioethanolrnvia gasification of lignocellulosic material, switchgrass. We describe the alternativesrnconsidered for the superstructure, which mainly include two types of gasification,rndifferent clean up processes and two different synthetic paths, catalytic andrnfermentation. We optimize the superstructure using a special decomposition technique.rnThe results obtained are promising for the profitability of lignocellulosic ethanol sincernthe energy consumed (20MW) and the production cost (0.66$/gal) are both lower thanrnthe optimized values for corn-based bioethanol plants.