Assessment of industrial cellulose enzyme production on the energetic-environmental performance of second generation ethanol production

• Grant number: 12/18219-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2013
• End date: December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Feni Dalano Roosevelt Agostinho
• Grantee: Ana Beatriz Bressan Bertaglia
• Host Institution: Vice-Reitoria de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação. Universidade Paulista (UNIP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Ethanol fuel is currently recognized as a good alternative to replace fossil fuel in the transportation sector. Particularly, the Brazilian ethanol program is considered a model to be followed, in which sugarcane is used as raw material for first generation ethanol production. Aiming to improve the current energetic, economic, social and environmental performance for the Brazilian ethanol production, the concept of Biorefineries is present into political and scientific discussions, in which the second generation ethanol is produced by using lignocellulosic material; basically the sugarcane bagasse resultant from grinding process. The idea is the integral use of sugarcane avoiding the expansion of the agricultural production area to supply the increasing demand for ethanol, and avoiding the fuel versus food debate. Among the several technological routes available, the biochemical platform considering the bagasse pre-treatment with steam explosion and the posterior enzymatic hydrolysis suggests the route to be adopted by the Brazilian ethanol plants at medium to long term. In this technological route, celullase enzymes convert cellulose and hemicelulose into fermentable sugars, which are then fermented producing second generation ethanol by microorganisms. Many scientific studies assessing the technological, energetic, environmental and economic aspects regarding the Biorefineries are being published, however, in most cases the enzyme production is not deeply assessed. This raise doubts about the influence of enzyme production on the overall energetic-environmental performance of Biorefineries. In this sense, this research project aims to assess the energetic-environmental performance of industrial enzyme production and verify its influence on the overall performance of second generation ethanol production. For this, the Embodied Energy Analysis, Emergy Accounting and the CO2 release to atmosphere are used as tools. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

AGOSTINHO, FENI; BERTAGLIA, ANA B. B.; ALMEIDA, CECILIA M. V. B.; GIANNETTI, BIAGIO F.. Influence of cellulase enzyme production on the energetic-environmental performance of lignocellulosic ethanol. ECOLOGICAL MODELLING, v. 315, n. SI, p. 46-56, NOV 10 2015. (12/18219-6)

AGOSTINHO, FENI; BERTAGLIA, ANA B. B.; ALMEIDA, CECILIA M. V. B.; GIANNETTI, BIAGIO F.. Influence of cellulase enzyme production on the energetic-environmental performance of lignocellulosic ethanol. ECOLOGICAL MODELLING, v. 315, p. 11-pg., 2015-11-10. (12/18219-6)