Investigation of uncertainties associated with the production of butanol in sugarcane biorefineries: techno-economic and marketing challenges

• Grant number: 13/20308-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: March 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Maria Francisco Luiz Jose Bonomi
• Grantee: Lucas Gonçalves Pereira
• Supervisor: Heather L. MacLean
• Host Institution: Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM). Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (Brasil). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Toronto (U of T), Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/15192-0 - Economic and environmental multi-criteria approach to assess the viability of the biobutanol production in a Brazilian sugarcane biorefinery, BP.PD

Abstract

The Virtual Sugarcane Biorefinery (VSB) is a novel tool under construction by the Technological Assessment Program (PAT) of the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory (CTBE), which integrates all the sugarcane production chain and allows the identification of technical and sustainability impacts related to the introduction of new technologies on the current Brazilian sugarcane biorefineries. Although VSB has presented several positive aspects for evaluating the viability of various biorefineries configurations, there is still room for improvement on its structure, mainly related to the development of methods for social analysis and the improvement of the analysis of financial impacts. The aim of this project is to identify and investigate critical techno-economic parameters and to assess the risks involved in the production of butanol from sugarcane, which has been envisioned as a better liquid fuel than ethanol with potential of aggregating value to the portfolio of biorefineries. This work will be carried out in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto in Canada, availing the experience of local researchers in the modeling, costing and marketing of alternative energy systems production. Technological biorefinery scenarios, parameters adopted and results already obtained in the postdoctoral project executed at CTBE will be used. This study will indicate financial viability issues not yet comprised in the assessment, such as risk and market analyses. Furthermore, results and knowledge obtained in this internship may guide potential methodological improvements in the VSB tool; in addition, the analysis framework can be applied to other technological scenarios aimed to add new products to the portfolio of sugarcane biorefineries in Brazil. (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)

PEREIRA, LUCAS G.; DIAS, MARINA O. S.; MACLEAN, HEATHER L.; BONOMI, ANTONIO. Investigation of uncertainties associated with the production of n-butanol through ethanol catalysis in sugarcane biorefineries. Bioresource Technology, v. 190, p. 242-250, AUG 2015. (12/15192-0, 13/20308-0)