Strategies to reduce the negative impact of inhibitors in biorefineries: A combined techno-economic and life cycle assessment

Author(s)

Pinto, Ariane S. S. M. ; Elias, Andrew M. F. ; Furlan, Felipe F. C. ; Ribeiro, Marcelo P. A. S. ; Giordano, Roberto C. ; Farinas, Cristiane S.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION; v. 345, p. 10-pg., 2022-03-04.

Abstract

Production of 2G ethanol in biorefineries can contribute to a low-carbon bioeconomy, but bioreactor low yields remain a limitation. In this work, technical-economic-environmental biorefinery assessment was performed, with integration of biomass washing and soybean protein addition to mitigate the negative effects of inhibitors on biochemical reactions. It was possible to reduce the overall CO2 emissions of integrated first (1G) and second generation (2G) sugarcane biorefineries, with up to 15% lower global warming potential (GWP10), enabling high commercialization of decarbonization credits (CBios) and significantly increasing net present value (NPV). The most profitable scenario was using biomass washing (NPV similar to US$ 1.50E+8), but most life cycle categories (except GWP100 and photochemical oxidation) presented greater environmental impacts (2-18%) than conventional 1G2G. The lowest life cycle scores were obtained with protein addition, while the combined mitigation strategies resulted in economic feasibility (due to high CBios prices and low soybean protein costs).Therefore, decisions to favor the bioeconomy should not be based exclusively on the carbon footprint indicator. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/10636-8 - From the cell factory to the Biodiesel-Bioethanol integrated biorefinery: a systems approach applied to complex problems in micro and macroscales
• Grantee: Roberto de Campos Giordano
• Support Opportunities: Program for Research on Bioenergy (BIOEN) - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/21173-1 - Mitigation of inhibitors generated in the pre-treatment of vegetal biomass: technical-economic-environmental impact of different processing routes in the biorefinery
• Grantee: Ariane Silveira Sbrice Pinto
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 20/15450-5 - Bioprocesses systems engineering applied to the production of biofertilizers: from integrated biorefinery to microorganisms
• Grantee: Andrew Milli Elias
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral