ie402376z_si_001.pdf (44.82 kB)
Production of Bioethanol Using Chlorella vulgaris Cake: A Technoeconomic and Environmental Assessment in the Colombian Context
journal contribution
posted on 2013-11-27, 00:00 authored by Jonathan Moncada, Juan J. Jaramillo, Juan C. Higuita, Camilo Younes, Carlos A. CardonaIn this paper, fuel
ethanol production from Chlorella vulgaris cake was
evaluated by experimental and conceptual design techniques.
Enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae was performed to quantify the reducing sugars and ethanol from microalgae
cake. Extractive distillation and molecular sieves were evaluated
as alternative technologies for the dehydration of ethanol. The mass
and energy balances were solved using the Aspen Plus software. The
total ethanol production costs were evaluated using the Aspen Process
Economic Analyzer software, and the Waste Reduction algorithm (WAR)
was used to calculate the environmental impacts. Additionally, the
effect of energy integration was included in the economic analysis
and environmental assessment. The yields obtained for reducing sugars
and ethanol were 0.55 and 0.17 g per g of cake, respectively. The
global yield of ethanol was 211.9 L per tonne of cake, and the total
production cost was 0.76 and 0.91 USD per liter using molecular sieves
and extractive distillation, respectively. The most promising technology
to produce ethanol from microalgae cake was dehydration by molecular
sieves with full energy integration. For this technology, the production
cost was 0.76 USD per liter, which resulted in an economic margin
of 19.15%. From the environmental point of view, the potential environmental
impact was 0.84 PEI/kg products. Additionally, bioethanol from microalgae
was shown to be less harmful than bioethanol from corn and sugar cane.