12-14: Process integration possibilities for a full scale cellulose ethanol plant based on the E-Tech ProcessTM

Sekab E-Technology’s business strategy is to develop and to commercialize technologies for production of advanced biofuels and green chemicals. Our technology, the E-Tech Process^TM which is based on acid-catalyzed steam pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, has been successfully demonstrated in a 100 kg/h demonstration plant, 24/7, using feedstock such as spruce, bagasse and wheat straw. The process generates a lignin-rich solid co-product. In addition biogas is produced from anaerobic digestion of liquid effluent streams.

Our development focus on optimization of key unit operations and on added value products from co-products thereby improving the overall process economics.

Full scale ethanol production, based on the E-Tech Process, can be integrated with existing plants e.g. starch- or sugar based ethanol plants or combined heat and power plants. Process integration reduces the operating cost of the production process. In addition integration will have a positive impact on the overall energy efficiency and on the GHG footprint compared with stand-alone plants.

We have identified a number of process integration alternatives which have been analyzed with respect to production cost, energy efficiency as well as technical limitations. A number of promising process configurations will be presented and discussed.