Simulation of hydrous ethanol production from sugarcane-derived biomass via gasification-fermentation route

The thermochemical-biochemical route is a hybrid process consisting essentially of biomass gasification and syngas fermentation. Attention has been given to such process due to several advantages, e.g. feedstock flexibility and syngas conversion at moderate conditions, although syngas fermentation technology is not fully commercialized. This work proposes to do an initial investigation on the potentials of producing hydrous ethanol through this route using process simulation as tool. For this simulation, sugarcane residues have been considered as feedstock and a process flowsheet has been constructed in such a way to allow for an energetically self sufficient process. For the bioreactor, data from patents have been used as guidance. Two possible scenarios have been analyzed: the solo production of hydrous ethanol and the co-production of hydrous ethanol and surplus electricity. A preliminary techno-economic assessment has been carried out in order to compare the proposed designs.