Integration of Organosolv Process for Biomass Pretreatment in a Biorefinery

Abstract

Biorefinery development by the bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass has attracted much interest in recent years. The pretreatment process plays an important role in the commercialized production of several products, including cellulosic ethanol. From the point of view of the integrated utilization of lignocellulosic biomass, organosolv pretreatment provides a pathway for the biorefining of biomass. This chapter gives an introduction about the organosolv process and presents/discuss the integration of this technique for sugarcane bagasse pretreatment in a diversified sugar industry. Economic evaluation of different alternatives to biorefinery were performed. Finally, the synthesis and optimal design of each batch step of the proposal alternatives are included. The optimal configuration of stages, the number of units in each stage, the unit sizes, and the minimum total production costs are obtained from the global optimization model and superstructure proposed.