Production of Second Generation Bioethanol in Chile

Pia Wiche

Outline

• Bioenercel– Description– Goals– Organization

• My work– Software– Some results– What am I doing here?

Bioenercel

• Consortium comprising:– Universities– Forestry Companies– Private Sector– Government

• Financial support from government:– USD 6 million (58%)

Bioenercel

• Objectives: – To create knowledge and obtain new

technology– Training human resources– Protection and marketing of results– Make bioenergy a part of everyday talks– Generate the appropriate conditions for the

creation of bioethanol plants

Bioenercel Organization

Bioprocesses ProjectBiomass Project

Forestry practices

Native Forest

Forestry, Agricul-tural and Industrial Residues

Pre

trea

tmen

t

Acid Hydrolysis

Enzymatic Hydrolysis

Enzymes

SSF

Fermentation C5

Fermentation C6

Ethanol Recovery

Pyrolysis Refining

Method Standardization

Scaling

OptimizationEconomic Evaluation

Life Cycle Assessment

Ethanol

Subproducts Biomaterials

Bio - oil

My work

• Main goals– As LCA practitioner

• To learn how to effectively do LCA

– As first student in the area• Generate a solid document that may serve as basis for the

continuation of this subject in my school

– In the LCA• Obtain the environmental impact of the process• Consider chilean conditions for growth of biomass• Start determining the possible drawbacks of certain process

designs (and show just how good this can be for process design!)

A brief introduction…

• Second Generation Bioethanol non edible biomass

• This process is still not commercially available

• There’s much research on the field

• Bottleneck: pretreatment

Pretreatment

The process

E1 - Pretreatment

E4 – Product

Purification

E2 – Pentose

Treatment

E3 – Hexose

Treatment

F1 – Biomass

Production

E5 -Waste

Treatment

Land Seeds

CompostWater

PolyethyleneFertilizers (2)Fungicides (2)Herbicides (2)Copper oxide

LatexSodium hypochlorite

CO2

Solar EnergyElectric Energy

Fossil Fuels

WaterSulfuric acid

Deionized water Active Carbon Calcium oxide

Sodium HydroxydeEnzymes

Ammonium phosphateMagnesium Sulfate

Yeast extract Electric Energy

Fossil Fuels

Ethanol Gas Emissions:

Water VapourAcetic Acid

Furfural5-HMFCO2

Biogas

Industrial Phase

F2 – Transporta

tion

Forestry Phase

Wastewater: Water

Sulfuric acidSodium

HydroxydeOther organic compounds

Sludge

Some indicators

• Efficiency of 53% from theoretical (Baeza et al., UdeC)– 5,18 [kg wood/L ethanol] or– 0,19 [L ethanol/kg wood]

• Energy generation– Out of lignin: 3,4 [GJ/ton wood]– Out of biogas: 7,2 [GJ/ton wood]

(Equivalent to the heating requirement of 1150 houses/h)

The software I am using

• Simapro– Simpler approach– Several databases– Easiness of use– Nice and easy to comprehend graphs and

results

Some results

From left to right: carcinogens, respiratory organics, respiratory inorganics, climate change, radiation, ozone layer, ecotoxicity, acidification/eutrofication, land use, minerals, fossil fuels.

From left to right: carbon dioxide - biogenic, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide - fossil, methane – biogenic, methane, carbon dioxide – in air, other substances.

Work in Belgium

• I am studying exergy!

• Completed inventory

• Soon to come: Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment.

Thanks for your attention!