OP-II-3

PP-III-49EXERGY ANALYSIS AND PROCESS INTEGRATION OFBIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM ACID PRE-TREATED BIOMASS:COMPARISON OF SHF, SSF AND SSCF PATHWAYSOjeda K. a,b , Sánchez E. a,b , El-Halwagi M. b and Kafarov V. aa Research Center for the Sustainable Development in Industry and Energy,Department of Chemical Engineering, Industrial University of Santanderb Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, United States ofAmerica. Fax: +57-7-6350540, Bucaramanga, Colombia. E-mail: cisyc@uis.edu.coAbstractCurrently, there is a tremendous world-wide interest in the production of ethanolfrom biomass. One of the largest potential feedstock for ethanol is lignocellulosicbiomass, principally agricultural residues. Cellulosic ethanol can be made from thestems, leaves, bagasse, stalks and trunks of plants which are not used for humanfoodproduction. However, there are significant economic challenges facing thesecond generation of biofuels. Consequently, application of process engineering isnecessary to improve the overall process efficiency. Therefore, the main objective ofthis paper is to apply energy and exergetic analysis together with process integrationmethodologies coupled with process simulation as a unified and effective tool for theevaluation of converting lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol. In this paper, bioethanolproduction from acid-pretreated bagasse using different process configurations thatinclude sequential hydrolysis and fermentation “SHF”, simultaneous saccharificationand fermentation “SSF”, and simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation“SSCF”.IntroductionConventionally, lignocellulosic biomass is pretreated by acid hydrolysis orchemical and physical methods, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to open the plantfibers and to convert the polymers of cellulose and hemicellulose to sugars, whichcan be subsequently fermented 1 . The enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic materials bymeans of cellulase enzymes is one of the most promising advances in order to obtainproducts of great economic importance. This is a process catalyzed by a group ofenzymes –cellulases- that are a mixture of different enzyme activities whose jointaction produces the degradation of cellulose 1-3 . Research has been focused onimproving various stages of production of bioethanol through enzymatic hydrolysis.Nonetheless, there is still much need for improving the process economics, and to528