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Sugarcane ethanol: Contributions to climate change - BAFF

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Chapter 7<br />

Biofuel conversion technologies<br />

Andre Faaij<br />

1. Introduction<br />

In the current heated societal debate about the sustainability of biofuels, usually a distinction<br />

is made between so-called ‘�rst’ and ‘second’ generation biofuels. A large number of options<br />

<strong>to</strong> produce biomass from biofuel is used or are possible (a simpli�ed overview of options is<br />

given in Figure 1). Although de�nitions di�er between publications, �rst generation biofuels<br />

typically are produced from food crops as oilseeds (rapeseed, palm oil), starch crops (cereals,<br />

maize) or sugar crops (sugar beet and sugarcane). Conversion technologies are commercial<br />

and typically feeds<strong>to</strong>ck costs dominate the overall biofuel production costs. Furthermore,<br />

Lignocellulosic<br />

biomass<br />

Sugar/starch<br />

crops<br />

Oil plants<br />

Gasification Syngas<br />

Anaerobic<br />

digestion<br />

Flash pyrolysis<br />

Hydrothermal<br />

liquefaction<br />

Hydrolysis<br />

Milling and<br />

hydrolysis<br />

Pressing or<br />

extraction<br />

Biogas<br />

Bio oil<br />

Sugar<br />

Vegetable oil<br />

Water gas shift<br />

+ separation<br />

Catalysed<br />

synthesis<br />

Purification<br />

Hydro treating<br />

and refining<br />

Fermentation<br />

Esterification<br />

Hydrogen<br />

(H 2 )<br />

M<strong>ethanol</strong><br />

(CH 3 OH)<br />

DME<br />

(CH 3 OCH 3 )<br />

FT Diesel<br />

(C x H y )<br />

SNG<br />

(CH 4 )<br />

Biodiesel<br />

(C x H y )<br />

Ethanol<br />

(CH 3 CH 2 OH)<br />

Biodiesel<br />

(alkyl esters)<br />

Bio oil<br />

(vegetable oil)<br />

Figure 1. different existing and possible biofuel production routes (Hamelinck and Faaij, 2006). This<br />

is a simplified overview; other production chains are possible for example by combining conversion<br />

pathways, e.g. combined <strong>ethanol</strong> and biogas production, <strong>ethanol</strong> production and gasification of<br />

lignine for synfuels and integrated concepts with other industrial processes (pulp & paper plants) or<br />

bio refineries.<br />

<strong>Sugarcane</strong> <strong>ethanol</strong> 159

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