Process design and economic analysis of a hypothetical bioethanol production plant using carob pod as feedstock
A process for the production of ethanol from carob (Ceratonia siliqua) pods was designed and an economic analysis was carried out for a hypothetical plant. The plant was assumed to perform an aqueous extraction of sugars from the pods followed by fermentation and distillation to produce ethanol. The...
| Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | article |
| Status: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Publication Date: | 2012 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena(UPCT) |
| Repository: | Repositorio Digital UPCT |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.upct.es:10317/13159 |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10317/13159 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852411015124 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | bioethanol carob pod economic analysis process design Ingeniería Química 3303.03 Procesos Químicos |
| Summary: | A process for the production of ethanol from carob (Ceratonia siliqua) pods was designed and an economic analysis was carried out for a hypothetical plant. The plant was assumed to perform an aqueous extraction of sugars from the pods followed by fermentation and distillation to produce ethanol. The total fixed capital investment for a base case process with a capacity to transform 68,000 t/year carob pod was calculated as 39.61 millon euros (€) with a minimum bioethanol production cost of 0.51€/L and an internal rate of return of 7%. The plant was found to be profitable at carob pod prices lower than 0.188€/kg. An increase in the transformation capacity of the plant from 33,880 to 135,450 t/year was calculated to result in an increase in the internal rate of return from 5.50% to 13.61%. The obtained results show that carob pod is a promising alternative source for bioethanol production. |
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