Cane Biorefineries and Benchmarks#

The cane module contains sugarcane, oilcane, and energycane biorefinery configurations, as discussed in [1].

Getting started#

Three configurations are currently available: (i) fermentation of juice and direct cogeneration (DC) of heat and power from bagasse, (ii) integrated co-fermentation (ICF) of both juice and bagasse hydrolysate, and (iii) integrated co-fermentation and recovery (ICFR) of plant and microbial oil. Either ethanol or microbial an be produced at DC and ICF configurations. In all configurations, either sugarcane or oilcane is crushed to release the juice and the free oil is recovered from the fermentation effluent through a 3-phase decanter centrifuge. In the DC configuration, the bagasse is sent directly to the boiler to produce heat and power. In the ICF and ICFR configurations, the bagasse is pretreated with liquid hot water, hydrolyzed with cellulases, and co-fermented with the juice. In the DC and ICF configurations, the oil in the cell mass is recovered mechanically with a screw press after drying. In the ICFR, the oil in the cell mass is recovered by centrifugation after cellulosic pretreatment with the bagasse.

The following table details the options available for loading a biorefinery:

Name

Feedstock

Configuration

Final products

Fermentation

S1

Sugarcane

DC

Ethanol

Batch

S2

Sugarcane

ICF

Ethanol

Batch

O1

Oilcane

DC

Ethanol & biodiesel

Batch

O2

Oilcane

ICF

Ethanol & biodiesel

Batch

O3

Oilcane

DC

Ethanol & crude oil

Batch

O4

Oilcane

ICF

Ethanol & crude oil

Batch

O5

Oilcane

DC

Biodiesel

Fed-batch

O6

Oilcane

ICF

Biodiesel

Fed-batch

O7

Oilcane

DC

Biodiesel

Batch

O8

Oilcane

ICFR

Biodiesel

Batch

O9

Oilcane

ICF

Biodiesel

Batch

To select a specific cane line (e.g., sugarcane-WT or oilcane-1566) as described in [2], add the name of the line after a period. For example, “O5.WT” is the DC biorefinery processing traditional sugarcane to biodiesel (through microbial oil production) and “O7.1566” is the ICF biorefinery processing oilcane prototype 1566 to biodiesel (from plant and microbial oils).

For sweet sorghum and oil-sorghum integration, add a ‘*’. For example, “S1*” is the DC biorefinery producing ethanol from sugarcane and sweet sorghum and “O2*” is the ICF biorefinery co-producing ethanol and biodiesel from oilcane and oil-sorghum.

The default assumptions on market prices, technological performance, and wastewater treatment are set to those used in the 2022 publication [1]. For updated assumptions used in 2023-2024 publications (e.g., updated market prices, oilcane oil contents, and high-rate wastewater treatment of bagasse), run the function “YRCP2023()” before loading biorefineries.

Here is an example for loading the ICF biorefinery producing biodiesel from oilcane 1566 using 2023-2024 assumptions. Note that all unit operations, streams, systems, parameters, and metrics are available as attrbitutes to the Biorefinery object:

>>> import biorefineries.cane as c
>>> c.YRCP2023()
>>> O7 = c.Biorefinery('O7.1566') # Create biorefinery
>>> O7.sys.diagram() # View autogenerated process flowsheet

O7

>>> O7.R201.show() # All objects are available through the biorefinery object
AeratedFermentation: R201
ins...
[0] s28  from  HXutility-H201
    phase: 'l', T: 303.15 K, P: 101325 Pa
    flow (kmol/hr): Water                 8.27e+03
                    Glucose               10.8
                    Sucrose               64.1
                    H3PO4                 0.247
                    Phosphatidylinositol  0.0839
                    OleicAcid             0.29
                    TriOlein              0.673
[1] s140  
    phase: 'g', T: 305.15 K, P: 101325 Pa
    flow (kmol/hr): O2  275
                    N2  1.04e+03
outs...
[0] vent  
    phase: 'g', T: 305.15 K, P: 101325 Pa
    flow (kmol/hr): CO2  233
                    O2   197
                    N2   1.04e+03
[1] s29  to  StorageTank-T201
    phase: 'l', T: 305.15 K, P: 101325 Pa
    flow (kmol/hr): Water                 8.52e+03
                    Glucose               0.0907
                    H3PO4                 0.247
                    Yeast                 310
                    Glycerol              0.155
                    Phosphatidylinositol  0.0839
                    OleicAcid             0.768
                    ...                   5.61

To retrieve economic and environmental results at different scenarios, you can use the Model object:

>>> import biorefineries.cane as c
>>> c.YRCP2023()
>>> # Load integrated co-fermentation oilcane configuration producing biodiesel from sugarcane
>>> O7 = c.Biorefinery('O7.WT') 
>>> # All parameters at the baseline scenario
>>> parameters = O7.model.get_baseline_sample() 
>>> parameters
-                                  Juicing oil recovery [%]                    60
                                   Microbial oil recovery [%]                  70
                                   Bagasse oil recovery [%]                    70
                                   Cane operating days [day/y]                180
                                   Sorghum operating days [day/y]              45
Feedstock                          Available land [ha]                   1.87e+04
                                   Dry biomass yield [DMT/ha/y]              17.7
Crude oil                          Price [USD/L]                            0.544
Feedstock                          Price [USD/kg]                           0.035
Ethanol                            Price [USD/L]                            0.358
Biodiesel                          Price [USD/L]                            0.749
RIN D3                             Price [USD/RIN]                          0.534
RIN D4                             Price [USD/RIN]                          0.206
RIN D5                             Price [USD/RIN]                          0.205
Natural gas                        Price [USD/m3]                               0
Electricity                        Price [USD/kWh]                              0
-                                  IRR [%]                                     10
Crude glycerol                     Price [USD/kg]                            0.16
Pure glycerine                     Price [USD/kg]                            0.65
Saccharification                   Reaction time [h]                           72
Cellulase                          Price [USD/kg]                           0.212
                                   Cellulase loading [wt. % cellulose]       0.02
Pretreatment reactor system        Base cost [million USD]                   19.7
Pretreatment and saccharification  Cane glucose yield [%]                      85
                                   Sorghum glucose yield [%]                   79
                                   Cane xylose yield [%]                       65
                                   Sorghum xylose yield [%]                    86
Cofermenation                      Glucose to ethanol yield [%]                90
                                   Xylose to ethanol yield [%]                 50
Cofermentation                     Ethanol titer [g/L]                       68.5
                                   Ethanol productivity [g/L/h]             0.951
Cofermenation                      Glucose to microbial oil yield [%]        13.2
                                   Xylose to microbial oil yield [%]         13.2
Fermentation                       Microbial oil titer [g/L]                 13.2
                                   Microbial oil productivity [g/L/h]        0.17
Oilcane                            Cane PL content [% oil]                     10
Oilsorghum                         Sorghum PL content [% oil]                  10
Oilcane                            Cane FFA content [% oil]                    10
Oilsorghum                         Sorghum FFA content [% oil]                 10
-                                  TAG to FFA conversion [% oil]               23
Sugarcane                          GWP [kg*CO2e/kg]                        0.0352
Methanol                           GWP [kg*CO2e/kg]                          0.45
Pure glycerine                     GWP [kg*CO2e/kg]                          1.67
Cellulase                          GWP [kg*CO2e/kg]                         0.404
Natural gas                        GWP [kg*CO2e/kg]                          0.33
-                                  Income tax [%]                              21
Stream-Oilcane                     Oil content [dw %]                       0.018
                                   Moisture content [wt %]                  0.667
                                   Sugar content [dw %]                     0.367
dtype: float64

>>> parameters['oilcane', 'Cane oil content [dry wt. %]'] = 10 # Change oil content
>>> parameters['oilcane', 'Moisture content [wt %]'] = 65 
>>> O7.model(parameters) # Evaluate at new oil content
-                        MFPP [USD/MT]                                     -7.48
                         MESP [USD/L]                                          0
                         MBSP [USD/L]                                       3.48
                         Feedstock consumption [MT/y]                    1.6e+06
                         Biodiesel production [L/MT]                        15.6
                         Biodiesel yield [L/ha]                         1.33e+03
                         Ethanol production [L/MT]                             0
                         Electricity production [kWh/MT]                     513
                         Net energy production [GGE/MT]                     20.9
                         Natural gas consumption [m3/MT]                       0
                         TCI [10^6*USD]                                      652
                         Heat exchanger network error [%]                  4e-13
Economic allocation      GWP [kg*CO2e / USD]                               0.848
                         Ethanol GWP [kg*CO2e / L]                         0.477
                         Biodiesel GWP [kg*CO2e / L]                       0.477
                         Crude glycerol GWP [kg*CO2e / kg]                 0.136
                         Electricity GWP [kg*CO2e / MWh]                    58.5
Displacement allocation  Ethanol GWP [kg*CO2e / L]                             0
                         Biodiesel GWP [kg*CO2e / L]                       -12.6
Energy allocation        Biofuel GWP [kg*CO2e / GGE]                        1.81
                         Ethanol GWP [kg*CO2e / L]                          0.32
                         Biodiesel GWP [kg*CO2e / L]                       0.503
                         Crude-glycerol GWP [kg*CO2e / kg]                 0.192
-                        MFPP derivative [USD/MT]                            NaN
                         Biodiesel production derivative [L/MT]              NaN
                         Ethanol production derivative [L/MT]                NaN
                         Electricity production derivative [kWh/MT]          NaN
                         Natural gas consumption derivative [cf/MT]          NaN
                         TCI derivative [10^6*USD]                           NaN
Economic allocation      GWP derivative [kg*CO2e / USD]                        0
Ethanol                  GWP derivative [kg*CO2e / L]                          0
Biodiesel                GWP derivative [kg*CO2e / L]                          0
Crude glycerol           GWP derivative [kg*CO2e / kg]                         0
Electricity              GWP derivative [kg*CO2e / MWh]                        0
-                        ROI [%]                                            1.16
Feedstock                Competitive biomass yield [dry MT/ha]               NaN
                         Energy competitive biomass yield [dry MT/ha]        NaN
-                        Breakeven IRR [%]                                 -3.77
dtype: float64

Here are an additional example for loading the conventional sugarcane biorefinery producing ethanol and electricity:

>>> import biorefineries.cane as c
>>> S1 = c.Biorefinery('S1') # Load conventional sugarcane biorefinery
>>> S1.sys.show(data=False) # Full system
System: sugarcane_sys
Highest convergence error among components in recycle
stream M201-0 after 5 loops:
- flow rate   9.09e-13 kmol/hr (0%)
- temperature 4.25e-06 K (1.3e-06%)
ins...
[0] sugarcane  
[1] H3PO4  
[2] lime  
[3] polymer  
[4] denaturant  
outs...
[0] advanced_ethanol  
[1] vinasse  
[2] fiber_fines  
[3] emissions  
[4] ash_disposal  

References#

[1] Cortés-Peña, Y.R., C.V. Kurambhatti, K. Eilts, V. Singh, J.S. Guest, “Economic and Environmental Sustainability of Vegetative Oil Extraction Strategies at Integrated Oilcane and Oil-sorghum Biorefineries,” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

[2] Cortés-Peña, Y., W. Woodruff, S. Banerjee, et al., “Integration of Plant and Microbial Oil Processing at Oilcane Biorefineries for More Sustainable Biofuel Production,” Chemistry, (2023). https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-rdvbl.