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.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.