Techno-economic Analysis of a Thermochemical Lignocellulosic Biomass-to-Butanol Process

Biobutanol production through the thermochemical route allows the use of a wide variety of feedstocks (including lignocellulosic biomass) and is a potentially superior alternative to the biochemical route. However the thermochemical route is poorly understood and no techno-economic studies of the thermochemical route exist in the peer-reviewed literature to our knowledge. To address this issue, this work focuses on the use of CAPE tools in modelling a novel thermochemical lignocellulosic biomass-to-butanol process and an assessment of its economic feasibility. This goal is achieved with a three-step methodology comprising of process simulation, heat integration, and an economic analysis. The application of this methodology results in a minimum butanol selling price (MBSP) which is competitive with biobutanol via the biochemical route. A sensitivity analysis on different design and cost parameters confirm that this process is quite promising under a large range of uncertain market conditions.