Diseño de biorrefinerías a partir de lignocelulósicos usando conceptos termodinámicos

Las biorefinerías son procesos que involucran un alto número de etapas de procesamiento con el objetivo de obtener tanto un producto químico o un producto energético. En muchos casos, las biorefinerías solo son analizadas desde los ámbitos técnico, económico, ambiental y social, dejando de lado la parte energética del proceso. Sin embargo, a partir de un análisis energético del proceso es posible conocer el fenómeno que involucra cada etapa de procesamiento unidad por unidad. Así, es posible conocer el aprovechamiento energético que presenta una determinada materia prima en función de los productos obtenidos a partir de esta. Mostrando así que el aprovechamiento del potencial energético de una materia prima va a estar relacionado con la ruta de transformación seguida. Mediante el empleo de conceptos termodinámicos tales como la exergía es posible identificar los principales cambios energéticos que ocurren etapa por etapa. La exergía involucra dentro de su cálculo el análisis de los cambios tanto físicos como químicos a los cuales es sometida una materia prima en un proceso. Permitiendo identificar de este modo las causas de los cambios presentados, así como su ubicación dentro del proceso. El objetivo del presente trabajo es aplicar el cálculo de la exergía a diferentes procesos, principalmente biorefinerías. Permitiendo de este modo identificar la influencia que presenta la ruta de transformación seleccionada en un proceso complejo como las biorefinerías, así como la influencia tanto de la tecnología como de la materia prima empleada. Para esto fueron planteados diferentes casos de estudio a partir de procesos de simulación: en primer lugar, fue analizada la influencia de la tecnología de extracción de compuestos polifenólicos a partir de cascara de tomate de árbol. Para este caso fueron consideradas la extracción con solvente y la extracción con fluidos supercríticos. En segundo lugar, fue analizada la obtención de etanol a partir de yuca (material amiláceo) y bagazo de caña de azúcar (material lignocelulósico). Por último, fueron evaluados diferentes escenarios de biorefinerías las cuales emplearon el bagazo de caña de azúcar como materia primaAbstract: Biorefineries are processes that involve a variety of processing steps to obtain both a chemical and an energy product. In many cases, biorefineries are only analyzed from a technical, economic, environmental and social point of view, while the energy part of the process is not taken into account. However, from an energy analysis of the process it is possible to know the phenomenon that involves each stage of processing unit by unit. Thus, it is possible to know the energy use of a given raw material according to the products obtained from it. Thus showing that the exploitation of the energy potential of a raw material will be related to the transformation route followed. Through the use of thermodynamic concepts such as exergy it is possible to identify the main energy changes that occur step by step. The exergy involves in its calculation the analysis of both physical and chemical changes to which a raw material is subjected in a process. In this way, the causes of the changes presented can be identified, as well as their location inside the process. The purpose of this work is to apply the exergy calculation to different processes, mainly biorefineries. In this way, the influence of the selected transformation route on a complex process such as biorefineries can be identified, as well as the influence of both the technology and the raw material used. For this purpose, different case studies were presented from simulation processes: first of all, the influence of the technology of extraction of polyphenolic compounds from tree tomato peel is analyzed. Solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction were considered in this case. Second, ethanol production from cassava (starchy material) and sugarcane bagasse (lignocellulosic material) are analyzed. Finally, different biorefinery scenarios are evaluated using sugar cane bagasse as raw materialMaestrí

A comprehensive review on the implementation of the biorefinery concept in biodiesel production plants

Biodiesel is a promising alternative to petroleum diesel and its production from various generations of feedstocks by using different technologies has been constantly growing globally. However, in spite of such large scale of production, serious considerations should be taken into account to ensure the long-term sustainability of biodiesel production. This issue becomes more of concern given the fact that some generations of feedstocks used for biodiesel production are in clear conflict with food security. The concept of biorefinery has been at the center of attention with an aim to address these challenges by promoting an integral use of biomass to allow the production of multiple products along with biodiesel. Such implementation has been extensively studied over the last years and is expected to lead to economic, environmental, and social advantages over individual processes. The current review first presented an overview on biodiesel, its different feedstocks, and production technologies. Subsequently, the biorefinery concept and its correct implementation was technically discussed. Biodiesel production under the biorefinery scheme was also presented. Finally, techno-economic analysis of biodiesel production under the biorefinery concept by considering palm oil-based biorefinery as case study was investigated

Energy Efficiency of Biorefinery Schemes Using Sugarcane Bagasse as Raw Material

The use of biomass to obtain value-added products has been a good alternative for reducing their environmental impacts. For this purpose, different studies have been carried out focused on the use of agro-industrial waste. One of the most commonly used raw materials has been bagasse obtained from the processing of sugarcane in high quantities in countries like Brazil, India, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Mexico, Colombia, Indonesia, Philippines, and the United States. From 1 ton of sugarcane, 280 kg of bagasse can be obtained. Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) is a waste that is rich in polysaccharides, which makes it a promising raw material for obtaining products under biorefinery concept. The objective of this work was to analyze from the energetic point of view, different biorefinery schemes in which SCB is employed as a raw material. The design and simulation of the different biorefinery schemes is performed in Aspen Plus software. From this software, it was possible to obtain the different mass and energy balances, which are used in the technical and energetic analysis. Exergy is used as a comparison tool for the energy analysis. These analyses allowed for the selection of the best biorefinery configuration from SCB