Modeling a sugarcane biorefinery process and assessment of the use of industrial residue: bagasse and straw.

• Ano de defesa: 2022
• Autor(a) principal: Castro, Rubens Eliseu Nicula de
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Advanced biofuels; Biocombustíveis avançados; Bioenergia; Cana-de-açúcar; Etanol; Industria sucroalcooleira; Plataforma de simulação; Simulação; Simulation platform; Sugarcane industry
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/3/3137/tde-05072023-141759/

This thesis assesses the sugarcane industrial process. First, it presents a broad understanding of sugar and bioethanol production in Brazil; in this part, the reasons why ethanol becomes a successful alternative to partially replace petroleum fuel and the potential to expand its production are evaluated. Then, a simulation platform is established to simulate the sugarcane industry. Sugar, ethanol, and electricity production are simulated considering the current process; parameters and production efficiencies are compared with those of the industrial process. In this platform, multiple-effect evaporation is shown to be a key operation that plays an important role in saving industrial thermal energy; saving thermal energy means saving bagasse, which is the feedstock for advanced fuel production. The sugarcane simulation platform is then interconnected with some advanced biofuel production processes, such as second-generation ethanol and biogas. The production of biogas and second-generation ethanol using bagasse and straw is evaluated and compared with the production of electricity; this assessment considered the use of these fuels in a light vehicle. In this part, it is concluded that depending on the criteria used to analyze, one fuel would be preferred to another. A general conclusion is that the sugarcane industry plays an important role in the Brazilian energy matrix and the use of agricultural and industrial residues has great potential to increase the share of environmentally friendly fuel.