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Process Engineering Laboratory (Che 5307) By: Shewarega Habtamu

This document discusses the production of biofuels from lignocellulosic materials as an alternative to fossil fuels. It notes that 40% of energy is used for transportation which currently relies on liquid fuels like gasoline. Producing ethanol from alternative feedstocks could provide energy independence and new jobs while reducing greenhouse gases. The challenges are outlined as: 1) separating lignin to access cellulose and hemicellulose, 2) hydrolyzing these complex sugars, and 3) fermenting pentose sugars. The process involves pretreatment, hydrolysis, separation, fermentation and purification to produce ethanol. The first experiment will produce ethanol from corn through these steps.

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Abdisa Gemechu
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66 views13 pages

Process Engineering Laboratory (Che 5307) By: Shewarega Habtamu

This document discusses the production of biofuels from lignocellulosic materials as an alternative to fossil fuels. It notes that 40% of energy is used for transportation which currently relies on liquid fuels like gasoline. Producing ethanol from alternative feedstocks could provide energy independence and new jobs while reducing greenhouse gases. The challenges are outlined as: 1) separating lignin to access cellulose and hemicellulose, 2) hydrolyzing these complex sugars, and 3) fermenting pentose sugars. The process involves pretreatment, hydrolysis, separation, fermentation and purification to produce ethanol. The first experiment will produce ethanol from corn through these steps.

Uploaded by

Abdisa Gemechu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL, CHEMICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING


CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

PROCESS ENGINEERING LABORATORY


(ChE 5307)

BY
SHEWAREGA HABTAMU
Introduction
• 40% of the total energy consumption is dedicated to transports and
in practice requires liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, or
kerosene.
mitigation of greenhouse gases- global warming
 Annual global oil production would decline from the current 25 billion barrels to
approximately 5 billion barrels in 2050.

e.g California fire


Con’d

• Therefore, there is a great interest


in exploring alternative energy
sources
Provide means of energy
independence
 importing oil creates a dependency
on oil producing countries.
May even offer new employment
possibilities.
Protect our planet
Bio-fuel

• Biofuel is a type of energy source derived from renewable plant and


animal materials.
• Bio-fuel has been a source of energy that human beings have used
since ancient times.
• sugarcane bagasse, rice husk, wheat straw, corn fiber, crop residues, grasses
and other materials like saw dust, wood chips, solid animal wastes etc.
Con’d

• Recently, US automobile manufacturers have announced plans to


produce significant numbers of flexible-fueled vehicles that can use
n ethanol blend – E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline by volume) –
alone or in combination with gasoline.
Con’d

• However the cost of ethanol as an energy source is relatively high


compared to fossil fuels.
• the production of low cost ethanol cellulosic materials
basically the agro wastes like sugarcane bagasse, rice husk,
wheat straw, corn fibre, crop residues, grasses and other
materials like saw dust. wood chips, solid animal wastes

• Ethanol can be produced from any biological feedstock


• that contains appreciable amounts of sugar or materials that can be
converted into sugar such as starch and cellulose.
• Cellulosic materials are comprised of lignin, hemi cellulose and
cellulose and are thus sometimes called lignocellulosic materials.
• One of the primary functions of lignin is to provide structural
support for the plant.
• Cellulose molecules consist of long chains of glucose molecules as
do starch molecules, but have a different structural configuration.
• These structural characteristics plus the encapsulation by lignin
makes cellulosic materials more difficult to hydrolyze than starchy
materials.
• Hemi cellulose is also comprised of long chains of sugar molecules;
but contains, in addition to glucose (a 6-carbon or hexose sugar),
contains pentose (5-carbon sugars).
The technological hurdles

• The separation of lignin from the cellulose and hemi-cellulose to


make the material susceptible to hydrolysis.
• The hydrolysis of cellulose and hemi-cellulose takes place at
different rates and over reaction can degrade the sugars into
materials that are not suitable for ethanol production.
• The hydrolysis of these materials produces a variety of sugars. Not
all of these sugars are fermentable with the standard yeast that is
used in the grain ethanol industry.
• The pentose sugars are particularly difficult to ferment.
Procedure for Ethanol production

• Processing of ligno-cellulosics to ethanol consists of five major unit


operations:
1. pretreatment,
2. hydrolysis,
3. Separation
4. fermentation, and
5. product separation/purification.
Con’d

• Pretreatment is required to alter the biomass macroscopic and


microscopic size and structure as well as its sub-microscopic
chemical composition and structure so that hydrolysis of the
carbohydrate fraction to monomeric sugars can be achieved more
rapidly and with greater yields.

• Hydrolysis includes the processing steps that convert the


carbohydrate polymers into monomeric sugars.

• Chemically (dilute acid, lime/ammonia treatment)


• Physically (high pressure steam, hot water treatment)
• Enzymatically ()
Con’d
Separation of the sugar solution from the residual materials,
notably lignin.
Yeast fermentation of the sugar solution;(oxygen-free conditions)
Distillation to produce 99.5% pure alcohol.
EXPERIMENT 1

PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL FROM CORN

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