(668b) Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) of a Novel Hybrid Enzyme- and Chemo-Catalytic Process for Producing Furans from Biomass Hydrolysate

Lignocellulosic biomass is a sustainable feedstock for production of furans – 5-Hydroxymethy furfural (HMF) and furfural – versatile platform molecules that can be converted to drop-in fuels and precursors for synthetic materials. However, the lack of efficient pathways from to furans from lignocellulosic sugars constitutes a major barrier to their industrial production. We have recently achieved high yields of furans from biomass hydrolysates using a novel hybrid enzyme- and chemo-catalytic technology (Green Chem., 2017, 19, 1782). The present work assesses the techno-economic feasibility of this novel technology. The process was simulated for steady-state operation of an n^th plant at receiving hydrolysate containing glucose and xylose in a 3:1 ratio. The feed rate was 1000 metric tons of mixed sugars (dry-basis) per day. The equipment sizing was done based on the process-unit hold-up volumes and experimentally-determined residence times to estimate total capital costs. Using discounted cash flow analysis in CAPCOST®, a Minimum Furan Selling Price (MFSP) of $2.48/kg was estimated for a “base case” hydrolysate containing a sugar concentration of 40 g/L (Case I)). The model estimates that by processing a more concentrated mixed-sugars stream (160 g/L), from upstream high-solids processing, MFSP can be lowered to $2.33/kg due to reduction in total capital costs (Case II). Further, MFSP reduction to $2.18 can be realized by solvent optimization (Case III), and to $ 1.48/kg with on-site chemical regeneration (Case IV). Sensitivity analysis revealed that the key factors affecting MFSP are overall yield of furan (from sugar) and the hydrolysate costs. TEA performed for furan production by other state-of-the-art technologies predict a furan selling price which is 75% higher than what is possible with our recently-developed method.