Modeling of Production and Quality of Bioethanol Obtained from Sugarcane Fermentation Using Direct Dissolved Sugars Measurements

Abstract

Bioethanol production from sugarcane represents an opportunity for urban-agricultural development in small communities of Ecuador. Despite the fact that the industry for bioethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil is fully developed, it is still considered expensive as a small rural business. In order to be able to reduce the costs of monitoring the production process, and avoid the application of expensive sensors, the aim of this research was modeling the kinetics of production of bioethanol based on direct measurements of Brix grades, instead of the concentration of alcohol, during the process of cane juice bio-fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This avoids the application of expensive sensors that increase the investment costs. Fermentation experiments with three concentrations of yeast and two temperatures were carried out in a laboratory reactor. In each case Brix grades, amount of ethanol and alcoholic degree were measured. A mathematical model to predict the quality and production of bioethanol was developed from Brix grade measurements, obtaining an adjusted coefficient of determination of 0.97. The model was validated in a pilot plant.

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“…Bioethanol production from sugarcane represents a good opportunity for urban agricultural development in small communities in Ecuador, as reported by Velazquez-Marti et al in [50], and in order to decrease costs and to improve ethanol production processes from sugarcane, they have proposed a mathematical model for the evaluation of the dissolved sugar content (using the Brix grade to measure sugar content), in order to estimate the quantity of the alcohol that is produced, as well as its quality…”

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“…In Ecuador, residual biomasses like banana, Jatropha curcas, Andean tubers, sugarcane bagasse, pruning waste (e.g. from Ficus benjamina, Euphorbia laurifolia), and others have been lately successfully studied as feedstocks for bioethanol production [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62]. For a complete overview of research and perspectives for second generation ethanol production from Ecuador residual biomass in earlier years, please refer to the work of Carvajal et al [63] Lately, some studies have assessed the potential of second generation ethanol from banana wastes [54; 55].…”

“…Velazquez-Marti et. al [56] developed a complete model to predict performance and product quality of production of bioethanol based on Brix grades during the bio-fermentation of cane juice with Saccharomyces cerevisiae. According to the authors, this prediction method could importantly reduce costs compared to common methods of control, as it is not sensor based, making the process affordable in economically depressed areas.…”