Opportunities for small‐scale biorefinery for production of sugar and ethanol in the Netherlands

Abstract

Developments such as the Common Agricultural Policy reform, growth of the bio‐based economy, increasing energy prices, increasing sustainability demands, and expected growth of global sugar demand change the environment in which the sugar producing industry operates. In order to remain competitive and profit from this, the traditional large‐scale sugar producing industry can adapt. The aim of this study was to address sustainability and energy issues of the traditional sugar production process and to provide opportunities for improving the process and value chain. The methodological approach included evaluating function and resource usage of the unit operations. More sustainable alternative unit operations and processes were identified and studied. The results indicate that the current sugar production and by‐product valorization focuses on centralized processing and has been individually optimized per sector and industry based on relatively inexpensive transportation and energy without a focus as such on the bio‐based economy. For incorporation of the opportunities, a process for targeting new bio‐based markets and supplementing large‐scale sugar production was designed. It was found that small‐scale biorefineries as an alternative and/or supplementation of the traditional large‐scale process have the ability to increase the overall sustainability of sugarbeet processing, for example reduce energy usage and carbon footprint, by reducing transportation movements. Moreover, it provides opportunities for leaving out certain unit operations and using less capital‐intensive technologies. With a holistic approach throughout the value chain, the introduction of small‐scale biorefineries can help meet the challenges of the sugar producing industry, while simultaneously benefitting people, planet, and profit.

Setting the design space of biorefineries through sustainability values, a practical approach

“…Proposition 13 refers to transportation distances and locality to keep emissions and costs low, and to allow for stream integration across production chain stages. Much has been studied in this regard, including optimization approaches and design principles for determining transportation distances and scale and the consideration of peripheral pre‐processing facilities . For BJF production, similar approaches could be considered with target airport location and possible biomass production sites as input.…”

Anionic Extraction for Efficient Recovery of Biobased 2,3‐Butanediol—A Platform for Bulk and Fine Chemicals

“…However, significant energy input can especially affect small-and medium-sized enterprises with low degrees of heat integration. [32] In this regard, energy-demanding distillation of BDO can be implemented for the large-scale companies, but is less suitable for small-scale biorefineries. Because the method proposed herein for BDO recovery does not include any heating operations, it is expected to be energy efficient and appropriate for small-scale refineries.…”

Evolutionary engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for efficient conversion of red algal biosugars to bioethanol

“…Bioethanol is an alternative biofuel or additive to gasoline and is also used as a chemical feedstock for bio-ethylene production. Commercial production of bioethanol has been performed using corn and sugarcane as a source of biomass, and it was recently reported that construction of demonstration facilities for lignocellulosic bioethanol was under way worldwide (Kolfschoten et al, 2014;Richard, 2010). Meanwhile, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a GRAS microorganism and a robust bioethanol producer used for commercial processes (Kim et al, 2013b).…”