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Conversion of paper sludge to ethanol, II: process design and economic analysis

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Abstract

Process design and economics are considered for conversion of paper sludge to ethanol. A particular site, a bleached kraft mill operated in Gorham, NH by Fraser Papers (15 tons dry sludge processed per day), is considered. In addition, profitability is examined for a larger plant (50 dry tons per day) and sensitivity analysis is carried out with respect to capacity, tipping fee, and ethanol price. Conversion based on simultaneous saccharification and fermentation with intermittent feeding is examined, with ethanol recovery provided by distillation and molecular sieve adsorption. It was found that the Fraser plant achieves positive cash flow with or without xylose conversion and mineral recovery. Sensitivity analysis indicates economics are very sensitive to ethanol selling price and scale; significant but less sensitive to the tipping fee, and rather insensitive to the prices of cellulase and power. Internal rates of return exceeding 15% are projected for larger plants at most combinations of scale, tipping fee, and ethanol price. Our analysis lends support to the proposition that paper sludge is a leading point-of-entry and proving ground for emergent industrial processes featuring enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology and from the National Institute of Standards. We thank Mrs. David Bishop and Jim Wagner from Nexfor Fraser Gorham Paper mill, Gorham, NH for their help in providing the data and useful discussion. We also thank Dr. Luca Zullo from Cargill for providing information about project investment information and helpful discussion; Dr. Robert Hickey from Ecovation, Inc. for providing quote on the anaerobic digestion system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Zhiliang Fan

  2. Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Program Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, Germany

    Lee R. Lynd

  3. Biological Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, 03755, Germany

    Lee R. Lynd

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  1. Zhiliang Fan
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  2. Lee R. Lynd
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Correspondence to Lee R. Lynd.

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Fan, Z., Lynd, L.R. Conversion of paper sludge to ethanol, II: process design and economic analysis. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 30, 35–45 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-006-0092-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-006-0092-x

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