This article details an economic assessment of butanol production from corn using the newly developed hyper-butanol-producing strain of Clostridium beijerinckii BA101. Butanol is produced in batch reactors and recovered by distillation. For a plant with 153,000 metric tons of acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) production capacity, the production equipment cost and total working capital cost is US$33.47×106 and US$110.46×106, respectively. Based on a corn price (C p) of US$79.23 ton−1 (US$2.01 bushel−1), an ABE yield of 0.42 (g ABE/g glucose) butanol price is projected to be US$0.34 kg−1. An improved yield of 0.50 will reduce this price to US$0.29 kg−1. Assumptions, such as by-product credit for gases and complete conversion of corn steep liquor (CSL) to fermentation by-products, have been taken into consideration. An increased price of corn to US$197.10 ton−1 would result in a butanol price of US$0.47 kg−1. A grass-rooted plant would result in a butanol price of US$0.73 kg−1 (C p US$79.23 ton−1). In a worst case scenario, the price of butanol would increase to US$1.07 kg−1 (C p 197.10 ton−1 for a grass-rooted plant and assuming no credit for gases). This is based on the assumption that corn price would not increase to more than US$197.10 ton−1.
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (2001) 27, 292–297.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received 12 September 2000/ Accepted in revised form 12 January 2001
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qureshi, N., Blaschek, H. ABE production from corn: a recent economic evaluation. J Ind Microbiol Biotech 27, 292–297 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jim.7000123
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jim.7000123