Ethanol Production from
Wastepaper
Ben Dalton
Cassia Davis
John Ozbek
Murat Ozkaya
Marie Labrie
Alex Saputa
Steve Wild
4/15/09
Outline



Project Purpose
Assumptions
Process Flow






Pre-Treatment
Saccharification & Fermentation
Distillation/Purification
CO2/H2O Footprint
Economics
Summary
Project Purpose
Design a facility that converts
wastepaper into ethanol.
Assumptions



100 Tons of Waste Paper per Day
Waste Paper Contains 50% Cellulose
Target Purity: 99.5wt% Ethanol
WATER
PAPER
PRE-TREATMENT
PURIFICATION
YEAST
&
ENZYME
PRODUCTION
Ethanol
SACCHARIFICATION
&
FERMENTATION
Pulp Preparation
Paper
Water
P-3
P-2
Acid
P-4
Conveyor
Shredder
Filter
Mixing Tank
Enzymes-What are they?


Proteins that catalyze reactions (increase the rate of)
Like catalysts, enzymes work by lowering the activation
energy for a reaction. This dramatically increases the
rate of the reaction.
Breaking up Cellulase
(Saccharification)

Breaking up cellulose requires three enzymes
collectively called cellulases
How Do You Produce Enzymes?
Trichoderma reesei (yeast)
 Secretes cellulases
 One of the most
powerful secretors of
cellulases known to date

Producing Enzymes
Yeast
Water
Nutrients
Water
Nutrients
+
Yeast Enzyme
160 gal/day
Production
Yeast
Mixture
Culture
Pre-Culture
4,800 gal
190 gal
30 °C
30 °C
2,400 gal/day
Enzyme
Non-Isothermal Continuous Saccharification
and Fermentation (NCSF)
Enzyme
CO2
Slurry
Ethanol
Yeast
Enzymatic
Hydrolysis
Fermentation
NCSF Material Balance
Enzyme
20 Tons
CO2
400 Tons H2O
50ºC
45ºC
40ºC
35ºC
30ºC
400 Tons H2O
50 Tons
Cellulose
21 Tons
Cellulose
50 Tons Lignin
50 Tons Lignin
Yeast
NCSF Energy Balance
50ºC
24.3
MBtu/Day
HPS
13.1
MBtu/Day
13.5
MBtu/Day
45ºC
40ºC
13.9
MBtu/Day
35ºC
14.3
MBtu/Day
30ºC
Cooling H2O
NCSF Reactor System Design
81 % Conversion to Ethanol in 25 Hours
Tank Volume = 8,000 gal
Distillation & Purification
L-511
L-508
V-4
L-505
V-3
Distillate
L-506
6
L-504
E-502
P-502
3
L-512
L-508
2
Feed
Molecular
Sieve
T-101
L-502
T-102
L-503
L-501
Product
Storage
F
1
V-1
P-501
L-507
L-508
L-514
TK-501
4
L-513
E-501
V-2
F
5
L-510
F
Recycle
L-509
TK-502
Distillation: Material Balance
FEED
F= 420 tons/day
XF= 0.050 wt% EtOH
f= -0.102
DISTILLATE
D= 23 tons/day
XD= 0.906 wt% EtOH
BOTTOMS
B= 400 tons/day
XB= 3x10-4 wt% EtOH
Distillation: Condenser Duty
QC
CONDENSER
QC= 110 MBTU/day
AHT= 2080 ft2
AgentHT= Cooling Water
V
L
Distillation: Reboiler Duty
V
L
REBOILER
QR= 195 MBTU/day
AHT= 2860 ft2
AgentHT= HPS
QR
Distillation: McCabe Thiele Method
1.0
0.9
Program prepared by:
Dr. J. R. Cunningham
Mr. M. B. McGann
0.8
0.7
y
0.6
0.5
0.4
N = 10 actual stages and
the partial reboiler
Nf = 8
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0
0.2
0.4
x
0.6
0.8
1.0
Distillation: Column Specifications
Sieve tray
1 stage
2 ft
40 ft
20 stages
11 ft
Sieve Dimensions
Column Height = 60 ft
Packing Diameter = 3.0 ft
Packing Height = 50 ft
Adsorption Phase
23 Total Tons / Day
11 Tons
21 Tons EtOH
+
2 Tons H2O
Synthetic
Zeolite
~21 Tons EtOH
Regeneration Phase
~ 6 Tons Hot CO2 +
2 Tons H2O Vapor
11 Tons
6 Tons CO2/ Day
7.1 MBtu/Day
Synthetic
Zeolite
Per Day
Waste Utilization
Lignin
720 MBtu/Day
Steam
Boiler
High-Pressure Steam
520 MBtu/Day
***120 tons of CO2 released per day
CO2 Footprint

CO2 emissions require an operating permit……
Papernol Produces
55,000 tons CO2/year
Papernol
H2O Footprint

In the near future fresh water use will be as
regulated as CO2 emissions……..
Papernol
Papernol Plant Uses
Grey Water
7,000 tons/year
Economic Analysis
Capital Costs
Equipment Cost = $4.4M
Plant Heuristic x (2.4)
Total Capital Cost = $10.5M
Annualized Capital Cost
 i (1  i ) N 

A  P
N
 (1  i )  1 
 i (1  i ) N 

A  P
N
 (1  i )  1 
 0.05(1  0.05) 5 

A  10.5M 
5
 (1  0.05)  1 
 0.05(1  0.05) 5 

A  10.5M 
5
 (1  0.05)  1 
A  $2.4Million
A  $2.4Million
Annual Operating Costs
Wastepaper
 Water
 Enzyme & Yeast
 Nutrients
 Electricity
 Cooling

 Total
Operating Cost
$300K
$200K
$33K
$1.3M
$1.4M
$21K
$3.8M
Production Costs

Annualized Capital Cost
$2.4M

Annual Operating Cost
$3.8M

Annual Production
2.3M Gal
 Production
Cost
$2.70/Gal
Energy
1,300
MBtu/Day
Papernol
Plant
500
MBtu/Day
Summary



Project Purpose
Assumptions
Process Flow
Pre-Treatment
 Saccharification & Fermentation
 Distillation/Purification



CO2/H2O Footprint
Economics
Conclusion

This design project is not economically feasible
due to current market conditions.

Future technology advances may lower
production costs.