Journal
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
Volume 19, Issue 13, Pages 1395-1404Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.04.018
Keywords
Environmental impact; Exergy efficiency; SOFC; Renewability parameter; Ethanol
Categories
Funding
- VLIR Program
- Ghent University, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering [7]
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The effect of the integration of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology in a sugar ethanol factory on the environmental profile/footprint of the products (sugar, ethanol, electricity) is evaluated. The sugarcane is the primary feedstock and sugar, ethanol and electricity are the main products of the system, where the functional unit is defined as 9.86 ton/h of sugar, 2.195 ton/h of hydrated ethanol (96% w/w) and 847 kWh of electricity. A detailed set of material and energy inputs and outputs was obtained from a local factory and was completed using simulation data by Aspen Plus (R). The environmental impacts (greenhouse gases and air pollution), exergy efficiency and a renewability parameter have been considered as indicators for the comparative assessment with conventional sugar, ethanol and electricity production technologies. The results show that the use of a SOFC technology involves a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (52-55%) and non-renewable resources (60-64%) when compared with the conventional integrated sugar and ethanol plant. The higher renewability index (0.93) and exergy efficiency (38%) are noticed for the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology integrated in the sugar ethanol factory than conventional sugar ethanol plant. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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