Economics of butanol fermentation using hyper-butanol producing Clostridium beijerinckii BA101

An economic assessment is presented to produce butanol from corn using the hyper-butanol producing strain of Clostridium beijerinckii BA101. Butanol is produced in batch reactors and recovered by distillation with a total acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) productivity of 0.38 g L-1 h(-1). For a plant with 150,000 metric tons of ABE production capacity per year, the production equipment cost and total working capital cost is $33.2 x 10(6) and $109.56 x 10(6), respectively. This is based on a lang factor of 3 for a plant annexed to an already existing corn milling plant in the mid-west region of the United States of America. Based on an ABE yield of 0.42, and a corn price of $71 ton(-1), butanol production cost is projected to be $0.55 kg(-1). Further improvements, such as increased yield of 0.45 and savings in electricity and steam will reduce this price to $0.44 kg(-1). Various other alternatives such as a lang factor of 4.5 and increased corn price have also been considered in this assessment.