Comparative analysis of key technologies for cellulosic ethanol production from Brazilian sugarcane bagasse at a commercial scale.

Biorefineries can upgrade waste lignocellulosic biomass (LB) into soluble (C5 and C6) sugars that can be fermented into second‐generation (2G) ethanol‐based biofuels and a range of valuable byproducts derived from lignin. Research advances made in various laboratories worldwide have not been easy to translate into large‐scale operations. Here, we performed a simple economic analysis of cellulosic ethanol production from a stand‐alone 100ton dry sugarcane bagasse per day process, from a Brazilian market perspective, based on current state‐of‐the‐art biorefinery process technologies. Economic analysis reveals that the cost of manufacturing (COM) of 2G ethanol in an annexed Brazilian facility is close to USD 1.33 L−1. Fixed and variable costs contributed 57% and 24% in COM of 2G ethanol with a high payback period of ~31 years and a negative net present value (NPV). Further cost reduction can be realized by continuous R&D efforts aiming for innovation in new processing paradigms for cellulosic biorefineries. The key market players (Poet‐DSM, DuPont, Abengoa, Beta Renewables, Raizen, Granbio, Praj, etc.) and other new emerging players (Global Yeast, Taurus Energy, Leaf, Mascoma‐Lallemand) working on ethanologen development, and cellulase producers (Novozyme, Metgen), should also develop partnerships / joint ventures to establish a sustainable business model to develop cost‐competitive 2G ethanol production from bagasse in Brazil. This paper presents additional commentary and analysis with pertinent information about the commercialization of integrated 2G ethanol biorefineries processing sugarcane bagasse, from a Brazilian perspective. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]