Models for hydrolysis,fermentation and concentration process,production and utilization of biogas as well as lignin gasification are developed to calculate the heat demand of ethanol production process and the amounts of heat and power generated from residues and wastewater of the process.For the energy analysis,all relevant information about the process streams,physical properties,and mass and energy balances are considered.Energy integration is investigated for establishing a network of facilities for heat and power generation from wastewater and residues treatment aiming at the increase of energy efficiency.Feeding the lignin to an IGCC process,the electric efficiency is increased by 4.4% compared with combustion,which leads to an overall energy efficiency of 53.8%.A detailed sensitivity analysis on energy efficiency is also carried out.
In preparation of fuel alcohol from biomass as feedstock, hydrolysis with dilute acid as catalyst is one way to produce fermentable saccharide, xylose and glucose. However, the acid is also the catalyst in degradation of xylose and glucose and the yield of sacchride is dependent on the kinetic behaviors of saccharide. The degradation kinetics of xylose and glucose in the hydrolysate was investigated under the conventional process conditions of hydrogen ion concentration from 0.05 to 0.2 mol/L and temperature from 150 to 200 ℃ . With a numerical calculation method, the kinetic parameters were estimated, and the activation energy of xylose and glucose in the degradation reaction was obtained. The kinetic equations correlating the effect of hydrogen ion concentration on the rate constants of degradation reaction were established. Comparison between the calculated results from the equations and experimental ones proved that the established kinetic model could satisfactorily predict the degradation behavior of xylose and glucose in the acidic hydrolysate.