Project outcomes
- To develop a set of decision-support tools and techno-economic models to guide selection of potential new products for further investigation and develop recommendations for:
- Further research projects to improve process viability or product characteristics, and/or
- Possible commercial opportunities for the industry or partners that would lead to development of full business cases.
- To develop decision support tools and models available to all collaborators on a shared platform for research and development use
- To set up a Biorefinery Community of Practice to bring together all parties involved in such work in South Africa, with the aim of setting up a “Virtual Institute of Biorefinery Research of South Africa” to further develop the community beyond STEP-Bio.
Focus areas
- Value addition to sucrose
- The techno-economics of sugar, ethanol and cogeneration in South African sugar factories
The South African sugarcane industry has identified the critical need to diversify its product base in order to ensure long-term sustainability and the current drive towards the bio economy and bio-based products presents the ideal opportunity for such. However, the very large number of potential products and the challenges of incorporating the production processes within an integrated biorefinery required the development of decision support systems and techno-economic models in order to assess which products would be the most profitable for the industry to produce and guide decision-making in this regard.
This project was a collaborative effort between the SMRI, Stellenbosch University, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Cape Town. Key outputs were a Matlab® model of a sugar factory with ethanol and cogeneration facilities, an Aspen Plus® model of a sugar factory, Aspen Plus® models of integrated sugarcane biorefineries producing chemical products from bagasse, a decision-support to for evaluating the potential of sugarcane-based bio products and studies on the techno-economics of multiple such bio products.
Between the various research groups involved in this project, over 40 different products were considered and assessed to differing degrees of detail according to certain screening protocols. Of these, lactic acid, ethanol and citric acid were generally considered to be most promising, with glutamic acid, succinic acid and butane diol ranking lower but still potentially of interest.
Arising from this project, briefing notes on the potential for the manufacture of various chemicals from South African sugarcane feed stocks, such as polylactic acid (PLA), ethanol, ethylene, mono-ethylene glycol and succinic acid, have been written for the industry’s leadership, based on information obtained from STEP-Bio and market information. These documents incorporate assessments of potential market opportunities for such products and enable informed discussions with potential customers.
Steve Davis
Research & Development Manager, SMRI
