Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819e827

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research paper

Improving second generation bioethanol production in sugarcane

bioreneries through energy integration
C.M. Oliveira a, A.J.G. Cruz a, b, C.B.B. Costa a, b, *
a
b

~o Carlos, Brazil
PPGEQ/UFSCar, Chemical Engineering Graduate Program, Federal University of Sa
~o Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luiz Km 235, 13565-905 Sa
~o Carlos, Sa
~o Paulo, Brazil
Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Sa

h i g h l i g h t s

Energy integration of sugarcane biorenery was performed using Pinch analysis.

Biorenery produces bioelectricity, rst and second generation ethanol.

Six different scenarios were evaluated.

A reduction in energy consumption of more than 50% was observed.

Energy integrated processes allow second generation ethanol production increase.

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 8 July 2014
Accepted 9 November 2014
Available online 18 November 2014

New technologies for producing ethanol from sugarcane bagasse and other raw materials have been
developed as an answer for the world claim for renewable energy. Second generation ethanol is an
alternative to increase the production of the renewable fuel ethanol in Brazil. In this context, in this work
energy integration of sugarcane bioreneries was performed, using Pinch analysis. Bioreneries consist
in processes for rst and second generation (1G/2G) ethanol and bioelectricity production, using hydrothermal, dilute acid and steam explosion pretreatments of sugarcane bagasse. For each process with a
different pre-treatment, two different options were considered, to know, to include or not pentoses
fermentation step. For the six evaluated scenarios the application of energy integration demonstrated a
reduction in energy consumption of more than 50% when compared to the corresponding cases without
any energy integration and of more than 30% when compared to processes with project integration, as
commonly found in Brazilian industrial plants. Besides the economical advantage, due to the decrease in
costs of hot and cold utilities, energy integrated processes allow increase the amount of bagasse that can
be diverted for production of second generation ethanol.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Pinch analysis
Sugarcane biorenery
Bagasse hydrolysis
Ethanol

1. Introduction
In recent decades studies have demonstrated the use of sugarcane bagasse to produce second generation ethanol (2G) [1e14].
Brazil is the second largest producer and consumer of ethanol in the
world behind the United States of America, producing 405,000 bbl/
d of ethanol in 2012 [15] and the consolidation of second generation ethanol technology will contribute to make Brazilian ethanol
even more sustainable [16].

* Corresponding author. Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University

~o Carlos, Sa
~o Paulo,
of S~
ao Carlos, Rodovia Washington Luiz Km 235, 13565-905, Sa
Brazil. Tel.: 55 16 3351 8947; fax: 55 16 3351 8266.
E-mail address: caliane@ufscar.br (C.B.B. Costa).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.11.016
1359-4311/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Process integration techniques provide important advantages

for the industrial processes in terms of process improvement,
increased productivity, energy resources management and conservation, pollution prevention, and reductions in the capital and
operating costs of chemical plants [17]. Energy integration in a
sugarcane biorenery can provide economical advantage, environmental benets and increased ethanol production. The last
factor is related to lower steam consumption in the plant due to
energy integration and, consequently, less bagasse need to be burnt
in the cogeneration system and its surplus can be made available
for the production of second generation ethanol.
Pinch Analysis is one of the most important methods for energy
integration. It consists of a set of techniques for the systematic
application of thermodynamic concepts and allows that process

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C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827

engineers obtain intuition needed in thermal interactions among

chemical processes and utility systems [18]. In recent years several
studies have shown the application of Pinch Analysis in processes
to produce biodiesel [19], biomethane [20], rst generation ethanol
[21] and ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass [22,23], demonstrating the importance of the technique in processes of biofuels
production. Other techniques more robust for energy integration
may be cited as methods of mathematical programming for solving
mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problems [24e30].
However, Pinch Analysis is a method simple, easy to apply and
achieves successful results, which justies the use of this technique.
In this context, this work performed energy integration in sugarcane bioreneries using Pinch Analysis, in order to evaluate energy
savings and contribute to enable integrated processes for cellulosic
biofuel production.
2. Process description
The biorenery used in this work is the process for rst and
second generation (1G/2G) ethanol and bioelectricity production
by computer simulation (virtual biorenery) performed on free
software EMSO (Environment for Modelling, Simulation, and
Optimization). EMSO is a tool for modeling, simulation and optimization of general process dynamic systems. It has an objectoriented modeling language and a graphical user interface, in
which the user can manipulate multiple models along with results
and graphical illustrations [31,32]. Six different scenarios were
considered in these bioreneries, since three different types of
pretreatment for bagasse (hydrothermal, dilute acid and steam
explosion) and inclusion or not of pentoses fermentation step were
considered.
The simulated process for 1G ethanol production uses the
typical process conguration of Brazilian plants. The processing of
sugarcane begins with cleaning stage, followed by milling, which
produces sugarcane juice and bagasse. The juice is chemically and
physically treated to remove impurities and it is concentrated. After
that, the concentrated juice is fed to bioreactor for reduced sugars
(glucose, fructose and sucrose) fermentation by Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, which produces ethanol, CO2, and other compounds in
lesser amounts. The wine produced in fermentation is driven to the
distillation unit, where hydrated ethanol fuel is produced.
In order to produce 2G ethanol, bagasse from the mills is divided
into two fractions, one is diverted to cogeneration system and the
other is pretreated in order to be hydrolyzed. The cogeneration
system is responsible for steam and bioelectricity production. The
pretreatment alters the structure of biomass, making cellulose
more accessible to the enzymes that convert the carbohydrate into
fermentable sugars [33]. Many studies with different types of
pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials can be found in the
literature, such as steam explosion [34e36], organosolv [37e39],
dilute acid [40e42] or alkali [43e45] and hydrothermal [46e48]. In
this work three different types of pretreatment for bagasse were
used: hydrothermal, dilute acid and steam explosion.
Hydrothermal pretreatment consists in contact of lignocellulosic biomass with water in a liquid state at high temperatures
(160e240  C) and pressure. It is an attractive approach because it
does not require the addition of chemicals such as acid or alkali
[47]. Hemicelluloses are depolymerized, in certain operating conditions, to oligosaccharides and monomers, and high xylose recovery from biomass can be obtained. The advantages of this
pretreatment are due to the use of water, component present in
green biomass. Hydrothermal pretreatment is non-toxic, environmentally benign and inexpensive medium [49].
Dilute acid pretreatment is one of the most commonly used
methods. It solubilizes hemicellulose and exposes cellulose, making

it more accessible for enzymatic hydrolysis. It can be performed in

two conditions: during a short residence time at a high temperature (above 160  C) or a long residence time at a lower temperature
[40]. Often sulfuric acid [50] and phosphoric acid [51] are used.
Dilute acid pretreatment solubilizes not only the hemicellulose
fraction, but also converts the solubilized hemicellulose to
fermentable sugars [52]. For a biorenery this is an important
advantage because, commonly, hemicellulose sugars represent a
third of carbohydrate total in lignocellulosic biomass materials.
However, depending on the pretreatment severity, dilute acid
pretreatment may produce inhibitory products for fermentation,
such as furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) [41].
Steam explosion pretreatment consists in contact of biomass
with saturated steam at high pressure, followed by a sudden
decompression [53]. In steam explosion pretreatment hemicellulose is partially hydrolyzed to monomers and oligomers soluble in
water. Crystallinity and degree of polymerization of cellulose is
partially modied, improving enzymatic hydrolysis [54]. Furthermore, steam explosion requires little or no chemical in pretreatment, making it environmentally benign relative to other
technologies, such as acid hydrolysis [36].
After the pretreatment two fractions are obtained, one enriched
with sugars from hemicellulose (liquid fraction) and other enriched
with cellulose and lignin (solid fraction). Hydrolysis of solid fraction
is performed by enzymes. The glucose liquor produced in this step
is concentrated with the sugarcane juice obtained in rst generation ethanol sector. Lignin and cellulose that was not hydrolyzed in
hydrolysis reactor are available for the cogeneration system. When
considering pentose fermentation in the biorenery process, the
hemicellulose fraction converted into fermentable sugars (mainly
xylose) is sent to pentose fermentation process (catalyzed by yeast
Pichia stipitis). Wine produced by this fermentation process is then
returned to rst generation ethanol sector to be mixed with wine
produced by the fermentation with S. cerevisiae. Fig. 1 shows a
simplied diagram of processes for 1G/2G ethanol and
bioelectricity production. More details on process specications
can be found on Furlan et al. [55].
Brazilian sugarcane bioreneries often present some degree of
energy integration, which depends on the design of each plant. The
simulated biorenery has energy integration between streams of
wine and vinasse and between the juice stream coming out of
sugarcane mills and the concentrated juice stream that comes out
of evaporator (see Fig. 1). This degree of energy integration is
commonly found in Brazilian plants and is named in this work
biorenery with project integration. When no energy integration
is present, every heating and cooling of streams is provided by hot
and cold utilities and the biorenery process is then named in this
work without energy integration.
3. Methodology
Initially, a study of the six different scenarios of biorenery was
conducted to identify possible streams for energy integration,
considering restrictions of process. Pinch Analysis requires streams
data such as initial and nal temperature, mass ow and denition
of stream type (hot or cold). Information was obtained from simulations in the free software EMSO. For each identied possible
stream heat capacity and heat duty were calculated. Heat capacity
was assumed constant.
The choice of the minimum temperature difference between hot
and cold streams depends on the characteristic of a process [56]. In
this work, a minimum temperature difference (DTmin) equal to
10  C was dened. The DTmin value inuences consumption of
utilities in the process. It could be optimized in order to obtain
more accurate values of energy savings, but, as it will be

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C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the general sugarcane biorenery process.

demonstrated on Results and Discussion section, the adopted value

already shows that great savings can be attained. The aim of this
work was to demonstrate that energy integration has a great potential to, together with other studies, make second generation
ethanol viable, due to increased availability of bagasse. Therefore,
optimization was out of the scope, and different values of DTmin
were not analyzed.
To assist in the calculations the free software Hint [57] and the
spreadsheet available at Elsevier Ltd [58] were used. With the
assistance of those tools heat exchangers networks (HENs) were
proposed that reduce the consumption of utilities. In the nal step
comparisons were made among the biorenery with energy integration, without energy integration and with project integration.
4. Results and discussion
The processing capacity is 12,000 t/day of sugarcane for all
scenarios of biorenery presented in this paper. Table 1 presents
processes information from simulations. For Scenarios 2, 4 and 6
pentoses fermentation step shown in Fig. 1 is absent.
The amount of bagasse available for production of second generation ethanol is larger in process using dilute acid pretreatment
compared to other scenarios. The partitioning of bagasse fraction
between cogeneration system and 2G ethanol production stems
from the need for energy self-sufciency of the process. Consequently, ethanol production and consumption of utilities are higher
in processes that use the pretreatment with dilute acid.
Fermentation of pentoses has little inuence on ethanol production in processes with hydrothermal (Scenarios 1 and 2) and
steam explosion pretreatment (Scenarios 5 and 6) because the
fraction of bagasse diverted to production of second generation

ethanol is low in these process. For this reason, ethanol production

is almost the same when the comparison is made between Scenarios 1 and 2 and between Scenarios 5 and 6. The fractions of
lignin and not hydrolyzed cellulose in hydrolysis reactor are made
available for the cogeneration system, increasing the capacity of
producing energy. Lignin and not hydrolyzed cellulose come from
the fraction of bagasse sent to 2G sector of the plant
(Pretreatment Hydrolysis Pentoses Fermentation stages in
Fig. 1), thus the availability of these additional boiler fuels is greater
in processes that have greater availability of bagasse for production
of second generation ethanol production. Since the amount of
bagasse diverted to second generation ethanol production is far
superior in scenarios that use dilute acid pretreatment (Scenarios 3
and 4) when compared to the other evaluated scenarios, the fractions of lignin and not hydrolyzed cellulose are also greater in these
scenarios.
The production of electricity ranges from 45.1 to 73.6 MW in
evaluated process, with higher production in scenarios that use
hydrothermal and steam explosion pretreatment due to the
increased amount of bagasse available for cogeneration system.
The turbine extraction steam (called total consumption of turbine extraction steam in Table 1) is used both to concentrate pentoses and hexoses liquors and in the steps of pretreatment. The
mills are driven by bioelectricity produced by the process itself, and
the consumption of each mill is 16 kWh/t of ber. Each scenario has
six mills. It is intuitive that the turbine extraction steam consumption is higher in cases with hydrothermal and steam explosion pretreatment, because they use a large amount of turbine
extraction steam in pretreatment. However, the values of the total
consumption of turbine extraction steam (see Table 1) show
otherwise. Process with hydrothermal and steam explosion

Table 1
Data of biorenery process for the six considered scenarios.
Scenario

Pretreatment

Pentoses
fermentation

Bag. Cog.a
(t/day)

Bag. 2Gb
(t/day)

L C Cog.c
(t/day)

Total cons.
turb. ex. Steamd
(kg/t)

Ethanol
production
(m3/day)

Bioelectricity
production (MW)

1
2
3
4
5
6

Hydrothermal
Hydrothermal
Dilute acid
Dilute acid
Steam explosion
Steam explosion

Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No

2655
2655
733
650
2866
2866

350
350
2272
2355
151
151

110
110
1120
1161
49
49

531.3
441.7
585.1
579.2
430.4
399.5

1144
1123
1382
1253
1123
1115

68.5
73.6
45.5
45.1
71.8
73.5

a
b
c
d

Bag. Cog. e bagasse availability for cogeneration system.

Bag. 2G e bagasse availability for production of second generation ethanol.
L C Cog. e lignin and not hydrolyzed cellulose availability for cogeneration system.
Total cons. turb. ex. steam e total consumption of turbine extraction steam at 20.0 bar and 2.5 bar.

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C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827

Table 2
Data of process streams for Scenario 1.
Stream

Type

Flow (t/h)

T in ( C)

T out ( C)

Heat duty (MW)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Cold
Hot
Cold
Cold
Cold
Hot
Hot
Hot
Hot
Cold

547.66
338.17
423.35
353.84
32.14
37.38
353.84
32.14
37.38
548.87

32.13
121.90
31.00
111.69
108.28
78.17
111.89
108.38
77.43
58.25

58.32
31.00
82.00
111.89
108.38
77.43
25.00
25.00
25.00
110.00

15.23
31.48
24.19
42.74
5.02
34.46
35.89
2.93
2.10
30.17

Fig. 2. Composite curve diagram for Scenario 1.

pretreatment use turbine extraction steam at high pressure

(around 20.0 bar) in pretreatment step and pretreatment with
dilute acid use turbine extraction steam at low pressure (2.5 bar).
Thus, the steam mass ow rate required for heating the uid in
pretreatment with dilute acid is superior to other pretreatments,
resulting in higher total consumption of turbine extraction steam
compared to the other scenarios.
Ten streams participate in the energy integration network,
which are identied in Fig. 1 by numbers. Due to conciseness and
similarities reasons, information such as data, composite curve
diagram and heat exchangers networks proposals are explicitly
shown only for Scenario 1. Table 2 shows the energy demand of its

process streams. For Scenario 1 it is necessary to supply 117.3 MW

of heating and 106.8 MW of cooling to operate the process.
Composite curve diagram consists in plotting temperature
versus enthalpy (heat duty) for hot and cold streams, which are
separated by minimum temperature difference. The vertical region
between the two curves is the possibility of energy recovery at a
given minimum difference of temperature (DTmin). For Scenario 1,
DTmin 10  C, the maximum heat recovery is 68.3 MW (see Fig. 2).
In the region where the cold composite curve extends beyond the
beginning of the hot composite curve, the heat recovery is not
possible, and then external hot utility must be supplied to meet the
energy balance. In the region where the hot composite curve extends beyond the beginning of the cold composite curve, heat recovery is also not possible, and external cold utility is required to
meet the energy balance. The amount of energy required to meet
the balance represents the minimum demand of hot and cold
utilities, which in Scenario 1 corresponds to 49.0 MW of heating
and 38.5 MW of cooling. Also, by composite curve diagram, the
point at which the minimum temperature difference (equal to
DTmin 10  C) between the curves occurs is called the Pinch point.
For this scenario hot and cold Pinch temperatures are 111.9  C and
101.9  C, respectively. Table 3 shows the consumption of utilities of
all scenarios without any energy integration, hot and cold utility
targets, and hot and cold Pinch temperatures.
The representation of heat exchangers networks (HENs) is made
by a grid diagram. The streams are horizontal lines, the heat exchangers are represented by two circles connected by a vertical line,
and the heaters and coolers are indicated by a circle with letter H
and C, respectively [59]. Application of feasibility criteria to the
stream data at the Pinch is necessary to identify essential matches
at the Pinch, available design options and the need to split streams
[60]. In order to achieve the minimum energy consumption, hot
utilities must not be used below the Pinch point and cold utilities
must not be used above the Pinch point. Fig. 3 presents heat exchangers network that meets the minimum energy demand for
Scenario 1. Energy units in the HEN are given in MW.
To synthesize heat exchangers network it was necessary to split
cold stream number 10 (juice stream leaving the treatment, see
Fig. 1) into two parallel branches. If the split was not performed, the
proposed network would exceed the minimum energy demand. For
streams with high ow or temperature splitting can be advantageous if the balance between energy costs and equipment costs is
positive. However, splitting the stream may not be compatible with
the process and its restrictions, making the process more complex
and infeasible from a practical point of view. Therefore, a second
network without split streams was proposed (Fig. 4). For the synthesis of the second network the loop between heat exchangers 6
and 4 was broken with the removal of heat exchanger 4, besides
removing exchangers 3, 8, 10 and 12 and adding hot and cold

Table 3
Consumption and targets of utilities, hot and cold pinch temperatures for the six considered scenarios.
Scenario

Hot utilitya
(MW)

Cold utilityb
(MW)

Hot utility
targetc (MW)

Cold utility targetd

(MW)

Hot pinch
temperature ( C)

Cold pinch
temperature ( C)

1
2
3
4
5
6

117.3
113.0
148.2
122.1
114.3
112.5

106.8
102.1
143.9
116.5
103.2
101.3

49.0
46.7
66.9
51.4
47.4
46.6

38.5
35.8
62.6
45.8
36.3
35.4

111.9
78.2
111.9
111.9
78.2
78.2

101.9
68.2
101.9
101.9
68.2
68.2

a
b
c
d

Hot utility e demand of hot utility in process without energy integration.

Cold utility e demand of cold utility in process without energy integration.
Hot utility target e minimal demand of hot utility in process with energy integration.
Cold utility target e minimal demand of cold utility in process with energy integration.

C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827

Fig. 3. First heat exchangers network for Scenario 1.

Fig. 4. Second heat exchangers network for Scenario 1.

Fig. 5. Schematic representation of the process with rst heat exchangers network for Scenario 1.

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C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827

824

Fig. 6. Schematic representation of the process with second heat exchangers network for Scenario 1.

utilities to meet demand. This network relaxation aims to simplify

the HEN, reducing capital costs and improving project return [59].
The schematic representations of the biorenery of Scenario 1 integrated with these HENs are shown in Figs. 5 and 6.
In all other scenarios, two networks of heat exchangers were
proposed, except for Scenario 3, for which it was possible to propose a HEN that fullls the minimum energy demand without the
need to split any process stream. During network synthesis, some
criteria to be satised by Pinch analysis imposed the need to split a
cold stream with high heat capacity into two parallel branches. In
all networks that this requirement was necessary stream 10 was
chosen to be split, because it is the cold stream that crosses Pinch
point with higher heat capacity.
Table 4 shows the achieved economy with all heat exchangers
networks proposals in relation to process without energy integration and to the project integration, as commonly found in Brazilian
plants. The savings of utility in relation to processes without energy
integration approximate 60% for the 1st HEN and range between
40% and 50% for the 2nd HEN. When compared to processes
commonly found in Brazilian plants (project integration), these
values range between 30% and 40% for the 1st HEN and between
10% and 30% for the 2nd HEN. Processes with the 2nd HEN have
greater amplitude in the range of economy due to attempts to
propose networks that were feasible from a practical point of view,
resulting in an increase in energy demand to greater or lesser degrees depending on the evaluated scenario.

Table 4
Savings of utilities for heat exchange networks (HENs) proposed for all evaluated
scenarios when compared to process without integration and to project integration.
Scenario

1
2
3
4
5
6
a

Hot/cold utility
saving (MW)
(without integration, %)a

Hot/cold utility
saving (MW)
(project integration, %)b

1st HEN

2nd HEN

1st HEN

2nd HEN

58.2/63.9
58.7/65.0
54.8/56.5
57.9/60.6
58.6/64.8
58.6/65.0

41.5/45.5
51.8/57.5
e
41.8/43.8
51.6/57.1
51.7/57.4

37.1/43.0
38.0/44.4
30.6/32.0
36.5/39.2
37.4/44.3
38.0/44.7

11.9/14.0
27.8/32.5
e
12.2/13.1
27.4/32.0
27.8/32.6

Hot/cold utility saving (without integration, %) e saving of hot/cold utility of

processes with the proposed networks in relation to process without energy integration, in %.
b
Hot/cold utility saving (project integration, %) e saving of hot/cold utility of
processes with the proposed networks in relation to process with project integration, in %.

Table 5 presents the number of heat exchange units for HENs

proposed in each evaluated scenario. The number of heat exchange
units ranges between 14 and 17 for processes with the 1st HEN and
13 and 15 for processes with the 2nd HEN. In all evaluated scenarios
the number of heaters and coolers are equal for the 1st HEN.
However, for the 2nd HEN the values vary according to Pinch
temperature. When the hot and cold Pinch temperature is 111.9  C
and 101.9  C, respectively, HENs have four heaters and ve coolers.
When hot and cold Pinch temperature is equal to 78.2  C and
68.2  C, respectively, HENs have three heaters and six coolers. The
HENs proposals with higher Pinch temperature have a heater below
the Pinch in stream 10 and the HENs proposals with lower Pinch
temperature have a cooler above Pinch in stream 7. The addition of
heaters below the pinch and coolers above the pinch violates the
criteria of Pinch analysis and it was made to avoid the stream
splitting, as well as to break the loops and remove other heat exchangers with low energy demand.
Consumption of vegetal steam in processes without energy
integration and with energy integration is presented in Table 6.
Consumption of vegetal steam in processes without energy integration varies little among evaluated scenarios, from 3.1 to
3.4 kg steam/L hydrous ethanol. Vegetal steam is the term used to
designate steam produced in the evaporator due to concentrating
sugarcane juice and it is also used in the processes as hot utility
(steam at 2.1 bar). The consumption of vegetal steam ranges from
1.3 to 1.5 kg steam/L hydrous ethanol in processes with the 1st HEN.
The saving is lower with the 2nd HEN, with consumption varying
from 1.5 to 1.9 kg steam/L hydrous ethanol. The consumption of hot
utility is greater in scenarios including pentose fermentation due to
the increased ethanol production. Energy integration reduces
operating costs in biorenery and can increase the production of
second generation ethanol due to vegetal steam saving, which may
help to make second generation ethanol viable.
Table 5
Number of heat exchange units for the proposed HENs for all evaluated scenarios.
Scenario

1st HEN
a

1
2
3
4
5
6
a

2nd HEN

NEHU

Heaters

Coolers

NEHUa

Heaters

Coolers

17
17
14
15
17
17

3
3
3
3
3
3

5
5
5
5
5
5

13
15
e
13
15
15

4
3
e
4
3
3

5
6
e
5
6
6

NHEU e number of heat exchange units.

C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827
Table 6
Consumption of vegetal steam for process without integration and with integration
for all evaluated scenarios.
Scenario

Steam consumption
(without energy int.,
kg steam/L hydrous ethanol)a

Steam consumption
(with energy int., kg steam/L
hydrous ethanol)b
1st HEN

2nd HEN

1
2
3
4
5
6

3.3
3.2
3.4
3.1
3.2
3.2

1.4
1.3
1.5
1.3
1.3
1.3

1.9
1.5
e
1.8
1.6
1.6

a
Steam consumption (without energy int., kg steam/L hydrous ethanol) e vegetal
steam consumption (2.1 bar) of process without energy integration.
b
Steam consumption (with energy int., kg steam/L hydrous ethanol) e vegetal
steam consumption (2.1 bar) of process with networks proposals.

Brazilian plants commonly perform energy integration (project integration) between the streams of juice at the outlet of the
mills (stream number 1, see Fig. 1) and concentrated one (stream
2) and between the streams of wine before entering distillation
column (stream 3) and vinasse (stream 4). 1st and 2nd HENs
proposed for Scenarios 1, 3 and 4 have energy integration between the same streams of process commonly found in Brazilian
plants (project integration), besides energy integration between
other process streams. For Scenarios 2, 5 and 6, the networks that
meet the minimum energy demand (1st HEN) do not integrate
energy between the streams of wine (stream 3) and vinasse
(stream 4). If it was supposed to maintain the exchange between
them, the HEN would exceed the energy target. However, there is
energy integration between the streams of juice that leaves the
mills and the concentrated one. In all evaluated scenarios with
the 2nd HEN energy integration between the same streams of
process commonly found in Brazilian plants is performed. The
match of stream 1 with stream 2 and of stream 3 with 6 in heat
exchangers have big exchanges due to high energy demand of
these streams. In all eleven proposed HENs there is match between streams 1 and 2, and in eight of them there is match between streams 3 and 6.
There are advantages and disadvantages among the proposed
heat exchangers networks. The rst ones have higher utilities
saving, but have more heat transfer units and split streams, which
can make the process more complex and infeasible from a practical
point of view. The second networks provide fewer saving in utilities, but have less heat exchange units and have no split streams.
However, choosing the best network depends on economic criteria
such as investment costs, savings by the reduction in consumption
of utilities and the increase in ethanol production.
In the studied process the bagasse fraction diverted to cogeneration system is burned, providing steam at 65.0 bar. Then, this
steam drives the turbine, generating turbine extraction steam at
low pressure (2.5 bar) and turbine extraction steam at high
pressure (around 20.0 bar), whereas the last one is only generated
in process with hydrothermal and steam explosion pretreatment.
Turbine extraction steam at high pressure is used in the pretreatment steps (hydrothermal and steam explosion) and the
turbine extraction steam at low pressure is used both in the
evaporators for concentrating sugarcane juice and pentoses liquor
and in pretreatment with dilute acid. Vegetal steam at 2.1 bar
generated in the evaporator is used as hot utility. Consumption of
steam in distillation columns is included in consumption of vegetal steam. Energy integration reduces consumption of vegetal
steam and it can reduce the consumption of bagasse in cogeneration system. Thus, the surplus can be made available for

825

production of second generation ethanol. However, for effective

implementation of this, some modications must be made in
simulated process. The single evaporator used in synthesizing this
process must be replaced by a multiple-effect one. With this
process modication, juice can be concentrated on the same
specications using less turbine extraction steam and generating
less vegetal steam, but enough to meet the thermal energy demand of the plant. Consequently, less bagasse is driven to the
cogeneration system and the surplus is diverted to 2G ethanol
sector, increasing ethanol production.
Concerning the consumption of turbine extraction steam by the
different pieces of equipment, Scenario 1 diverts 88.0% in mass
(which corresponds to 77.4% in terms of thermal energy consumption) of extraction steam to evaporators (sugarcane juice and
pentoses liquor), and, so, pretreatment stage consumes only 12% (in
mass) of it. In order to illustrate the differences among scenarios,
the consumption of turbine extraction steam by evaporators in
Scenario 3 corresponds to 86.9% (both in mass and in thermal energy terms, because in this scenario only low pressure extraction
steam is used) while in Scenario 6 it achieves 98% in mass (99.9% in
terms of thermal energy consumption). The replacement of single
evaporator by a multiple-effect one would reduce this consumption. Energy integration reduces consumption of vegetal steam and
thus assists in reducing the consumption of turbine extraction
steam in evaporators. These combined procedures reduce the
consumption of bagasse in cogeneration system and enable a
greater surplus of bagasse to be available for production of second
generation ethanol.
Pinch analysis, the methodology used for improving energy efciency in this work, is a simple technique, of easy application and
understanding. Although it does not involve the optimization of
total annualized cost as some modern methods, it is possible to
obtain very good results that promote real savings in operating
costs of processes, besides better energy management and reduction in the emission of gaseous and aqueous efuents.
5. Conclusion
The development of technology for second generation ethanol
will ensure increased ethanol production and competitive advantages in the market. Presented results indicate that energy integration provides considerable reduction in energy consumption
and consequently in operating costs of the plant for all evaluated
scenarios. Vegetal steam consumption reduces from 3.4 to 1.3 kg
steam/L hydrous ethanol, depending on the evaluated scenario.
However, the choice of the best network of heat exchangers to be
implemented into process is not straightforward, since the proposed HENs exhibit pros and cons when number of units, achieved
economy and splitting of streams are considered. Besides the
economical aspect, due to the decrease in utility costs (hot and cold
ones), there are environmental benets and the possibility of
increasing bagasse availability for production of second generation
ethanol. Energy integration provides signicant advantages to a
biorenery and can help, along with other works, to make viable
the production of second generation ethanol.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support from CTBE (The Brazilian
Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory), DEQ/UFSCar
~o Carlos Federal University),
(Chemical Engineering Department, Sa
~o Paulo State Research Funding Agency), CNPq (National
FAPESP (Sa
Council for Scientic and Technological Development) and CAPES
(Coordination of Higher Educational Personnel Improvement).

826

C.M. Oliveira et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 819- 827

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