Production of cello‐oligosaccharides through the biorefinery concept: A technical‐economic and life‐cycle assessment
Fernando César Barbosa, Guilherme Pessoa Nogueira, Emanuele Kendrick, Telma Teixeira Franco, David J. Leak, Marina O.S. Dias, Carla Kazue Nakao Cavaliero, Rosana Goldbeck
Abstract
Abstract Producers look for co‐products to increase the value chain and production flexibility. With a high market aggregate value, the production of cello‐oligosaccharides (COS) as functional oligosaccharides from cellulosic substrates has been investigated. As COS/cellopentaose production process are rarely described in the literature, this study estimated the cellopentaose production cost and performed a life‐cycle assessment of the cellopentaose production process previously developed using sugarcane straw as a substrate. The results demonstrated that, through the six scenarios studied, it was possible to obtain a cellopentaose unit production cost varying between USD 0.40 and 1.15/mg, and that optimization in the upstream sector can reduce the total plant direct cost and the overall life‐cycle impact. The results also suggested that a better understanding of the hydrolysis solid/liquid proportion is necessary to reduce the bulk material cost. An environmental impact reduction of between 16.2% and 19.9% was also observed. In terms of the integrated biorefinery concept, sugarcane straw fermentation represents a prospective technology for the production of COS. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd