Multi-criteria analysis of detoxification alternatives: techno-economic and socio-environmental assessment

Abstract

The transformation of fermentable sugars provided from lignocellulosic wastes into biofuels or bioproducts is a key point at second-generation biorefineries. Spent sulfite liquor is a xylose-rich hydrolysate constituting the main residue of sulfite mills producing dissolving cellulose. Due to the presence of the inhibitors in the spent liquor, the most promising valorization options require detoxification before sugars bioconversion. In this work, a multi criteria analysis was implemented to select techno-economic and socio-environmental feasible detoxification alternatives that can be adapted to a wide variety of fermenting scenarios. Total inhibitors removal, phenolics removal, acetic acid removal, lignosulfonates removal, total sugar losses, fixed capital invested, manufacturing costs, waste toxicity, social acceptance, and employment were chosen as the most relevant criteria. The maximum allowable concentration of undesirable inhibitors cannot be established with a general character, and thereby decision-making tools result in feasible and efficient solutions. From a technical viewpoint best solution was anionic resins with a score of 0.68; the most economical alternative was the overliming with a score of 0.76; finally, from a socio-environmental perspective, overliming reached the highest score of 0.78. In addition, three spent liquor biorefinery models were proposed. Based on the multicriteria analysis and based on the inhibitor?s concentration affecting fermentation yields and productivity, the best detoxification alternatives were (1) anionic resins for polyhydroxyalkanoate production; (2) activated carbon for ethanol biorefinery; (3) overliming for xylitol biorefinery.