Process model economics of xanthan production from confectionery industry wastewaters

Process evaluation and techno-economic analysis of biodiesel production from marine macroalgae Codium tomentosum

In the current study, a seaweed Codium tomentosum was used as a source for the production of biodiesel. The maximum oil from marine macroalgae was recovered using ultrasound-assisted pretreatment. The oil yield was found to be maximum at optimal conditions such as 5% biomass wetness, 0.18 mm biomass size, 6:1 extraction solvent: biomass ratio, extraction temperature, and time as 55 °C and 140 min respectively. The extracted oil was transesterified using solidsolid nanocatalyst produced from waste clay doped with Zn. The maximum biodiesel conversion was found to be 90.5% at optimum conditions. The marine macroalgae C. tomentosum was found to be one of the potential sources for biodiesel production. The techno-economic analysis of the overall biodiesel production (20 MT/batch) process was investigated. The plant payback period is 8.59 years with a positive NPV of 1381 M$/yr.

Bioethanol Production from Spent Sugar Beet Pulp—Process Modeling and Cost Analysis

Global economic development has led to the widespread use of fossil fuels, and their extensive use has resulted in increased environmental pollution. As a result, significantly more attention is being paid to environmental issues and alternative renewable energy sources. Bioethanol production from agro-industrial byproducts, residues, and wastes is one example of sustainable energy production. This research aims to develop a process and cost model of bioethanol production from spent sugar beet pulp. The model was developed using SuperPro Designer® v.11 (Intelligen Inc., Scotch Plains, NJ, USA) software, and determines the capital and production costs for a bioethanol-producing plant processing about 17,000 tons of spent sugar beet pulp per year. In addition, the developed model predicts the process and economic indicators of the analyzed biotechnological process, determines the share of major components in bioethanol production costs, and compares different model scenarios for process co-products. Based on the obtained results, the proposed model is viable and represents a base case for further bioprocess development.

Economic assessment of biodiesel production from wastewater sludge

Currently, there are mainly two pathways of the biodiesel production from wastewater sludge including 1) directly extracting the lipid in sludge and then converting the lipid to biodiesel through trans-esterification, and 2) employing sludge as medium to cultivate oleaginous microorganism to accumulate lipid and then transferring the lipid to biodiesel. So far, the study was still in research stage and its cost feasibility was not yet investigated. In this study, biodiesel production from wastewater sludge was designed and the cost was estimated with SuperPro Designer. With consideration of converting the lipid in raw sludge to biodiesel, the unit production cost was 0.67 US $/kg biodiesel (0.59 US $/L biodiesel). When the sludge was used as medium to grow oleaginous microorganism to accumulate lipid for producing biodiesel, the unit production cost was 1.08 US $/kg biodiesel (0.94 US $/L biodiesel). The study showed that sludge has great potential in biodiesel production.

Environmental management as a pillar for sustainable development

There is a growing concern about how to minimize the impact of human activities on the environment. Already nowadays, in some places adaptation efforts are needed in order to avoid the irreversibility of negative human activities. Due to climate changes, and corresponding environmental and social changes, there is a great need for a more sustainable development of mankind. Over the years, research studies that analyzed the sustainable development of different communities with a multi-disciplinary approach, stressed the necessity of preserving the environment for next generations. Therefore, responsible and conscientious management of the environment is a pillar of the sustainable development concept. This review introduction article provides an overview of the recent top scientific publications related to sustainable development that mostly originated from previous SDEWES conferences.