Bioethanol:

Production process, Feedstocks, Fuel Properties, Application,

Advantages and Disadvantages

Anisur RAHMAN, (Dr.Ag.Sc.)

Associate Professor
Department of Farm Power and Machinery
Bangladesh Agricultural University
Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh
 What is bioethanol ? 2/20

• Colourless and clear liquid

• Used to substitute petrol fuel for road transport vehicles
• One of the widely used alternative automotive fuel in the world
(Brazil & U.S.A are the largest bioethanol producers)
• Much more environmentally friendly
• Lower toxicity level
Bioethanol Production 3/20

• Wheat/Grains/Corn/Sugarcane can be used to produce

ethanol.
Main method : Sugar fermentation
Technical flow chart of bioethanol production from corn 4/20

Fig. Technical flowchart of bioethanol

production
Bioethanol Production 5/20

Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis

 ~77% of sulfuric acid is added to the dried biomass to a
10% moisture content.
 Acid to be added in the ratio of 1/25 acid :1 biomass
under 50°C.
 Dilute the acid to ~30% with water and reheat the
mixture at 100°C for an hour.
 Gel will be produced and pressed to discharge the acid
sugar mixture.
 Separate the acid & sugar mixture by using a
chromatographic column.
Bioethanol Production 6/20

Dilute acid hydrolysis

 oldest, simplest yet efficient method

 hydrolyse the bio-mass to sucrose

 hemi-cellulose undergo hydrolysis with the addition of 7%

of sulfuric acid under the temperature 190ºC.

 to generate the more resistant cellulose portion, 4% of

sulfuric acid is added at the temperature of 215ºC
Bioethanol Production 7/20

Wet milling process

 Corn kernel is soaked in warm water
 Proteins broken down
 Starch present in the corn is released (thus, softening the
kernel for the milling process)
 Microorganisms, fibre and starch products are produced.
 In the distillation process, bioethanol is produced.
Dry milling process
 Clean and break down the corn kernel into fine particles
 Sugar solution is produced when the powder mixture (corn
germ/starch and fibre) is broken down into sucrose by dilute
acid or enzymes.
 Yeast is added to ferment the cooled mixture into bioethanol.
Bioethanol Production 8/20

Sugar fermentation
 Hydrolysis process breaks down the biomass cellulosic portion into
sugar solutions which will then be fermented into bioethanol.
 Yeast is added and heated to the solution.
 Invertase acts as a catalyst and convert the sucrose sugars into
glucose and fructose. (both C6H12O6).
Invertase
C12H22O11 + H2O catalyst C6H12O6 + C6H12O6
Sucrose Water Fructose Glucose

 The fructose and glucose sugars react with zymase to produce

bioethanol and carbon dioxide.
Zymase
C6H12O6 catalyst 2C2H5OH + 2CO2
Fructose/ Glucose Bioethanol

 Fermentation process requires 3 days to complete and is carried out

at a temperature of between 250ºC and 300ºC.
Bioethanol Production 9/20

Fractional Distillation Process

 After the sugar fermentation process, the bioethanol still does

contain a significant quantity of water which have to be
removed.

 In the distillation process, both the water and bioethanol

mixture are boiled.

 Ethanol has a lower boiling point than water, therefore

bioethanol will be converted into the vapour state, then

— first condensed and separated from water.

Properties of Bioethanol fuel 10/20

Properties Gasoline Bioethanol

Molecular weight [kg/kmol] 111 46
Density [kg/l] 0.75 0.80-0.82
Lower Calorific Value [MJ/kg] 41.3 26.4
Octane number 97 109
Cetane number 8 11
Boiling temperature [ºC] 30-190 78

• Energy content
— has much lower energy content than gasoline
— about two-third of the energy content of gasoline on a volume
base.
— Very low for ethanol, indicates a slow evaporation
Feedstocks 11/20

• Sugar is required to produce ethanol by fermentation

— Plant materials (grain, stems and leaves) are composed mainly
of sugars
— almost any plants can serve as feedstock for ethanol
manufacture
 Choice of raw material depends on several factors
— ease of processing of the various plants available
— prevailing conditions of climate
Crop used for Bioethanol
— landscape and soil composition production
Brazil Sugarcane
— sugar content
Europe Wheat
USA Corn
Feedstocks 12/20

• R&D activities on using lignocellulosic (woody materials) as

feedstock
— Lignocellulosic biomass is more abundant and less expensive
than food crops
— higher net energy balance
— accrue up to 90% in greenhouse gas savings, much higher than
the first generation of biofuel
— However, more difficult to convert to sugars due to their
relatively inaccessible molecular structure
Application 13/20

• Transport fuel to replace gasoline

• Fuel for power generation by thermal combustion
• Blending of bioethanol with a small proportion of a volatile fuel
such as gasoline -> more cost effective
Advantages 14/20

 Exhaust gases of bioethanol are much cleaner

— it burns more cleanly as a result of more complete combustion

 Greenhouse gases reduce

— bioethanol-blended fuels reduce up to 37.1% of GHGs

 Positive energy balance, depending on the type of raw stock

— output of energy during the production is more than the input

 Any plant can be use for production of bioethanol

— it only has to contain sugar and starch

Advantages 15/20

 Renewable energy resource

— result of conversion of the sun's energy into usable energy

Photosynthesis -> feedstock's grow -> processed into bioethanol

 Energy security

— esp. Countries that do not have access to crude oil resources

— grow crops for energy use and gain some economic freedom
Disadvantages 16/20

 Biodiversity

— A large amount of arable land is required to grow crops, natural

habitats would be destroyed

 Food vs. Fuel debate

— due to the lucrative prices of bioethanol some farmers may

sacrifice food crops for biofuel production

 Carbon emissions (controversial)

— During production of bioethanol, huge amount of carbon dioxide

is released
Disadvantages 17/20

 Not as efficient as petroleum

— energy content of the petrol is much higher than bioethanol its

energy content is 70% of that of petrol

 Engines made for working on Bioethanol cannot be used for

petrol or diesel

— Due to high octane number of bioethanol, they can be burned in

the engines with much higher compression ratio
 References 18/20
• Guo, M., Song, W., & Buhain, J. (2015). Bioenergy and biofuels:
History, status, and perspective. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 42, 712–725.

• Nigam, P. S., & Singh, A. (2011). Production of liquid biofuels from

renewable resources. Progress in Energy and Combustion Science,
37(1), 52–68.

• Bioethanol (https://www.slideshare.net/AdrianShazmi/bioethanol,
accessed on 11.09.2018)

• Website…
 Next class 19/20

• Details process about Biodiesel

Questions??