Biorefineries and Chemical Processes - 9781119990864

This book is for educators, postgraduate and final year undergraduate students in chemical engineering, environmental and biochemical engineering and applied science subjects, as well as researchers and practitioners in industry. The main feature of this book is the presentation of process modeling and integration and whole system sustainability analysis tools for the design, synthesis and operation of biorefinery and chemical processes. The book features cradle to grave impact analysis, alongside appropriately adapted process integration tools, governed by the principles of thermodynamics and mass, momentum and energy transfer, to enable emergent biorefinery and chemical process designs within a sustainability framework.

Opening with an introduction on the concept and development of biorefinery, the book is then split into four parts:

Tools – Detailed analysis of economic, environmental and whole system impact, as well as combined economic value and environmental impact (EVEI) analysis. Life-cycle assessment and heat-integration and utility system design. Mathematical programming based optimisation and genetic algorithms.

Process synthesis and design – Focuses on modern unit operations and innovative process flowsheets: reactors; electrochemical, membrane and combined reaction and separation processes with multi-functionalities. Production of chemicals and polymers from biomass. Thermochemical processing of biomass and biochemical processing of biomass. Processes for carbon dioxide capture.

Biorefinery systems – Biorefinery process synthesis using whole system analysis. Bio-oil and algae biorefineries, integrated fuel cells and renewables, heterogeneous catalytic reactors.

Interacting systems of biorefineries – Looks at minimalizing waste and emissions, storing energy, and the optimization and reuse of water.

Additional exercises and examples referred to within each chapter of the book can be found on a companion website, as well as additional content with LCA based problem solving approaches on biomass CHP plant design problems, waste water sludge based CHP, epoxy resin production from biomass, and LCA approach for solar organic photovoltaic cells manufacturing.

Emphasis is placed on the climate change and environmental impact for the selection of raw materials, products, unit operations and systems. The complexity in addressing process to systems design problems is reduced by step-by-step decision making, from fundamental conceptual unit operation, process and heat recovery network design and synthesis, through unit integration and operability studies, to life cycle assessment of systems.

The book contains exercises (complete with worked solutions) on industrially relevant processes and systems. It provides teaching materials with spreadsheet based calculations, conceptual analysis and process simulation based evaluations. Chapters also contain design projects including multi-disciplinary ones, with conceptual process synthesis and process simulation examples using Aspen Plus, GAMS, MATLAB and LCA software GaBi (market-leading tools for conceptual design, optimization, and performance monitoring for the chemical industry).

This textbook provides a practical guide to biorefinery process integration and sustainability analysis for advanced students and practicing process designers and engineers. It is designed to bridge a gap between engineering design and sustainability assessment.