Microbe and bioprocess performances for sustainable production of biobased 2,3-butanediol in a sugarcane biorefinery; a technoeconomic and environmental analysis

Abstract

Industrial production of bio-based 2,3-butanediol via microbial conversion of sugars is intended to provide viable investment opportunities accompanied by reduced greenhouse gas emissions, compared to current fossil-based products. The potential impacts on the product minimum selling price and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of further technology developments resulting in enhanced product yield, volumetric productivity and/or titres were assessed though a 33 full-factorial design. Aspen Plus® was employed to simulate multiple scenarios for 2,3-butanediol production from A-molasses in a biorefinery annexed to an existing sugarcane mill for subsequent techno-economic analysis. A 10% singular improvement in product yield, titre and volumetric productivity reduced the minimum selling price by 3.6%, 1.4% and 0.1%, whereas titre improvements reduced greenhouse gas emissions twice as much as product yield for a 10% step change. At the current state of technology, biobased 2,3-butanediol can achieve the minimum performance required to be a feasible alternative to fossil-based 2,3-butanediol with an estimated best minimum selling price of 1434$ t−12,3-BDO and greenhouse gas emissions 6.5 times less than those recorded for fossil-derived 1,4-butanediol. The minimum selling price and greenhouse gas emissions values can be reduced further by at least 16% and 14%, respectively, warranting further investment in strain and bioprocess performance enhancement. Overall, the research demonstrated that technological efforts intended to enhance the viability of biobased 2,3-butanediol production also minimized greenhouse gas emissions, integrating environmental and economic objectives for a sustainable bioeconomy. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)