Economic and environmental optimization of sustainable integrated PHAs and biofuel production from food waste

Abstract

Bioplastic and biofuels are considered to be the most needed in the current world. In biorefinery, the integrated process shows positive economic and environmental impact. In this study, the economic and environmental viability of PHAs and the biofuel production process was investigated. The process simulation was developed based on previous literature studies. The solid loading and solvent utilization ratio play a major role in current process economics which was optimized based on economic factors. The low solid loading and high solvent utilization increase the equipment size, processing cost and steam utilization. The minimum viable project developed with solid loading 40% and chloroform 1:20 (w/v). Sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the impact of conversation rate, food waste price, solvent price, project lifetime and tax. In PHAs recovery, different solvents such as acetone, dimethyl carbonate, methyl tert-butyl ether, ethyl acetate, methylene chloride were used instant of chloroform and investigated the environmental impacts.