Production of ethanol from corn straw based on chemical looping gasification: Economic analysis

Biomass chemical looping gasification is a promising technique allowing high quality syngas production with low energy penalty and low tar generation. In this study, a new ethanol production process from corn straw based on chemical looping gasification is developed and simulated. According to the results of prediction, the energy efficiency as well as techno-economic performance for the ethanol from corn straw system are researched to give useful information for the investment as well as development of the system. The results demonstrate that the proposed system has an energy efficiency of 49.32%, fixed capital investment of 1.61×108 $ and minimum ethanol selling price of 0.81 $/kg. More importantly, the equipment investment of the chemical looping gasification is 0.71% of the total equipment investment and beneficial to reduce the investment. Finally, the minimum ethanol selling price is compared with other ethanol production processes.