Techno-economic analysis of succinic acid production from sugarcane molasses

Abstract

This study proposes an alternative approach to address global warming concerns by introducing bio-based succinic acid production derived from molasses and waste CO2 in ethanol production as a substitute for conventional petroleum-based methods. The evaluation focuses on the downstream process; reactive extraction, aiming to assess its feasibility in terms of technical, economic, energy, and CO2 emission performance. The results indicate that the integrated process, Int. ETOH+SA 25:75, exhibits remarkable benefits, including a 66% reduction in CO2 emissions from ethanol production, a 77% decrease in energy consumption compared to petroleum-based methods, and NPV of 2,180 million USD with a 40.81% IRR and a 5-year payout period. Additionally, the implementation of a heat exchanger network reduces utility requirements by 39% and CO2 emissions by 63% which can be concluded that that integrating ethanol and succinic acid production offers significant environmental advantages, enhanced energy efficiency, and economic benefits.