Bioethanol production from various waste papers: Economic feasibility and sensitivity analysis

As a significant fraction of municipal solid waste, waste paper is a potential source for producing bioethanol. In the present paper, bioethanol production from various waste papers (newspaper, office paper, cardboard and magazine) using an enzyme complex (Cellic Ctec 1) was evaluated from an economic standpoint. Four bases cases without pre-treatment and two state-of-the-art cases (including dilute acid pre-treatment for office paper and oxidative lime pre-treatment for newspaper) were constructed using laboratory experimental data, literature values, expert consultations and simulation using AspenPlus™. Several scenarios were also carried out to assess the sensitivity of various technology parameters (i.e. solids loading in saccharification, anaerobic digestion and fermentation efficiency, and sugar yields in pre-treatment). The sensitivity analysis suggested that the economic performance of bioethanol produced from waste paper could be improved significantly with an up to 25% reduction in minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) by increasing solids loading in saccharification and with a 6% reduction in MESP by enhancing fermentation efficiency. The comparison of the bioethanol selling price at pump (reference year 2009) and the petrol price showed bioethanol produced from newspaper, office paper and cardboard were economically competitive with petrol.