PRODUCTION OF BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS USING BAGASSE OF SUGAR CANE

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BTX could be blended with gasoline as an octane booster, although there are eff orts to reduce the aromatics content of gasoline for health reasons. BTX, like ethylene and propylene, has a large market as a petrochemical:

Benzene is used mainly as an intermediate to make other chemicals such as polymers, plastics, and resins. Toluene and xylene are common solvents in many applications. Para-xylene is the principal precursor to terephthalic acid and dimethyl terephthalate, which are used in the production of plastic bottles and polyester clothing. Ethylene and propylene are also widely used in the chemical industry to produce polymers. Currently, DDGS has an average market value of $242 per metric ton as an animal feed supplement over the last 12 months, while BTX, ethylene, and propylene have a tremendously higher market value of around $1300/MT over the same period.

This benefit may make hydrocarbon production from DDGS an appealing option for corn ethanol producers. Moreover, DDGS pricing has more variability than the pricing for petrochemicals.

Additionally, the fuel and petrochemical market is much larger than the animal feed market.

To maximize the efficiency of the corn biorefinery and to achieve significant market penetration, it may be economically more feasible to convert DDGS to hydrocarbons instead of selling it as animal feed supplement. In this study they propose an integrated biorefinery scenario with conventional corn ethanol production followed by DDGS catalytic pyrolysis to produce hydrocarbons. Total capital cost, operating cost, and MFSP were calculated to quantify the economic feasibility for the integrated process. Results obtained from the integrated scenario were compared with conventional stand-alone corn ethanol production with DDGS sold as animal feed.

Development of research

Results and Discussion

After the selection of Bacillus coagulans 162, testing has begun. In reason of the micro-organism could act, the sugarcane bagasse went through a process of hydrolysis to free the sugars. These are the sugars used in fermentation, that provides a single product, lactic acid, from five-carbon sugars.

Micro-organisms often use the metabolic route hetero- fermentation which produces more than one compound, the lactic acid and acetic acid for example. In this case we would have one more step in the processing that would be a cleansing, i.e. the separation of lactic acid from other compounds. But with this bacteria we can use all the metabolically carbon atoms present in the sugar to produce only lactic acid. This is a very big gain of the productive point of view.

The research showed that Bacillus tested produced lactic acid with 99% of purity. The micro-organism also presented great efficiency, close to 90%, accumulate more of 100 gr/l of lactic acid in fermentation semicontinuous.

Such bacteria in productivity and efficiency in sequential tests that included fermentation procedures in bioreactor.

Others derived by chemical synthesis can be produced from bagasse of sugar cane.

Levulinic acid, for example, used as a precursor to polymers or flavoring agent, can be formed from the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis (HCl 4.45 to 220° c for 45 min) of bagasse with income of about 23%.

Levulinic acid can also be used as precursor of 3-hidroxivaleril-CoA unit for the production of PHB-co-3HV copolymer;

Conclusion

Finally, pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials releases a portion of inhibitory compounds for growth of microorganisms. In addition to the proven advantages of PHA production from lignocellulosic materials, the process of production of PHA from the pre-treatment of sugarcane bagasse becomes interesting when comparing with other bioprocesses since you intend to accomplish it in aerobic organism, increasing the possibility of " desintoxication" of toxic compounds released during the hydrolysis of hemicellulose via biological oxidation, making the process more attractive economically.

In short: there is a demand for biodegradable plastics with quick search-related application of plastic materials. among the biodegradable polymers, the polyhydroxyalkanoates for being produced by renewable sources and sustainability studies demonstrate its benefits to the environment to plastics, petrochemicals numbering prejudice in relation to greenhouse gas emissions

Finally, the model of PHA production using bagasse of sugar cane plants integrated sucroalcooleiras represents an opportunity to achieve the competitiveness of PHA in relation to petrochemical counterparts.

References

- LOPEZ, Matheus. "Obtenção de biodegradáveis utilizando bagaço de cana de

cana-de-açúcar." 2010