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The challenge of enzyme cost in the production of lignocellulosic biofuels
Author(s) -
KleinMarcuschamer Daniel,
OleskowiczPopiel Piotr,
Simmons Blake A.,
Blanch Harvey W.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.24370
Subject(s) - biofuel , corn stover , cellulase , raw material , lignocellulosic biomass , fermentation , biomass (ecology) , pulp and paper industry , ethanol fuel , biochemical engineering , enzymatic hydrolysis , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , production (economics) , bioenergy , hydrolysis , food science , economics , biochemistry , agronomy , biology , organic chemistry , engineering , microeconomics
Abstract With the aim of understanding the contribution of enzymes to the cost of lignocellulosic biofuels, we constructed a techno‐economic model for the production of fungal cellulases. We found that the cost of producing enzymes was much higher than that commonly assumed in the literature. For example, the cost contribution of enzymes to ethanol produced by the conversion of corn stover was found to be $0.68/gal if the sugars in the biomass could be converted at maximum theoretical yields, and $1.47/gal if the yields were based on saccharification and fermentation yields that have been previously reported in the scientific literature. We performed a sensitivity analysis to study the effect of feedstock prices and fermentation times on the cost contribution of enzymes to ethanol price. We conclude that a significant effort is still required to lower the contribution of enzymes to biofuel production costs. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:1083–1087. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.