Design and Operation of Bioethanol Production Process for Small-Scale Biorefinery

To establish a model of sustainable integration of local agriculture and biomass industries in rural areas in South-East Asia, e.g., Vietnam, we are developing the biomass utilization technologies which meet with the satiation of actual communities.  This presentation deals with a pilot-scale work of lingocellulosic bioethanol production, focusing on small-scale local biorefinery systems.  We built a pilot plant which consists of bioethanol production process (with an 800 L fermentation tank) and biomass boiler.  In this pilot plant, we developed the design of small-scale bioethanol production processes which utilized locally available biomass feedstock, including pretreatment system, small fermentor operation and use of biomass boiler, through the operation of the pilot process.  For example, rice straw was converted into ethanol and rice husk was used for biomass boiler.  Also, some byproducts from local industries were tested as nitrogen source for yeast.  As wall as the technological development, the material and energy balances in the total system were analyzed to evaluate its features and benefit as a core facility in a small-scale biorefinery, focusing on the community-level availability biomass feedstock and demands of bioenergy/biofules.