Pérez Víctor, Moltó Jose Luis, Lebrero Raquel, Muñoz Raúl
Institute of Sustainable Processes, University of Valladolid, Dr. Mergelina, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
Department of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Engineering, University of Valladolid, Dr. Mergelina, s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
ACS Sustain Chem Eng. 2021 Dec 27;9(51):17371-17380. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06772. Epub 2021 Dec 15.
The capacity of haloalkaliphilic methanotrophic bacteria to synthesize ectoine from CH-biogas represents an opportunity for waste treatment plants to improve their economic revenues and align their processes to the incoming circular economy directives. A techno-economic and sensitivity analysis for the bioconversion of biogas into 10 t ectoine·y was conducted in two stages: (I) bioconversion of CH into ectoine in a bubble column bioreactor and (II) ectoine purification via ion exchange chromatography. The techno-economic analysis showed high investment (4.2 M€) and operational costs (1.4 M€·y). However, the high margin between the ectoine market value (600-1000 €·kg) and the estimated ectoine production costs (214 €·kg) resulted in a high profitability for the process, with a net present value evaluated at 20 years (NPV) of 33.6 M€. The cost sensitivity analysis conducted revealed a great influence of equipment and consumable costs on the ectoine production costs. In contrast to alternative biogas valorization into heat and electricity or into low added-value bioproducts, biogas bioconversion into ectoine exhibited high robustness toward changes in energy, water, transportation, and labor costs. The worst- and best-case scenarios evaluated showed ectoine break-even prices ranging from 158 to 275 €·kg, ∼3-6 times lower than the current industrial ectoine market value.
嗜盐碱甲烷营养型细菌利用CH-沼气合成四氢嘧啶的能力为污水处理厂提供了一个机会，既能提高其经济收入，又能使其工艺符合即将出台的循环经济指令。对沼气生物转化为10吨/年四氢嘧啶进行了两阶段的技术经济和敏感性分析：（I）在鼓泡塔生物反应器中将CH转化为四氢嘧啶；（II）通过离子交换色谱法纯化四氢嘧啶。技术经济分析表明，投资成本高（420万欧元），运营成本也高（140万欧元/年）。然而，四氢嘧啶市场价值（600 - 1000欧元/千克）与估计的四氢嘧啶生产成本（214欧元/千克）之间的高利润差导致该工艺具有很高的盈利能力，20年的净现值（NPV）评估为3360万欧元。进行的成本敏感性分析表明，设备和耗材成本对四氢嘧啶生产成本有很大影响。与将沼气转化为热能、电能或低附加值生物产品的替代方案相比，将沼气生物转化为四氢嘧啶对能源、水、运输和劳动力成本的变化表现出很高的稳健性。评估的最坏和最好情况表明，四氢嘧啶的盈亏平衡价格在158至275欧元/千克之间，比当前工业四氢嘧啶市场价值低约3至6倍。
