Postponing of the intracellular disintegration step improves efficiency of phytomass processing

A new proposal, as outlined in this article, sees the incorporation of a steam explosion device at a later stage of the fermentation process, rather than at the beginning (pre-treatment of feedstock) as conventional wisdom would have it. This proposed process change was applied on a commercial scale and techno-economically assessed. The process change generated significant savings in feedstock (29% reduction due to the intensification of the process parameters ceasing to be limited by the formation of inhibitors) whilst maintaining the same level of electricity production. As a result, the payback period was reduced by 9%, which is a good prerequisite for commercial expansion. However, this comes at a cost, namely in the form of a doubling of water demands. Intensive work is now being conducted to determine how this issue can be overcome.