BAJA ME Ltd. - Bioethanol Fuel Production from Sugar Beet Fermentation
Abstract:
Sustainable fermentation is an important process used in industry to convert biomass into green fuel
to keep up with the environmental demand of the market. Therefore, to help fill the need for fuel sourced
from renewable resources, this plant’s objective is to produce 99.2% pure bioethanol from locally sourced
sugar beets in the Sarnia area. Sugar beets were selected as the feedstock due to their low cost and high
land use efficiency. To produce bioethanol, 114 tonnes per hour of sugar beets will go through a
pretreatment process involving washing, slicing, and sugar extraction. The raw juice obtained will then
enter multiple batch fermenters containing the yeast strain S. cerevisiae. The fermentation of sugar into
ethanol will achieve a conversion of 86% after 48 hours. After fermentation, a distillation column and a
pressure swing adsorption column will be used to separate and purify the ethanol to 99.2%. The ethanol
produced will be equivalent to 9.0 tonnes per hour. The process will have a co-product of beet pulp that
will be processed in the plant using a press, dryer, and pelletizer into sellable animal feed to avoid waste.
In addition, the plant will have two wastewater treatment processes to ensure all waste streams leaving the
plant adhere to environmental regulations. The plant will successfully produce 68,000 metric tonnes of
ethanol per year. Based on preliminary cost estimates, the plant will bring in approximately 45 million in
yearly revenue.
Students:
Megan Estabrooks, Erin McLean, Brooke Crawford, Jessica Sprunt, Alyssia Burgos, Adam Sawyer
