Paredes K., Boneu A., Gaviria F., Gonzalez-Delgado A., 2015, Development of a Hybrid Methodology for Synthesis of Biofuels Production Processes Based On Optimization of Superstructures, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 43, 349-354.
Biofuels can be obtained using different processing routes and raw materials, so there are infinite combinations of possible topologies for raw material processing; it is desirable to develop a methodology for evaluation of different combinations in order to select the pathway that best accomplish a specific criterion. In this paper, the authors developed a hybrid methodology for the synthesis of biofuel production processes, based on a branch of available products and intermediates, the establishment of a superstructure with technologies and chemical species involved, mathematical optimization of production routes and depth assessment of the most promising alternatives. As a case of study, the methodology is applied in the synthesis of a process of production of biofuels from wastewater. The results showed correspondence between intermediate and final products for biodiesel and hydrogen, and the superstructure was constructed based biodiesel as main product. The optimization of the superstructure showed that the most promising route is through hydrothermal liquefaction of organic slurry and hydroprocessing of biocrude, with a maximum product yield of 0.61 tonnes of biodiesel/tonne of biomass.
