Abstract
To reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, alternative energy sources, such as lignocellulosic biomass and agricultural residues, are urgently sought to be recovered and processed to obtain biofuels, chemicals and other high value-added products using diverse processing technologies. In this study, the exergetic and economic evaluation of a lignin valorisation process for catechol production was carried out in order to determine its feasibility. The process is divided into 3 parts: (1) delignification of the feedstock; (2) lignin depolymerisation; (3) products separation.
The investment and operating costs of the process and the obtained catechol market price were estimated. The results showed that the total capital investment of the plant was, approximately, 4.9 M$ based on the plant capacity of 2,544 kg/d of feedstock. Besides, the catechol price was estimated to be 1,100 $/t and the valorisation ratio was found to be 3.02. The obtained results indicate the interesting position of the mentioned product in the market.
