Techno-Economic Analysis of a Process for the Aqueous Conversion of Corn Stover into Lactic and Levulinic Acid through Sn-Beta Catalysis

A readily available source for renewable fuels and chemicals is corn stover, which consists of the leftover stalks, leaves, husks, and cobs from the corn plant and makes up nearly half of the yield of a corn crop. Common practice is to pretreat it with sulfuric acid to break down the hemicellulose, releasing xylose, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to convert the cellulose into glucose. Using a Sn-Beta catalyst, it is possible to convert these monomeric sugars into lactic, levulinic, formic, and acetic acids. This paper presents the results of a techno-economic analysis (TEA) of the commercial feasibility of producing these acids from corn stover. Two preliminary process designs were evaluated which represent two separate reaction yields: a balanced yield of both lactic and levulinic acids and the yields from a co-catalysis with CaSO4 to produce primarily lactic acid. Both process designs are scaled to process 230,000 MT/year of corn stover. An AACS Class 4 factored broad capital cost estimate and comparable estimates of operating costs and revenues were used to generate cash flow sheets to evaluate the economic feasibility of both options. The balanced product process has an estimated NPV@20% = $3.3 million +/- 40%, while the CaSO4-facilited process has an NPV@20% = $110 million +/- 40% (January 2019 basis). A major hurdle for both processes is the demand for levulinic acid. The balanced product process will produce 135% of the expected global demand and the CaSO4-facilitated alternative will meet 31% of the demand. For the demand to meet production, advances in levulinic acid applications are needed. However, the attractive economics suggest that these technologies warrant further development towards commercialization.