23 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering

Motivated by the importance of the pretreatment step for the production of biobased products (such as bioethanol), this paper addresses the problem of modelling, design and optimization of operating conditions of a non-isothermal continuous reactor where the acid pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass takes place. The reactor model is developed using material and energy balances, including a rigorous reaction mechanism. Process design and operating conditions are first studied by analysing the steady-state behaviour (including state multiplicity) and transient behaviour, and then solving the optimization problem to maximize sugar production and minimize lignin retention.