Black liquor to advanced biofuel : A techno-economic assessment

Abstract: This thesis looked at a biorefinery pilot plant that converted lignin in black liquor into biofuel. A heat/mass balance was made which was used to create a heat/mass balance for a theoretical large-scale plant. This then created the CAPEX for building the plant. OPEX for the largescale plant and income from sold biofuels was calculated and payback time found. This was done for three different cases with different flows and yield to optimize the plant. A sensitivity analysis was then made to find the most important parameters regarding CAPEX, OPEX and payback time.