Abstract
The transition toward a low-carbon economy has accelerated the development of technologies that valorize renewable resources to produce high-value chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass, particularly furfural (FF) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). However, biomass conversion typically requires multiple pretreatment steps, increasing process complexity and costs. In this study, we evaluated an integrated sugarcane bagasse (SCB)-based biorefinery. The objective was to reduce pretreatment requirements through one-pot aqueous conversion. For this purpose, a cellulose- and hemicellulose-rich solid stream obtained after alkaline pretreatment of SCB (ISRAP) was used. The conversion was catalyzed by niobium phosphate (PNb). In this step, ISRAP is converted through hydrolysis and dehydration mechanisms under acidic conditions. The process simulation covered alkaline pretreatment of SCB, one-pot conversion, and product separation (HMF, FF, and co-products). A processing capacity of 8,330 kg/h of SCB was considered, yielding 96.2 kg/h of HMF, 221 kg/h of FF, 76.6 kg/h of levulinic acid (LA), 109.5 kg/h of formic acid (FA), and 157 kg/h of glucose. Techno-economic analysis estimated a total capital investment of USD 73.82 million and an annual operating cost of USD 32.3 million. The FA and glucose separation section accounted for 73.45 % of capital investment and 71.44 % of annual operating costs due to their low concentrations and constraints associated with azeotrope formation. Under the optimized scenario, the estimated production costs were USD 4.63/kg for HMF, USD 5.96/kg for FF, and USD 13.55/kg for LA.
