Background Production and use of bio-based products offer advantages over conventional petrochemicals, yet the relatively high cost of production has restricted their mainstream adoption. Optimization of wastewater treatment processes could reduce capital expenditures, lowering the barrier to market entry for lignocellulosic biorefineries. This paper characterizes wastewater associated with lignocellulosic ethanol production and evaluates potential wastewater treatment operations. Results It is found that organic material is intrinsic to bioconversion wastewater, representing up to 260 kg of biological oxygen demand per tonne of feedstock processed. Inorganics in the wastewater largely originate from additions during pretreatment and pH adjustments, which increase the inorganic loading by 44 kg per tonne of feedstock processed. Adjusting the ethanol production process to decrease addition of inorganic material could reduce the demands and therefore cost of waste treatment. Various waste treatment technologies-including those that take advantage of ecosystem services provided by feedstock production-were compared in terms of capital and operating costs, as well as technical feasibility. Conclusions It is concluded that wastewater treatment technologies should be better integrated with conversion process design and feedstock production. Efforts to recycle resources throughout the biofuel supply chain through application of ecosystem services provided by adjacent feedstock plantations and recovery of resources from the waste stream to reduce overall capital and operating costs of bioconversion facilities.

中文翻译：

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将废水处理整合到木质纤维素生物精炼厂的工艺设计中，以提高经济可行性。

背景 与传统石化产品相比，生物基产品的生产和使用具有优势，但相对较高的生产成本限制了其主流应用。废水处理工艺的优化可以减少资本支出，降低木质纤维素生物精炼厂的市场准入门槛。本文描述了与木质纤维素乙醇生产相关的废水，并评估了潜在的废水处理操作。结果发现有机物质是生物转化废水所固有的，每处理一吨原料需要高达 260 公斤的生物需氧量。废水中的无机物主要来源于预处理和 pH 值调节过程中的添加，每处理一吨原料，无机物负荷增加了 44 公斤。调整乙醇生产过程以减少无机材料的添加可以降低需求，从而降低废物处理的成本。对各种废物处理技术（包括利用原料生产提供的生态系统服务的技术）在资本和运营成本以及技术可行性方面进行了比较。结论 得出的结论是，废水处理技术应更好地与转化工艺设计和原料生产相结合。通过应用相邻原料种植园提供的生态系统服务和从废物流中回收资源，努力在整个生物燃料供应链中回收资源，以降低生物转化设施的总体资本和运营成本。