Techno‐economic analysis of levoglucosan production via fast pyrolysis of cotton straw in China.

The pyrolysis of cotton straw is a promising technology because a large variety of chemical species can be produced from the thermal degradation of biomass. A more promising chemical, levoglucosan, was the subject of this study. A techno‐economic analysis of a plant producing levoglucosan via fast pyrolysis of cotton straw and extraction of levoglucosan from the produced bio‐oil was conducted by modeling a 200 000 ton per year feedstock‐processing plant. Experimental and modeling data were gathered from recent publications and used for analysis. For the modeled feedstock handling capacity, the results indicated that levoglucosan production capacity could reach around 18 000 tons per year. The estimated levoglucosan net production cost, including byproduct credits, was $3.0/kg. Sensitivity analysis also showed that the yield of levoglucosan from bio‐oil, the cotton straw cost, the calcium hydroxide cost, the hydrochloric acid concentration, and the number of days of operation are the main factors in levoglucosan net production costs. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]