Economics of butanol fermentation using hyper-butanol producing Clostridium beijerinckii BA101

An economic assessment is presented to produce butanol from corn using the hyperbutanol producing strain of Clostridium beijerinckii BA101. Butanol is produced in batch reactors and recovered by distillation with a total acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) productivity of 0.38 g L^-1 h^-1. For a plant with 150,000 metric tons of ABE production capacity per year, the production equipment cost and total working capital cost is $33.2 × 10⁶ and $109.56 × 10⁶, respectively. This is based on a lang factor of 3 for a plant annexed to an already existing corn milling plant in the mid-west region of the United States of America. Based on an ABE yield of 0.42, and a corn price of $71 ton^-1, butanol production cost is projected to be $0.55 kg^-1. Further improvements, such as increased yield of 0.45 and savings in electricity and steam will reduce this price to $0.44 kg^-1. Various other alternatives such as a lang factor of 4.5 and increased corn price have also been considered in this assessment.