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Exergoeconomic, Exergoenvironmental, and Renewability Assessment of Corn Stover and Sugarcane Bagasse PLA Biorefineries With Co‐Product Valorization

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Lignocellulosic polylactic acid biorefineries face challenges due to high energy demand, complex downstream processing, and underutilized co-products. Although lignocellulosic biomass is a promising feedstock, the sustainability, and economic impacts of integrating multiple value-added products remain unclear. This study develops an integrated thermodynamic, exergoeconomic, exergoenvironmental, and renewability assessment of bagasse- and corn stover-based biorefineries producing polylactic acid, electricity, and co-products including succinic acid, xylitol, and adhesives. Sugarcane bagasse exhibits higher fuel exergy input (103.94-138.47 GJ per functional unit (FU)) than corn stover (97.41-128.49 GJ/FU), with marginally higher product exergy output. Overall exergy efficiencies remain comparable (44%-64% for corn stover and 47%-65% for bagasse). Electricity-integrated configurations show poorer thermodynamic performance, with exergy destruction exceeding 55 GJ/FU, whereas adhesive-integrated configurations reduce destruction to 45.45-50.75 GJ/FU (corn stover) and 47.39-47.72 GJ/FU (bagasse), achieving efficiencies up to 65%. Exergoeconomic results indicate that downstream purification dominates cost formation. Succinic acid purification costs increase from 344.19 to 958.85 USD/GJ (corn stover to bagasse), while xylitol purification reaches 566.57 and 288.04 USD/GJ, respectively. Exergoenvironmental analysis identifies purification and pretreatment as hotspots. Renewability analysis shows that electricity-based configurations remain non-renewable (renewability indicator (RI)<0), whereas adhesive-integrated scenarios achieve partial renewability (RI = 0.35-0.47). Overall, co-product strategy and downstream processing influence system performance more strongly than feedstock selection.

Source: Global Challenges

DOI: 10.1002/gch2.70164

Authors: Reza Hessampour, Ali Jahanian, Jerome Ramirez, Ian O'Hara

Institutions: Queensland University of Technology, ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology

Language: English

Topic: Biofuel production and bioconversion

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Affordable and clean energy, Climate action, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,810