Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology
Simulation of a biorefinery process from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste generated in Mexico City
Arturo Pérez-Roman,a,b Teresa Lopez-Arenas,c Mauricio Sales-Cruz,c José Rocha-Riosb*
* Correspondence to: José Rocha-Rios (ORCID ID: 009-0002-7352-1846), Centro de Alta Dirección en Ingeniería y Tecnología (CADIT), Universidad Anáhuac México, Av. Universidad Anáhuac 46, 52786, Estado de México, México, Email: jose.rocha@anahuac.mx
a Departamento de Ingeniería Agroindustrial, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, km. 38.5 Carretera Mexico – Texcoco Chapingo, 56230, Estado de México, Mexico
b Centro de Alta Dirección en Ingeniería y Tecnología (CADIT), Universidad Anáhuac México, Av. Universidad Anáhuac 46, 52786, Estado de México, México
c Departamento de Procesos y Tecnología, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana – Cuajimalpa (UAM-C), Av. Vasco de Quiroga 4871, 05348, México City, México
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In this work a biorefinery process was designed and simulated in Aspen Plus® V.10 for production of biogas, bioethanol and biofertilizer from the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) generated in Mexico City (CDMX). The process consists of five stages: 1) anaerobic digestion, 2) acid hydrolysis, 3) simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation, 4) conventional distillation, and 5) dehydration by extractive distillation. Stirred tank and stoichiometric reactors were used for the anaerobic biodigester simulation, while stoichiometric reactors were employed for simulation of the acid hydrolysis, and simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation.
RESULTS: The overall results of the simulated process show that it is possible to obtain 149.6 Tons of Biogas, 41.9 Tons of Biofertilizer and 19.7 Tons of Bioethanol from 1000 Tons of OFMSW processed daily, which is equivalent to a total yield of 0.21 Ton Bioproducts/Ton OFMSW or 0.947 Ton Bioproducts/Ton Volatile Solids contained in the OFMSW.
CONCLUSIONS: The conceptual design and simulation of the biorefinery process presented in this work indicates that it is technically feasible to obtain 3 different bioproducts from the OFMSW generated in CDMX. Computer aided process design will allow progress towards the circular economy where biorefineries will play a leading role.
Keywords: Biorefinery simulation, OFMSW, Bioproducts, Bioprocess synthesis.
Open Access Resources:
1. Article accepted for publication: Pérez-Roman et al. (2025)
2. Biorefinery simulation model in Aspen Plus V.10: Biorefinery simulation