UMIST

EVALUATION OF WHEAT AS GENERIC

FEEDSTOCK FOR CHEMICAL
PRODUCTION
Apostolis Koutinas
Ruohang Wang
Colin Webb
Satake Centre for Grain Process Engineering
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
 Most types of chemical produced from
petroleum can be produced from cereals
Biomass
Fuels Ethanol
Fuels Bio-deisel

Acetone
Butanol
Solvents Solvents Furfural

Organic acids
Bulk Bulk Sugars
Chems. Chems.

Bio- PHB
Petroleum Refinery Plastics Grain Refinery Plastics PLLA

Cellulose
Fibres Fibres

Fine Fine Wide range

Chems. Chems.

Corn oil
Oils Oils Germ oil

Many of these can be produced through

bioprocessing (fermentation) of the grain.
 Proposed process for bioconversion of wheat

Supernatant

Whole Glucose
Dough Washing Centrifugation enhancement Liquid 1
wheat
flour mixing (hydrolysis) F
E
R
M
E
Fermentation N
Water Filtrate
feedstock T
A
T
I
O
Drying Continuous Filtration Liquid 2 N
bioconversion

Products
Solids

Nitrogen
Gluten enhancement Filtration Solids
(autolysis)
 OPPORTUNITIES FOR BIOPROCESSING OVER CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS

DIRECT SUBSTITUTION INDIRECT SUBSTITUTION

(single step microbial (combined multi-step chemical/
fermentation of carbohydrates) biochemical processing)

FOOD INDUSTRY
(e.g. amino acids
and organic acids) TWO-STEP REACTIONS MULTI-STEP REACTIONS
(enzymatic/microbial (combination of
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY conversion of chemical conventional catalyst,
(e.g. bioethanol and intermediates) microorganism and cell-
polymers) free enzyme biocatalyst)
e.g.
e.g.
FERMENTATIVE PRODUCTION
OF ETHANOL MICROBIAL CONVERSION OF
CARBOHYDRATES TO METHANE

ETHYLENE BUTADIENE METHANOL PRODUCTION FROM

PROPYLENE METHANE

CONVERSION OF METHANOL
TO FORMALDEHYDE
 CURRENT FEEDSTOCKS FOR
CHEMICAL PRODUCTION
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY FERMENTATION INDUSTRY
Ethylene Various by-products of the
Propylene food industry

Butadiene and butenes Molasses

Benzene and toluene Sugar derivatives

Xylenes (ortho, meta and Starch derivatives

para)
Methane
CHEMICAL PRODUCTION FROM GLUCOSE
BUTANEDIOL ACETATE BUTADIENE
2,3-BUTANEDIOL
METHYL ETHYL KETONE
METHYL VINYL KETONE POLYBUTADIENE

LACTIC ACID ACRYLATE RESINS

BISPHENOL A POLYCARBONATE RESINS
ACETONE
METHYL iso-BUTYL KETONE
Glycerol METHYL METHACRYLATE
BUTANOL DIBUTYL PHTHALATE PVC RESINS

GLUCOSE DIMETHYL TEREPHTHALATE

ACETIC ACID
ACETIC RESINS

SCP ETHYLENE POLYETHYLENE

ETHANOL
ETHANOLAMINES VINYL ACETATE
BUTADIENE STYRENE
ACETALDEHYDE
DRUGS ETHYLENE GLYCOL
SORBITOL
POLYURETHANES
SURFACTANTS

HYDROXYMETHYLFURFURAL TEREPHTHALIC ACID

 FACTORS AFFECTING WHEAT
UTILIZATION AS A GENERIC FEEDSTOCK
620 500

Ending stocks (billion kg)

disappearance (billion kg)
Production

World production and

Ending stocks
Wheat primary consumption Disappearance
400
570
300

in the food industry and 200

520
100
secondary for feed purposes
470 0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
Year

200

Extensively fluctuating 160

wheat purchase price 120

80
Breadmaking wheat
Feed wheat
40
1985 1987 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000
Year
DOES WORLD WHEAT PRODUCTION PERMIT ITS
UTILIZATION AS FERMENTATION FEEDSTOCK?

THEORETICAL SCENARIO - EFFICIENCY

Theoretical
Global production of specific yield
Glucose required
chemical product

Wheat required

Land required
 LAND AREA AND MAGNITUDE OF WHEAT REQUIRED
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MAJOR FERMENTATION
PRODUCTS
7.35% of total wheat production

250 2000

1600

200

Million kg
1200

800
150
Million kg

400

100 0
Glutamic Citric acid L-Lysine L-Lactic Enzymes
acid acid

50
40,000

30,000

Million kg
0
Antibiotics Gluconic Xanthan Itaconic Threonine PHB Vitamin 20,000
acid gum acid B12
10,000
Production Wheat Land
0
Bioethanol
 LAND AREA AND MAGNITUDE OF WHEAT REQUIRED
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SOME INTERMEDIATE
PETROCHEMICAL PRODUCTS
16

11% of total wheat production

14

12

10
Billion kg

0
Ethylene oxide Methanol Formaldehyde Acetic acid Acetone n-Butanol Propylene Vinyl acetate Butyraldehyde Acrylic acid Isopropanol
oxide

Production Wheat Land

LAND AREA AND MAGNITUDE OF WHEAT REQUIRED
FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE PRIMERY
PETROCHEMICALS – ETHYLENE, PROPYLENE AND
BUTADIENE
82.1% of total wheat production

300

250

200
Billion kg

150

100

50

0
Ethylene Propylene Butadiene

Production Wheat Land

 WHEAT PRODUCTIVITY SHOULD BE
INCREASED
Primary/intermediate
petrochemicals and
fermentation products
1600
1400 2
1200
1000 1
800
600 Fermentation products and
intermediate petrochemicals
400
200
0
2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC EVALUATION
EQUATION 1: FRACTION OF REVENUE FROM FEEDSTOCK (FRF)

FRF = (Cost of feedstock / Value of products)

= (Cf / ΣxiβiyiαiVi)

i = component i of the feedstock (for wheat: carbohydrates,

gluten and bran)
Cf = unit cost of the feedstock, ($0.145/kg wheat)
αi = fraction of maximum theoretical yield of product derived from
component i (taken as 95% in this study)
yi = theoretical yield of product derived from component i
Vi = value of the product derived from component i
xi = fraction of component i in the feedstock
βi = hydrolysis weight gain conversion factor (1.11 from starch to
glucose)
The lower the FRF value for a specific chemical product, the higher the
prospects for wheat utilisation as a generic feedstock for its production
0.8

Propylene

0.6 Butadiene

Ethylene Ethanol
F R F va l u e

Acetone

0.4
Isopropanol
Methanol
Vinyl acetate
Butanol Butyraldehyde Formaldehyde
Ethylene oxide Propylene oxide PHB
0.2
Acetic acid Gluconic acid

Acrylic acid
Itaconic acid Lactic acid
Citric acid Lysine
Threonine Glutamic acid
Xanthan gum
0
Chemical product
 EQUATION 2: RAW MATERIAL COST RATIO (RMCR)

RMCR = (Estimated cost of feedstock for conventional process /

Estimated cost of wheat for intended bioprocess) × (1 / Risk factor)
2

Acrylic acid
Methanol

Ethylene oxide
RMCR v a l u e

Butadiene Acetone Vinyl acetate

1
Butyraldehyde
Formaldehyde
Propylene oxide
Acetic acid
Butanol Isopropanol

0
Petrochemical substitutes
The higher the RMCR value than unity for a specific bioproduct, the more
cost-competitive wheat can be in comparison to conventional feedstock
7

PHB
6

5
v a l u e

4
Citric acid
Lysine
R M C R

Gluconic acid
3 Itaconic acid

Glutamic acid Lactic acid

PHB
Enzymes Threonine
2

Citric acid Xanthan gum

Lysine
Ethanol Itaconic acid
1
Lactic acid
Glutamic acid Enzymes Vitamin B12
Ethanol
0
Bioproduct

Corn Glucose syrup Molasses Sucrose

 INFLUENCE OF PRODUCTION
CAPACITY ON OPERATING COST
1
Raw material cost per kg glucose
Glucose
Glucose syrup
Starch
0.8
Molasses
Generic Feedstock

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Plant capacity (m 3/day)
 CONCLUSIONS
An increase of the wheat yield from 2.65 to 5.5 tonnes
per hectare cultivating land could permit the production
of major petrochemicals and fermentation products
using wheat as feedstock
Wheat as fermentation feedstock could be more
economical than current feedstocks in the case of
fermentation products and specific intermediate
petrochemicals
Other cereal grains could provide a more cost-
competitive renewable source for feedstock production
 CONCLUSIONS
An increase of the wheat yield from 2.65 to 5.5 tonnes
per hectare cultivating land could permit the production
of major petrochemicals and fermentation products
using wheat as feedstock
Wheat as fermentation feedstock could be more
economical than current feedstocks in the case of
fermentation products and specific intermediate
petrochemicals
Other cereal grains could provide a more cost-
competitive renewable source for feedstock production