Valorization of effluents from the wine industry through a biorefinery scheme to obtain sustainable aviation fuel, levulinic acid, water, and value-added compounds

Abstract

The wine industry generates a substantial amount of highly polluting wastewater, for which inadequate disposal has become a primary social and environmental concern. At the same time, these effluents are characterized by having a high content of carbohydrates, alcohols, and solids; these compounds can be used to generate bioenergy, a priority axis in México. Thus, this research proposes valorizing wine effluents through a biorefinery to produce biofuels and valuable products, focusing on levulinic acid and sustainable aviation fuel. It also analyzes the economic and environmental impact of the utilities involved. As a methodology, the composition and pretreatment of the wastewater are determined, and the products of interest in the biorefinery are selected. The respective production processes for each product are designed, simulated, and integrated into Aspen Plus V14; after that, a parametric analysis of the manipulated variables is carried out, and the removal of the organic load is evaluated based on the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) as an indicator, which is compared with that indicated by the NOM-001-SEMARNAT-2021 standard. As a result, levulinic acid, sustainable aviation fuel, green diesel, naphtha, light gases, glycols, bioethanol, and electrical power are produced. At the same time, an attractive profit ($245,513,069.86 USD) is also realized. In addition, the biorefinery reduces the COD of the effluent by 99.99 %.