Systematic decision making methodology for chemical product design in integrated biorefineries

An integrated biorefinery is a processing facility that converts biomass into power, heat and value-added products in a sustainable and efficient way. To date, various biomass conversion pathways are available to convert biomass into a spectrum of products. Due to the substantial amount of potential products and conversion technologies, design of chemical products and processing routes in integrated biorefinery has become more challenging. In addition, consumer-driven chemical product design has gained significant attentions in chemical industry due to the shifting of market from commodity to high-value-added products. Thus, the task of chemical product design that is traditionally dedicated to chemists has nowadays become a multifaceted process that requires collective efforts from various fields. In this work, a decision making methodology that integrates four major organizational units of a company: corporate unit, business unit, research and development unit, and production unit is proposed. By integrating and solving these units, the proposed methodology designs product that fulfils customer requirements, determines conversion pathways that convert biomass into the product, and identifies product demand and price while fulfilling the company's goals. To illustrate the proposed methodology, a case study on the design of dry cleaning solvent from palm-based biomass is presented.