Comparison of the economics of acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of newsprint

In order to compare the process economics of making glucose from cellulose, a plant design is presented using acid hydrolysis which can be compared with a published design using enzyme hydrolysis. A common design basis is used; namely, an input capacity of 885 ton/day newsprint with a common technique of cost estimation. The cost of making glucose is in the range of 1.75 to 2.45 cents/lb, depending on the slurry concentration fed to the reactor for the acid hydrolysis. This cost range is less than the published estimate of 5.2 cents/lb for enzymatic hydrolysis.