Sugarcane bagasse (SCB) is a significant agricultural
residue generated
by sugar mills based on sugarcane crop. Valorizing carbohydrate-rich
SCB provides an opportunity to improve the profitability of sugar
mills with simultaneous production of value-added chemicals, such
as 2,3-butanediol (BDO). BDO is a prospective platform chemical with
multitude of applications and huge derivative potential. This work
presents the techno-economic and profitability analysis for fermentative
production of BDO utilizing 96 MT of SCB per day. The study considers
plant operation in five scenarios representing the biorefinery annexed
to a sugar mill, centralized and decentralized units, and conversion
of only xylose or total carbohydrates of SCB. Based on the analysis,
the net unit production cost of BDO in the different scenarios ranged
from 1.13 to 2.28 US$/kg, while the minimum selling price varied from
1.86 to 3.99 US$/kg. Use of the hemicellulose fraction alone was shown
to result in an economically viable plant; however, this was dependent
on the condition that the plant would be annexed to a sugar mill which
could supply utilities and the feedstock free of cost. A standalone
facility where the feedstock and utilities were procured was predicted
to be economically feasible with a net present value of about 72 million
US$, when both hemicellulose and cellulose fractions of SCB were utilized
for BDO production. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to highlight
some key parameters affecting plant economics.