ABSTRACT
The intensication of fuel ethanol production processes has become a priority during the design of technological congurations with enhanced technical, economic, and environmental performance. Process integration achieves this intensication through the combination of several unit operations and processes in a same single unit or through the better utilization of the energy ows. In this chapter, main aspects of the intensication of ethanol production by different ways of process integration (reaction-reaction, reaction-separation, separation-separation, heat integration) are presented. Examples of the application of the integration principle to bioethanol production are provided emphasizing their efciency from an energy point of view. The potential offered by the implementation of technologies with a high degree of integration, such as the simultaneous saccharication and co-fermentation and consolidated bioprocessing, are discussed highlighting their advantages and limitations as well as their possibilities for further development. In addition, some congurations involving the ethanol removal from culture broth are analyzed because one of the most important challenges in ethanol production is the reduction of end product inhibition on the growth rate of ethanol-producing microorganisms.
