Jesus David Coral Medina has completed his PhD in 2016 from Federal of Paraná University, in Brazil. At present, develops a postdoctoral stay in Pasto Colombia, funded by Ceiba Foundation, and Cooperativa University as a receiving entity, working on coffee bean fermentation to improve the final cup test. Since 2013 he has been working on biomass transformation whiting biorefinery concept, highlighting the experimental studies about biomass pretreatment using different techniques such as Steam Explosion, Sequential Acid-Alkaline, Liquid Hot Water and Organosolve. The experimental approach has been complemented with techno-economic analysis of different biorefinery configuration, using Aspen Plus, MatLab, Phyton and Excel.

Due to growing environmental concerns mainly related to non-renewable fuels and high added-value chemicals, new solutions should reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Biorefineries, which use lignocellulosic biomass as raw material, emerges as a promising alternative to replace fossil fuels and to avoid competition between food and fuel production for arable land and drinking water. Sugarcane is one of the most harvested crops in the world, mainly in the equatorial zone. One tonne of processed cane generates between 300 and 400 kg of bagasse. This work proposes a biorefinery configuration for the co-production of ethanol, xylitol, lignin, and cellulose acetate, analyzing two different scenarios in the context of low sugarcane availability. The analysis included the determination of mass, total capital investment, total manufacturing costs, CO₂ footprint, and water consumption. The cellulose acetate, ethanol, and xylitol production were economically viable only if lignin is considered a product. Positive net income, with return on investment in at least ten years, was achieved. Based on the environmental assessment, the carbon capture capacity is about 400 kg per tonne of sugarcane included in the process was determined.