Desalination 147 (2002) 161–166 Presented at the International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM), Toulouse, France, July 7–12, 2002. 0011-9164/02/$– See front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved *Corresponding author. Economic analysis of ethanol and fructose production by selective fermentation coupled to pervaporation: effect of membrane costs on process economics Marco Di Luccio a *, Cristiano P. Borges b , Tito L.M Alves b a Department of Food Engineering, URI, Campus de Erechim, Erechim, RS, 99700-000, Brazil Fax. +55 (54) 5209090, email: diluccio@uricer.edu.br b Chemical Engineering Program, COPPE, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21945-970, Brazil Received 5 February 2002; accepted 2 April 2002 Abstract This work presents a preliminary economic analysis of the production of ethanol using different fermentation processes. The installation of a new plant and the adaptation of an existing ethanol plant to the selective fermentation of glucose from sugar cane hydrolysate were considered. In the latter process, glucose is converted to ethanol and fructose accumulates in the fermentation broth. The use of pervaporation for continuous removal of ethanol from the fermentation broth is also considered, in order to minimize inhibition of the microorganism and to facilitate product recovery. The results show that the selective fermentation coupled to membrane processes to removal of ethanol is an attractive process to increase ethanol production economics, although membrane performance and costs should still be improved. Keywords: Economics; Ethanol production; Fermentation process 1. Introduction Ethanol in Brazil is produced from sugar cane mainly for use as additive to gasoline and as fuel for motor vehicles. It is a renewable energy source and an excellent combustible. For some decades several studies have been focusing great effort in searching a way to improve ethanol production economics. Many alternative processes have been proposed and some of them have been implemented. Nevertheless, solutions that can increase the economics of ethanol pro- duction are still highly desirable.