Abstract
With today’s worries about the world environmental situation, studies connected to the production of biofuels are gaining momentum. Ethanol is a biofuel with great potential, since it’s use as a gasoline alternative has been around for many years in Brazil. Within this context, studies that aim to increase the production of ethanol through the use of waste from the conventional production stand out. Thus, the objective of this work was to study and design a second-generation ethanol production plant using sugarcane bagasse. To carry out the project, the commercial, economic and engineering aspects related to the process were studied through data available in the literature. Finally, a preliminary project for a second generation ethanol plant using sugarcane bagasse as raw material was developed. The plant was economically viable with a payback time of 7 years for a processing capacity of 476 ton/day of bagasse.