Glycerol acetins (mono-, di-, and tri) are produced via
esterification
with acetic acid. The acetins are commercially important industrial
chemicals including their application as fuel additives, thus significant
to environmental sustainability and economic viability of the biorefinery
industry. Glycerol esterification with acetic acid was studied using
partial tin exchanged tungstophosphoric acid supported on montmorillonite
K-10 as catalysts. Partially exchanging the H+ ion of DTP
with Sn (x = 1) increased the acidity of the catalyst
and showed an increase in the catalytic activity as compared to the
DTP/K-10 catalyst. A series of tin exchanged tungstophosphoric acid
(20% w/w) supported on montmorillonite K-10 clay (Sn
x
-DTP/K-10, where x = 0.5–1.5) were
synthesized and thoroughly characterized by using BET, XRD, FT-IR,
UV–vis, and titration techniques. Among various catalysts,
Sn1-DTP/K-10 was found to be the most active catalyst for
glycerol esterification. Effects of different reaction parameters
were studied and optimized to get high yields of glycerol triacetin.
A suitable kinetic model of the reaction was fitted, and the Langmuir–Hinshelwood
(L-H) dual-site model was able to describe the experimental data with
high agreement between the experimental and calculated results. The
prepared catalyst could be recycled at least four times without significant
loss of activity. The overall process is green and environment friendly.
Glycerol is a valuable feedstock, produced in biorefineries as a byproduct of biodiesel production. Esterification of glycerol with acetic acid yields a mixture of mono-, di-, and triacetins. The acetins are commercially important value-added products with a wide range of industrial applications as fuel additives and fine chemicals. Esterification of glycerol to acetins substantially increases the environmental sustainability and economic viability of the biorefinery concept. Among the acetins, diacetin (DA) and triacetin (TA) are considered high-energy-density fuel additives. Herein, we have studied the economic feasibility of a facility producing DA and TA by a two-stage process using 100,000 tons of glycerol per year using Aspen Plus. The capital costs were estimated by Aspen Process Economic Analyzer software. The analysis indicates that the capital costs are 71 M$, while the operating costs are 303 M$/year. The gross profit is 60.5 M$/year, while the NPV of the project is 235 M$ with a payback period of 1.7 years. Sensitivity analysis has indicated that the product price has the most impact on the NPV.
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