Design and Assessment of Hybrid Purification Processes through a Systematic Solvent Screening for the Production of Levulinic Acid from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Abstract

A hybrid purification process combining extraction and distillation for the production of levulinic acid (LA), furfural, and formic acid (FA) from lignocellulosic biomass was studied. The effective process depends on the choice of appropriate extraction solvent. A comprehensive procedure of solvent selection for the LA production process was developed. A range of solvents were first evaluated by solvent screening, and processes using the three most promising solvents, including methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK); furfural and octanol were then designed and optimized using an Aspen Plus simulator. These processes were evaluated in terms of the energy consumption, total annual cost, and environmental impact. As a result, MIBK showed the most favorable equilibrium for the extraction of LA but was unfavorable for FA extraction. Octanol showed not only the most favorable result in the extraction of FA, but was also favorable for the extraction of furfural and LA. Interestingly, furfural could extract more LA than octanol and extract more FA than MIBK. The design results show that the furfural solvent process can reduce energy consumption by up to 25.2% and 21.4%, the TAC by up to 30.6% and 25.9%, and CO 2 emissions by up to 27.0% and 25.5% compared to processes using octanol and MIBK as solvents, respectively.

Techno-economic assessment of hybrid extraction and distillation processes for furfural production from lignocellulosic biomass

“…The solvent should not only have a high equilibrium distribution and specific selectivity but also provide easy solvent regeneration and economic feasibility. In this study, the solvents were selected using a systematic procedure that was well described in our previous study [16]. As shown in Fig.…”

“…Several methods for selecting extraction solvents have been well described in the literature, such as the tradition experimental method, computer-aided molecular design (CAMD) [11–15], and the combination of solvent screening and process design [16]. Carrying out multiple experiments to find a suitable solvent provides relatively accurate and reliable results, but there are clear limitations in terms of the time, cost, and a number of solvents tested.…”

“…Note that if a solvent is selected without designing the entire process, including extraction and solvent regeneration units, it is not possible to evaluate the economic feasibility of the process. In contrast, a method that combines solvent screening and the design of the entire process can assess both the extraction abilities of the solvents and the economic feasibility and sustainability of the solvent processes [16]. …”

New Frontiers in the Catalytic Synthesis of Levulinic Acid: From Sugars to Raw and Waste Biomass as Starting Feedstock

“…Recently, the coproduced furfural has been used as an extraction solvent in the purification of LA itself, to extract LA and formic acid from the acidic hydrolysis reaction of biomass. Lee et al have proposed a hybrid purification process with high energy efficiency combining liquid-liquid extraction of LA and formic acid with furfural and distillation [117,118].…”

Iron‐Catalyzed Reductive Amination from Levulinic and Formic Acid Aqueous Solutions: An Approach for the Selective Production of Pyrrolidones in Biorefinery Facilities

“…Despite the great advance, this method probably will not be used in a real biorefinery facility, where all LA will be derivatized in aqueous solutions and without being isolated. Since LA is obtained from acid hydrolysis of biomass and its removal from the aqueous solution is technically difficult and a high‐cost process, methodologies that employs aqueous solutions of LA would be highly preferable. Another point is the catalytic system employed in these reactions.…”