Formation of acrylic acid from lactic acid in supercritical water

Supercritical Water Gasification of Biomass: A Literature and Technology Overview

“…The results point to a mechanism in which formic acid undergoes dehydration and decarboxylation reactions to form carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Aida et al [55] and Mok et al [56] studied the decomposition of lactic acid in supercritical water. The results are similar to formic acid reactions: lactic acid also undergoes dehydration and decarboxylation reactions and forms smaller intermediates such as acetaldehyde and acrylic acid.…”

Reactions at supercritical conditions: Applications and fundamentals

“…In their early work (Simkovic et al, 1987;Antal et al, 1987a,b;Ramayya et al, 1987;Mok et al, 1989), Antal'sgroup demonstrated the feasibility of conducting dehydration reactions and performing acid catalysis in SC water by selectively converting ethanol to ethylene, n-propanol to propylene, ethylene glycol to acetaldehyde, glycerol to acrolein, and lactic acid to acrylic acid. They found that high yields of a single product could usually be obtained.…”

Alternative Feedstocks Program Technical and Economic Assessment: Thermal/Chemical and Bioprocessing Components

“…Each of these materials give varying amounts of fermentable sugars, the preferred starting material for acrylic acid production. The sugars can be fennented to lactic acid and thermally dehydrated to give acrylic add (Antal, 1989). Alternatively, potato waste can be saccharified, and then fermented in the presence of ammonia to produce an ammonium lactate salt that is esterified with an alcohol .to give a lactate ester.…”