Production routes to bio-acetic acid: life cycle assessment

Abstract

Background: Similar to biofuels, numerous chemicals produced from petroleum resources can also be made from biomass. In this research we investigate cradle to biorefinery exit gate life cycle impacts of producing acetic acid from poplar biomass using a bioconversion process. A key step in developing acetic acid for commercial markets is producing a product with 99.8% purity. This process has been shown to be potentially energy intensive and in this work two distillation and liquid-liquid extraction methods are evaluated to produce glacial bio-acetic acid. Method one uses ethyl acetate for extraction. Method two uses alamine and diisobutyl ketone. Additionally two different options for meeting energy demands at the biorefinery are modeled. Option one involves burning lignin and natural gas onsite to meet heat/steam and electricity demands. Option two uses only natural gas onsite to meet heat/steam demands, purchases electricity from the grid to meet biorefinery needs, and sells lignin from the poplar biomass as a co-product to a coal burning power plant to be co-fired with coal. System expansion is used to account for by-products and co-products for the main life cycle assessment. Allocation assessments are also performed to compare the life cycle tradeoffs of using system expansion, mass allocation, or economic allocation for bio-acetic acid production. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine potential effects of a decrease in the fermentation of glucose to acetic acid. Results: Global warming potential (GWP) and fossil fuel use (FFU) for ethyl acetate extraction range from 1000-2500 kg CO 2 eq. and 32-56 GJ per tonne of acetic acid, respectively. Alamine and diisobutyl ketone extraction method GWP and FFU ranges from −370-180 kg CO 2 eq. and 15−25 GJ per tonne of acetic acid, respectively. Conclusions: Overall the alamine/diisobutyl ketone extraction method results in lower GWP and FFU values compared to the ethyl acetate extraction method. Only the alamine/diisobutyl extraction method finds GWP and FFU values lower than those of petroleum based acetic acid. For both extraction methods, exporting lignin as a co-product produced larger GWPs and FFU values compared to burning the lignin at the biorefinery.

Microbial electrosynthesis: is it sustainable for bioproduction of acetic acid?

“…10 Fossil-based AA production has high carbon footprint, and therefore alternative sustainable approaches are being pursued. 11 MES along with some other biomass-based bioconversion technologies have shown promising results. 4,[12][13][14] From its rst demonstration in 2009-10, performance of MES has improved many-fold.…”

Removal of Acetic Acid from Bacterial Culture Media by Adsorption onto a Two-Component Composite Polymer Gel

“…Microbial fermentation uses biomass as a carbon-neutral resource instead of fossil resources or organic waste, thus providing a promising solution for reducing global carbon emission. Furthermore, some microorganisms can utilize carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and convert it into valuable chemicals [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Short-chain volatile fatty acids, especially acetic acid, are common microbial metabolites. They are useful as bulk chemicals in industries and have broad applications in food and pharmaceutical industries [ 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , 8 ]. Acetic acid has an annual global demand of 10 million tons.…”

“…The separation processes, which mostly involve the use of organic solvents, are expensive and have adverse effects on the environment. Nonetheless, alamine/diisobutyl ketone extraction has been shown to reduce global warming potential and fossil fuel usage [ 6 ]. Distillation does not require organic solvents but is limited to relatively low-volatile-temperature chemicals.…”

The Influence of Metal-Doped Graphitic Carbon Nitride on Photocatalytic Conversion of Acetic Acid to Carbon Dioxide

“…In this work, the bulk and surface structural properties of single- and bi-metal-doped g-C 3 N 4 powders, synthesized by a facile method, were elucidated using complementary techniques with the aim to explore relationships between these and the photoactivity of these materials for the degradation of acetic acid. Acetic acid emissions contribute negatively to global warming ( Budsberg et al, 2020 ), and this chemical is a typical degradation product from wastewater remediation ( Badawi et al, 1992 ). While this acid is of low toxicity, it is quite stable, being oxidation-resistant under ambient conditions ( Li et al, 1991 ).…”