Use of Glycerol from biodiesel production: Conversion to added value products
Systematic methods and tools for managing the complexity
Process Synthesis & Design (T4-1P)
Keywords: Glycerol transformation, 1-3-Propanediol production, Reactive–extraction, Reactive–distillation, analysis of the Statics
A complete analysis of the different possibilities of glycerol conversion has been made, with the goal of proposing a technological scheme for the use of glycerol obtained as lateral product in the biodiesel production. Oxidation on metallic catalysts, Hydrogenolysis to glycols on catalysts as Ru, Cu and Pt, etherification to polyglycerols on zeolites and mesoporouses material, pyrolysis and gasification and the bioconversion to 1,3-Propanediol using species such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter agglomerans and Clostridium butyricum, among others were considered. Operative and economic aspects of all the alternatives were analyzed, such as operation conditions, separation equipment, yields of reactions and demand of products. Finding that the most appropriate of all possibilities is the glycerol bioconversion to 1,3-Propanodiol, because additionally this compound has a great demand due to that it is used as monomer in the synthesis of several polyesters such as polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Finally was carried out the complete simulation of this biotechnological process, which consisted in optimize the productivity of continuous two stages fermentation, where was reached a yield of 56% molar to 1,3-Propanediol.
Furthermore was also proposed a novel non-conventional scheme of separation that consists in a reactive–extraction with an aldehyde to change the hydrophilic character of 1,3-Propanodiol transforming it into a dioxane that is removed with the aldehyde, followed by reactive–distillation to recover the 1,3-Propanodiol and the aldehyde, where the yields were of 87 and 97% respectively.
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Presented Tuesday 18, 13:30 to 17:00, in session Process Synthesis & Design (T4-1P).
