Process development for direct ethyl levulinate production from biomass - 2****

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Increasing concerns about global warming related to greenhouse emission, and depletion of fossil fuel resources, bring biomass as a promising environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to supply chemicals and fuels. One attractive option is the conversion of biomass obtained from recycling activities to Ethyl Levulinate (EL). This substance has prevalent applications in the fragrance and the flavour industries and is used as an additive for diesel and biodiesel. Direct biomass conversion to ethyl levulinate was successfully demonstrated in a small batch reactor through a one-step acid-catalyzed biomass process. The objective of this project is to develop an efficient and robust process design for this application in order to facilitate its implementation and operation. Kinetic parameters and thermodynamics of the reaction will be used to optimize the conversion of biomass and the selectivity to EL through a suitable reactor and separation process design for this multiphase system. The process has to be designed to: separate and recover the solid by-product; separate the organic and aqueous phases; recycle the solvent from the organic phase; recycle the aqueous phase containing HCl to the reactor; separate the EL from the organic phase residue to obtain the final EL stream. Our approach is to design a novel reactor with integrated solid phase separation. The results will be used to the next step toward conducting a pilot plant demonstration.