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

对温室气体排放和化石燃料资源枯竭引起的全球变暖的日益关注，使生物质成为一种有希望的环境友好和可持续的化学品和燃料供应替代方案。一个有吸引力的选择是将回收活动获得的生物质转化为乙酰丙酸乙酯(EL)。这种物质在香料和香料工业中有广泛的应用，并被用作柴油和生物柴油的添加剂。在小型间歇反应器中，通过一步酸催化生物质反应，成功地实现了生物质直接转化为乙酰丙酸乙酯。该项目的目标是为这一应用开发一种高效和可靠的流程设计，以促进其实施和运作。反应的动力学参数和热力学将被用于优化生物质的转化率和对EL的选择性，通过为该多相系统设计合适的反应器和分离工艺。该工艺必须设计为：分离和回收固体副产物；分离有机相和水相；从有机相回收溶剂；将含有HCl的水相回收到反应器；将电致发光与有机相残留物分离，以获得最终的电致发光。我们的方法是设计一种新型的集成固相分离的反应器。结果将被用于下一步进行中试工厂演示。

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.