Production of a sustainable and renewable biomass-derived monomer: conceptual process design and techno-economic analysis

• Published in: Green chemistry : an international journal and green chemistry resource : GC Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 77 - 779
• Main Authors: Kim, Hyunwoo, Choi, Julius, Park, Junhyung, Won, Wangyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 19.10.2020
• Subjects: Biomass; carbon; Catalysts; catalytic activity; Catalytic converters; Cellulose; Cellulosic resins; Dehydration; Economic analysis; Economic conditions; economic feasibility; Economics; energy; Energy conservation; Energy consumption; feedstocks; Green chemistry; heat; Heat exchangers; Heat pumps; Hydroxymethylfurfural; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; Lignocellulose; Monomers; Oxidation; Petroleum; pioneer species; plant analysis; process design; Process parameters; Sensitivity analysis; solvents; Subsystems; Terephthalic acid
• ISSN: 1463-9262; 1463-9270; 1463-9270
• DOI: 10.1039/d0gc02258f

2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is a promising renewable building block, which can replace conventional petroleum-derived terephthalic acid (TPA). Here, we develop and evaluate a new catalytic process for the production of a renewable plastic monomer (FDCA) from lignocellulosic biomass-derived cellulose. In this process, cellulose is converted into FDCA (38.6% carbon yield) via a two-step catalytic conversion: dehydration of cellulose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF, 42% molar yield) and oxidation of HMF to FDCA (93.6% molar yield). To effectively recover the products as well as recycle the solvent, we designed a detailed separation subsystem, which is integrated with the reaction subsystem. Importantly, to effectively minimize the required energy consumption, a heat pump is employed and heat integration is conducted. In addition, pioneer plant analysis is conducted to investigate the broad range of economic feasibility. In our techno-economic analysis, the integrated process leads to a minimum selling price of $1532 per ton of FDCA, meaning that the cellulose-derived FDCA has the potential to replace petroleum-derived TPA. In addition, sensitivity analysis reveals that the feedstock price and catalyst price are important parameters for the process. Furthermore, according to life-cycle assessment, the biomass-derived FDCA production is more environmentally favorable than the petroleum-derived TPA production. A new process is developed to produce 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid from cellulose and evaluated via techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment.