Process synthesis and analysis of green plastic monomer production from cellulose

As a renewable building block, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) is a potentially viable alternative to petro-based terephthalic acid (TPA). For the commercialization of FDCA production, economically feasible process development is crucial. In this study, we design a new catalytic conversion process for the production of the green plastic monomer (FDCA) and evaluate the economic feasibility of the process. In the proposed process, the FDCA is produced from cellulose using a bio-based green solvent composed of gamma-valerolactone (GVL) and H2O via three-step conversion involving cellulose hydrolysis, glucose dehydration and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) oxidation subsequently. For the efficient recovery of solvents and products, the separation subsystem is designed and integrated with the conversion process. Moreover, to improve energy efficiency, a heat exchanger network combined with a heat pump is designed. The new process increases the FDCA productivity by 17% and reduces the total capital investment by 52.6% after optimization. Furthermore, this proposed process leads to the minimum selling price (MSP) of $1366/t for FDCA, which suggests that the proposed process for bio-based FDCA production is a promising approach to substitute petro-based TPA ($1445/t). The sensitivity analysis identifies that the main cost drivers are a feedstock price, steam price and discount rate, which should be investigated for the further improvement of the economics of the process. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.