Feasibility of the Conversion of Sugarcane Molasses to Levulinic Acid: Reaction Optimization and Techno-Economic Analysis

The levulinic acid chemical platform is still unfeasible due to the lack of a cost-competitive process. Therefore, this work investigates the conversion of sugarcane molasses to levulinic acid. A design of experiments was used to optimize temperature, sulfuric acid loading in aqueous solution, and the ratio of sulfuric acid solution to sugarcane molasses via a genetic algorithm-based multiobjective optimization. Optimized results indicated that a yield of levulinic acid of 83.8 mol % is attainable with a concentration of 129 g L-1. Based on these optimized conditions, a biorefinery was simulated to produce sugar, ethanol, electricity, and levulinic acid (all sugarcane molasses converted to levulinic acid). A techno-economic analysis of the simulation results showed that an internal rate of return of 33.1% is attainable at the current market price of levulinic acid, and the calculated minimum selling price of levulinic acid ($0.679 kg(-1)) indicates that many other applications might be possible for this renewable chemical. Overall, the results showed that using sugarcane molasses in the production of levulinic acid is both cost-competitive and technically feasible.

Automated summary

By optimizing experimental conditions, sugarcane molasses can be converted into levulinic acid with high yield and concentration. Through biorefinery simulation and techno-economic analysis, it was found that this production method is profitable in the current market.