Innovative reactive distillation process for levulinic acid production and purification

Levulinic acid is considered among the top twelve chemicals from biomass in terms of market potential, due to its considerable number of applications. Levulinic acid is ob-tained by acid hydrolysis of glucose using dilute sulfuric acid as a catalyst. Because of this, the resulting stream has an excess of water, which has an impact on energy consumption in the separation and purification process. So, it is important to analyze sustainable al-ternatives. Process intensification can help achieve this goal. Particularly, reactive dis-tillation (RD) is an intensified process where is carried out the chemical reaction and distillation in a single equipment, the advantage of this reduction has a direct impact on the capital cost, and energy consumption in the last stages of separation. and environ-mental impact, improving the sustainability of the process. Additionally, reactive dis-tillation positively impacts performance, and it is used to separate dilute mixtures more efficiently. Therefore, this work's objective is to implement a process intensification using a reactive distillation column to reduce energy consumption, process costs, and the final cost of Levulinic acid production. A conventional scheme is used to compare the energy, cost, environmental, and conversion impacts when using reactive distillation. The results show a total conversion of glucose to Levulinic acid using RD and similar purities are obtained when using the conventional reactor. In addition, it presents savings in the cost of the equipment by 23% and 24% in energy consumption compared to the conventional system. (c) 2022 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Levulinic acid, one of the top chemicals from biomass in terms of market potential, can be obtained through acid hydrolysis of glucose. Reactive distillation is a process intensification technique that combines chemical reaction and distillation in a single equipment, resulting in reduced capital cost, energy consumption, and environmental impact. This work aims to implement reactive distillation for the production of Levulinic acid, achieving higher conversion and cost savings compared to conventional reactors.