Acetic Acid Recovery from Fast Pyrolysis Oil. An Exploratory Study on Liquid-Liquid Reactive Extraction using Aliphatic Tertiary Amines

Abstract

Flash pyrolysis oil or Bio-oil (BO), obtained by flash pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, is very acidic in nature. The major component responsible for this acidity is acetic acid, present in levels up to 2–10 wt%. Here, we report an exploratory study on BO upgrading by reactive extraction of acetic acid using long-chain tertiary amines in a batch set-up. Factors affecting the extraction efficiency, such as the type and concentration of tertiary amine and co-solvents, were investigated. More than 90 wt% of the acetic acid could be extracted in a single equilibrium step (BO diluted in THF (26 wt% BO), trioctylamine (TOA) in octane as the extractant phase, T = 20°C). However, the amine has considerable affinity for the BO phase and about 10 wt% on initial intake was transferred to the BO. A considerable improvement was obtained when using the aqueous phase of a thermally treated BO containing 6 wt% acid of acetic acid. In a single extraction step, acetic acid extraction efficiencies up to 75 wt% were achieved without significant amine transfer to the aqueous phase.