Abstract
The purpose of the study was the development of water-resistant catalyst and catalytic processes for the conversion of hydrous ethanol to 1-butanol. Water, in hydrous ethanol, strongly inhibits conversion to 1-butanol on solid catalysts. In this study, the nonstoichiometric P-deficient hydroxyapatite containing carbonate anions (C-HAP), Ca10−x/2(PO4)6−x(CO3)x(OH)2, displayed good performance in the Guerbet condensation of hydrated ethanol to 1-butanol, after proper stabilization of reaction conditions. Hydrous ethanol (96 wt%) was converted on C-HAP formed as extrudates with silica binder at 400 °C and weight hour space velocity (WHSV) = 0.5–1.0 h−1 to yield 21–23% 1-butanol and 73–74% selectivity. It displayed stable operation for up to 170 h on streams conducted in bench and mini-pilot rigs with catalyst loadings of 2 and 50 cm3, respectively. The process simulation employed the recycling of ethanol without laboratory verification to reach 68% theoretical yield of 1-butanol. The techno-economic analysis demonstrated the feasibility of this process, showing that it may be profitable depending on the prices of hydrated ethanol and 1-butanol.
Highlights
Bioethanol continues to attract extensive R&D activities aimed at improving and enhancing its production from biological sources, mainly waste, and its application as blending/additives stock for fuels and the production of a wide variety of chemicals.This is reflected in several very recent reviews of those activities, including commercial applications [1,2,3,4]
The scope of this study is to develop C-HAP catalysts and investigate their activity in converting hydrous ethanol, selectivity to butanol and stability
The reduction in the amount of OH− groups replaced in the structure by water: Ca10−α (H+PO4 )β (PO4 )6−β (OH)2−γ (H2 O)γ. This material contains the acid–base pairs required for the catalysis of anhydrous ethanol dehydrodimerization to butanol [9]
Summary
Bioethanol continues to attract extensive R&D activities aimed at improving and enhancing its production from biological sources, mainly waste, and its application as blending/additives stock for fuels and the production of a wide variety of chemicals. This is reflected in several very recent reviews of those activities, including commercial applications [1,2,3,4]. Besides biomass of various kinds, syngas (mixture of CO and H2 ) is a feedstock for bioethanol production by biological methods [4]. The advantages of the application of hydrous ethanol render it important in the development of stable catalysts [4]
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