Process simulation for technical and economic evaluation of acrolein and glycerol carbonate production from glycerol

Abstract

The objective of this work is the technical and economic evaluation of acrolein and glycerol carbonate production from glycerol, byproduct of biodiesel production. The processes were simulated in Aspen HYSYS® v8.8 and the capital and production costs were estimated. Among the two analyzed processes, only glycerol carbonate production was economically viable in the base scenario, due to the high reactivity of the selected catalyst and the simplicity of the reaction and separation steps. In addition to requiring a more complex separation system, the high degree of dilution of the inlet stream of the acrolein production process entails high costs for some equipment, as well as significant expenditure on utilities and effluent disposal. Such characteristics raise both the total investment and the production cost to a degree which makes the process economically unfeasible. However, it was shown that crude glycerol processing and further reaction development could make it also possible.