Abstract
Levulinates could be used as oxygenated fuel additives or as blending components in biodiesel. In this work, a metallic salt was used for the direct conversion of biomass, ie. (softwood bark), to produce methyl levulinate (ML) and levulinic acid (LA). The experimental data were analyzed through using a response surface methodology (RSM) as well as a central composite design (CCD). Three dependent responses (ML yield, LA yield, and residue production) were studied to determine the optimum combination of the four factors. The total yield of levulinates was 62% at the optimum process parameters, including catalyst concentration (0.067 mol/L), reaction time (5.67 h), and softwood bark concentration (2.5 wt%) at 200 °C. Finally, the results showed that Al2(SO4)3 allowed the production of levulinates probably in light of its good BrØnsted/Lewis acidity while also allowing t to decrease the corrosion inside the reactor (as compared to homogeneous acids such as H2SO4). This shows that the use of these metal salts for this specific application could positively affect the production costs of levulinates (either CAPEX or OPEX) at larger scale.
Highlights
The depletion of fossil carbon fuels and the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced by the consumption of these resources have stimulated new paths towards alternative energies where lignocellulosic biomass could represent an environmentally beneficial raw material for the production of fuels, platform molecules, and other value-added products [1,2,3,4].In Canada only, annual production of bark is estimated at 17 million m3 [5,6] and the price of this forest residue is often below 5 CAD per tonne, which could be a cheap source of carbon for the production of green chemicals
Energy Conversion and Management: X xxx (xxxx) xxxx environmental constraints [16]. Considering this situation, acid heterogeneous catalysts have been increasingly reported for the production of methyl levulinate and levulinic acid, addressing many issues related to their homogeneous catalyst counterparts [17,18,19]
Lewis acid accelerates the isomerization of glucose to fructose in water, and methyl glucoside to methyl fructoside in methanol, while Brønsted acid catalyzes the reaction of fructose and methyl fructoside to levulinates [21]
Summary
The depletion of fossil carbon fuels and the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced by the consumption of these resources have stimulated new paths towards alternative energies where lignocellulosic biomass could represent an environmentally beneficial raw material for the production of fuels, platform molecules, and other value-added products [1,2,3,4]. Energy Conversion and Management: X xxx (xxxx) xxxx environmental constraints [16] Considering this situation, acid heterogeneous catalysts have been increasingly reported for the production of methyl levulinate and levulinic acid, addressing many issues related to their homogeneous catalyst counterparts [17,18,19]. 2014 used Al2(SO4) as catalyst for the conversion of different carbohydrates (fructose, glucose, mannose, sucrose, cellobiose, starch, and cellulose) to methyl levulinate in methanol. This catalyst benefits from the presence of Lewis and BrØnsted acid sites generated by the hydrolysis/methanolysis of Al3+. Besides the different parameters that were investigated, corrosion reduction in the equipment and reusability of the catalyst were considered as well
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