Abstract
Valuable chemical by-products can increase the economic viability of renewable transportation fuel facilities while increasing the sustainability of the chemical and associated industries. A study was performed to demonstrate that commercial quality chemical products could be produced using the non-catalytic cracking of crop oils. Using this decomposition technique generates a significant concentration of C2−C10 fatty acids which can be isolated and purified as saleable co-products along with transportation fuels. A process scheme was developed and replicated in the laboratory to demonstrate this capability. Using this scheme, an acetic acid by-product was isolated and purified then reacted with ethylene derived from renewable ethanol to generate a sample of vinyl acetate monomer. This sample was assessed by a major chemical company and found to be of acceptable quality for commercial production of polyvinyl acetate and other products.
Highlights
Previous work has demonstrated that renewable transportation fuels can be derived from fatty acid and triacyl glyceride (TAG) based oils, such as crop oils, bacteriological lipids, and algae oils [1]
The non-catalytic cracking of soybean oil was carried out at conditions based on earlier research [5]
Because the focus of the present work was on acetic acid recovery, the organic liquid product distilled from the crackate was lighter in molecular weight and lower in yield than those reported in previous work [5,6]
Summary
Previous work has demonstrated that renewable transportation fuels can be derived from fatty acid and triacyl glyceride (TAG) based oils, such as crop oils, bacteriological lipids, and algae oils [1]. Processes 2015, 3 with the well-established processes for biodiesel production [2], alternative processes are currently entering the marketplace that convert these oils into other fuels, such as jet fuel [3] and green diesel [1,4]. The margins for these processes are challenging as the competing petroleum refining industry is extremely efficient. Non-catalytic cracking leads to a number of such co-product options, including high purity carbon, aromatics, and short chain fatty acids [5]. Et al [6] found that the non-catalytic cracking of canola and soybean oils results in 15 wt%–25 wt% C2–C10 linear saturated monocarboxylic acids
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