Sustainable production of glucaric acid from corn stover via glucose oxidation: an assessment of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic oxidation production routes

Thaore, Vaishali B., Armstrong, Robert D., Hutchings, Graham J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8885-1560, Knight, David W., Chadwick, David and Shah, Nilay 2020. Sustainable production of glucaric acid from corn stover via glucose oxidation: an assessment of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic oxidation production routes. Chemical Engineering Research and Design 153 , pp. 337-349. 10.1016/j.cherd.2019.10.042

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Abstract

Glucaric acid is being used increasingly as a food additive, corrosion inhibitor, in deicing, and in detergents, and is also a potential starting material for the production of adipic acid, the key monomer for nylon-66. This work describes a techno-economic analysis of a potential bio-based process for the production of pure glucaric acid from corn stover (biomass). Two alternative routes for oxidation of glucose to glucaric acid are considered: via heterogeneous catalytic oxidation with air, and by homogeneous glucose oxidation using nitric acid. Techno-economic and lifecycle assessments (TEA, LCA) are made for both oxidation routes and cover the entire process from biomass to pure crystalline glucaric acid that can be used as a starting material for the production of valuable chemicals. This is the first TEA of pure glucaric acid production incorporating ion exchange and azeotropic evaporation below 50 °C to avoid lactone formation. The developed process models were simulated in Aspen Plus V9. The techno-economic assessment shows that both production routes are economically viable leading to minimum selling prices of glucaric acid of ∼ $2.53/kg and ∼ $2.91/kg for the heterogeneous catalytic route and the homogeneous glucose oxidation route respectively. It is shown that the heterogeneous catalytic oxidation route is capable of achieving a 22% lower environmental impact than the homogeneous glucose oxidation route. Opportunities for further improvement in sustainable glucaric acid production at industrial scale are identified and discussed.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Chemistry Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0263-8762
Funders:	EPSRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	5 November 2019
Date of Acceptance:	28 October 2019
Last Modified:	06 Nov 2024 20:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/126593

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