Feasibility of the Conversion of Sugarcane Molasses to Levulinic Acid: Reaction Optimization and Techno-Economic Analysis

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research 2021-11, Vol.60 (43), p.15646-15657
• Main Authors: Lopes, Emília Savioli, Leal Silva, Jean Felipe, Nascimento, Letícia Araújo do, Bohórquez, José Fernando Cuadros, Lopes, Melina Savioli, Tovar, Laura Plazas, Maciel Filho, Rubens
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Process Systems Engineering
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.1c02550

The levulinic acid chemical platform is still unfeasible due to the lack of a cost-competitive process. Therefore, this work investigates the conversion of sugarcane molasses to levulinic acid. A design of experiments was used to optimize temperature, sulfuric acid loading in aqueous solution, and the ratio of sulfuric acid solution to sugarcane molasses via a genetic algorithm-based multiobjective optimization. Optimized results indicated that a yield of levulinic acid of 83.8 mol % is attainable with a concentration of 129 g L–1. Based on these optimized conditions, a biorefinery was simulated to produce sugar, ethanol, electricity, and levulinic acid (all sugarcane molasses converted to levulinic acid). A techno-economic analysis of the simulation results showed that an internal rate of return of 33.1% is attainable at the current market price of levulinic acid, and the calculated minimum selling price of levulinic acid ($0.679 kg–1) indicates that many other applications might be possible for this renewable chemical. Overall, the results showed that using sugarcane molasses in the production of levulinic acid is both cost-competitive and technically feasible.