Sequential Synthesis Methodology in the Design and Optimization of Sustainable Distillation Sequences for Levulinic Acid Purification

• Published in: Bioenergy research 2024-09, Vol.17 (3), p.1724-1738
• Main Authors: Alcocer-García, Heriberto, Segovia-Hernández, Juan Gabriel, Sánchez-Ramírez, Eduardo, Caceres-Barrera, Carlos Rodrigo, Hernández, Salvador
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acids; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Design; Design optimization; Distillation; Economics; Environmental factors; Environmental impact; Environmental index; Evolutionary algorithms; Evolutionary computation; Levulinic acid; Life Sciences; Lignocellulose; Methodology; Mixtures; Multiple objective analysis; Optimization; Plant Breeding/Biotechnology; Plant Ecology; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plant Sciences; Purification; Separation; Sustainability; Synthesis; Thermal coupling; Wood Science & Technology
• ISSN: 1939-1242; 1939-1234; 1939-1242
• DOI: 10.1007/s12155-024-10765-0

Levulinic acid is acknowledged as a significant high-value product derived from lignocellulosic biomass. Its acquisition involves acid hydrolysis, resulting in a challenging separation and purification process due to the formation of a dilute azeotropic mixture. This complexity renders separation costly and presents a hurdle for large-scale production. Various purification methods, including hybrid and intensified systems, have been proposed to address this issue. However, a systematic synthesis methodology incorporating multi-objective optimization considering economic and environmental factors has yet to be applied to this mixture. Hence, this study employs such a methodology to derive sustainable and thermodynamically feasible intensified designs. The optimization algorithm employed is differential evolution with a tabu list. Two objectives are considered: total annual cost as the economic criterion and the eco-indicator 99 as the environmental index. The intensified design, incorporating thermal coupling, presents the best results of the designs studied, with a total annual cost value of $13.9 million and 4.21 × 10 9 environmental points per year. This represents an economic saving of $4.6 million per year and reduces environmental impact by 1.15 × 10 9 points compared to the reference design, providing a sustainable alternative for purifying levulinic acid at a cost of $0.261 per kilogram.