Abstract

A biphasic process for the conversion of the xylose that remains as a by-product after biomass fermentation into furfural was considered to maximize the economics of biomass-based fuel production. Widely used solvents such as toluene and methyl isobutyl ketone are toxic and environmentally unfriendly; therefore, 2-pentanone, which is one of the intermediates of the modeled process in this work, is suggested as an alternative. The amounts of the solvent that allowed 95% of the produced furfural to be recovered were determined, and the required numbers of trays in the solvent recovery column were calculated. In the production of nearly pure furfural, the process with 2-pentanone required a smaller number of trays than that with the other solvents, resulting in the lowest equipment costs and energy usage. In addition, because 2-pentanone can be converted into hydrocarbons during the downstream processes for biofuel production, the required purity for the furfural product in the separation column could be decreased, whereas the other solvents should be fully recovered so that they can be kept within the process. As the purity was decreased, the number of trays needed also decreased, indicating that the economics of the entire process could be improved through lower capital costs.

摘要

将生物质发酵后作为副产品残留的木糖转化为糠醛的双相过程被认为可以最大限度地提高基于生物质的燃料生产的经济性。广泛使用的甲苯、甲基异丁基酮等溶剂有毒，不环保；因此，建议将 2-戊酮作为本工作中模拟过程的中间体之一作为替代方案。确定允许回收 95% 产生的糠醛的溶剂量，并计算溶剂回收塔中所需的塔板数。在生产接近纯糠醛的过程中，使用 2-戊酮的工艺比使用其他溶剂的工艺需要更少的塔板数，从而实现最低的设备成本和能源消耗。此外，由于 2-戊酮可以在生物燃料生产的下游过程中转化为碳氢化合物，因此可以降低分离塔中糠醛产品所需的纯度，而其他溶剂应完全回收，以便它们可以保留在过程中。随着纯度的降低，所需的塔盘数量也减少了，这表明可以通过降低资本成本来提高整个过程的经济性。