Hand in hand with the flourish of the biodiesel industry, glycerol (GLY) as an inconvenient by-product has generated environmental and sustainability concerns. Devising measures for efficient transformation of GLY into value-added products is a promising solution. In this contribution, the transformation of GLY to lactic acid (LA) as a valuable chemical was investigated in a continuous process for industrial applications. In this regard, a catalytic method using heterogeneous Cu nanoparticles in NaOH solution was studied in a microreactor by a CFD simulation. A seven-inlet micromixer comprising an optimized mixing unit was incorporated for uniform distribution of the species. The effects of various parameters upon the process performance were considered and the optimum points were determined. Also, the extent of the influence of each variable on LA yield was evaluated using sensitivity analysis techniques. While higher LA yield could be obtained at extreme scenarios, optimum values of the Re and temperature for obtaining the maximum performance under sensible operating conditions were determined to be 0.108 and 510.1 K which led to the optimum yields of 67.8% and 59.5%, respectively. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis revealed that the molar ratio of OH⁻/GLY and temperature were the most and least significant parameters, respectively.

随着生物柴油行业的蓬勃发展，甘油 (GLY) 作为一种不方便的副产品，引起了环境和可持续性问题。设计将 GLY 有效转化为增值产品的措施是一个很有前景的解决方案。在这一贡献中，研究了在工业应用的连续过程中将 GLY 转化为乳酸 (LA) 作为一种有价值的化学品。在这方面，通过 CFD 模拟在微反应器中研究了在 NaOH 溶液中使用异质 Cu 纳米颗粒的催化方法。包含一个优化混合单元的七入口微混合器被纳入以实现物种的均匀分布。考虑了各种参数对工艺性能的影响，并确定了最佳点。还，使用敏感性分析技术评估每个变量对 LA 产量的影响程度。虽然在极端情况下可以获得更高的 LA 产量，但在合理操作条件下获得最大性能的 Re 和温度的最佳值被确定为 0.108 和 510.1 K，这导致最佳产量分别为 67.8% 和 59.5%。此外，敏感性分析表明，OH 的摩尔比^- /GLY 和温度分别是最重要和最不重要的参数。