Platform chemical production from low-cost sustainable raw materials using green processing strategies

Developed countries, the major culprits of green house gas emission and climate change, have the means to develop sustainable advanced technologies to overcome environmental burdens, improve the quality of life for citizens and create new business opportunities. The future production of fuels, chemicals and plastics will have to depend on renewable raw materials such as agricultural products and agro-industrial by-products and wastes. The aim of this project is to develop a novel sustainable process that will transform low-cost wheat flour milling by-products (wheatfeed) into value-added chemicals. We intend to introduce a novel approach for the production of future chemicals, fuels and plastics by producing a platform intermediate, succinic acid (SA), through integrated physical, biological and chemical processing. SA will be subsequently used as the raw material for the production of esters, amides, succinimides and pyrrolidones. To achieve this, fundamental principles in chemical engineering and chemistry will be combined leading to simultaneous step-changes in traditional technologies, low environmental impact, low cost, low energy utilisation and low waste production.Research carried out in the Satake Centre for Grain Process Engineering (SCGPE) in the Chemical Engineering Department at UMIST will lead to the development of a process converting wheatfeed supplied by our industrial partner, W & H Marriage and Sons Ltd, into SA. Efficient and cost-effective production of this platform chemical will be achieved by improving or even replacing current processing practices. Waste minimisation will be achieved by introducing novel uses for the solids remaining after processing that will also generate valuable revenue. SA will be produced by a continuous biocatalytic process involving CO2 fixation leading to the development of a pioneering CO2 sequestration process. Computer-based optimisation and simulation will be employed to solve engineering problems encountered in unit operations. Low-cost separation and purification of SA will be achieved by introducing novel processing based on water-splitting electrodialysis using bipolar membranes (EDBM). In parallel to the efforts of the SCGPE, the Clean Technology Centre (CTC) in the Chemistry Department at the University of York will utilise SA (initially in the pure commercial form and later supplied by SCGPE) as the raw material for the production of various value-added chemicals (esters, amides, succinimides and pyrrolidones) using low environmental impact chemical transformations. In particular, the CTC will use modern green chemistry tools including selective and efficient heterogeneous catalysts (which are readily separated from products and reusable), energy efficient heating methods (such as microwave technology) and environmentally acceptable and recoverable solvents (where required) to produce the value-added succinic acid derivatives. We will fully examine the properties of each product synthesised using analytical techniques available in-house and determine potential end-uses in consultation with our industrial partners, Uniqema (ICI).The triple bottom line benefits (economic, social, environmental) incurred by this process will be assessed. Mathematical modelling of each unit operation will enable process optimisation and a process simulator will facilitate process design and economic evaluation. CO2 sequestration, dependence on non-renewable energy and demand for cooling water will be evaluated in order to assess the potential environmental and social benefits. Calculation of various green chemistry metrics for each of the successful SA reactions will provide in depth critical assessment. The social benefits (potential impact in rural communities and resource depletion) incurred by the commercialisation of this process will also be assessed.