Sustainable Production of ACrylic acId from reNewable waste Glycerol
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Chem Eng and Analytical Science
Abstract
Acrylic acid is an essential bulk chemical commodity used for the production of resins, coatings, adhesives, textile, detergents and other consumer products. It is currently manufactured on the commercial using fossil fuel-based routes, in particular from the oxidation of propylene, the latter being a major product of the naphtha and oil cracking process. The global market of acrylic acid is currently growing of 3-5% annually and the UK is responsible of consuming > 25 ktons/y with no local production capacity thus totally relying on imports from EU and Asia. On the other hand, glycerol is an abundant and cheap feedstock with yearly production of 58 tons/y between UK and Ireland.
In order to reach the much sought-after goal of a carbon neutral society, the chemical industry must evolve and shift the focus on new and sustainable routes that are still able to meet current demands of key chemicals, such as acrylic acid, but with significant reduction of detrimental effects on the environment.
In this context, the main goal of the SPACING project is the demonstration and scale-up of a new process for acrylic acid manufacturing using waste glycerol.
This project comprises three interlinked work packages (WPs):
- WP1 will involve the design, testing and characterisation of new bi-functional catalytic materials, stability test and kinetic studies, including the scale-up to 200 grams for the subsequent tests.
- WP2 will focus on the development and testing of the new integrated fluidised membrane reactor. Both new experimental demonstration and long-term testing under different reactive conditions will be carried out including the benchmark and comparison of different reactor configurations. The experimental results will be used to validate the reactor model. The knowledge gained both from the experimental and numerical activities will be used as guidance for future pilot-scale demonstration of the technology.
- In WP3, the SPACING process will be integrated into the acrylic acid process including feedstock pre-treatment and downstream product separation and refining. The techno-economic and environment performance of the process will be compared with commercial state-of-the-art technologies for acrylic acid manufacturing.
In order to reach the much sought-after goal of a carbon neutral society, the chemical industry must evolve and shift the focus on new and sustainable routes that are still able to meet current demands of key chemicals, such as acrylic acid, but with significant reduction of detrimental effects on the environment.
In this context, the main goal of the SPACING project is the demonstration and scale-up of a new process for acrylic acid manufacturing using waste glycerol.
This project comprises three interlinked work packages (WPs):
- WP1 will involve the design, testing and characterisation of new bi-functional catalytic materials, stability test and kinetic studies, including the scale-up to 200 grams for the subsequent tests.
- WP2 will focus on the development and testing of the new integrated fluidised membrane reactor. Both new experimental demonstration and long-term testing under different reactive conditions will be carried out including the benchmark and comparison of different reactor configurations. The experimental results will be used to validate the reactor model. The knowledge gained both from the experimental and numerical activities will be used as guidance for future pilot-scale demonstration of the technology.
- In WP3, the SPACING process will be integrated into the acrylic acid process including feedstock pre-treatment and downstream product separation and refining. The techno-economic and environment performance of the process will be compared with commercial state-of-the-art technologies for acrylic acid manufacturing.
Publications
Abubakar U
(2023)
Conversion of glycerol to acrylic acid: a review of strategies, recent developments and prospects
in Reaction Chemistry & Engineering
D'Agostino C
(2022)
Host-guest interactions and confinement effects in HZSM-5 and chabazite zeolites studied by low-field NMR spin relaxation
in Materials Today Chemistry
D'Agostino C
(2023)
Adsorbate/adsorbent interactions in microporous zeolites: mechanistic insights from NMR relaxation and DFT calculations
in Materials Today Chemistry
Di Carmine G
(2023)
Humin Formation on SBA-15-pr-SO 3 H Catalysts during the Alcoholysis of Furfuryl Alcohol to Ethyl Levulinate: Effect of Pore Size on Catalyst Stability, Transport, and Adsorption
in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Forster L
(2022)
Heteropolyacids supported on zirconia-doped ?, ? and a alumina: A physicochemical assessment and characterisation of supported solid acids
in Applied Surface Science
Kashbor M
(2022)
Conversion of glucose to fructose over Sn and Ga-doped zeolite Y in methanol and water media
in Applied Catalysis A: General
Liu H
(2023)
Origin of the Superior Oxygen Reduction Activity of Zirconium Nitride in Alkaline Media
in Chemical Science
Liu H
(2023)
The surface states of transition metal X-ides under electrocatalytic conditions
in The Journal of Chemical Physics
| Description | Collaboration with the Eindhoven University of Technology |
| Organisation | Eindhoven University of Technology |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Our team has generated new ideas in order to exploit the membrane know-how developed by the collaborator in new technologies, in our case catalytic reactors from glycerol conversion. |
| Collaborator Contribution | A new collaboration with the Department of Chemical Engineering of the Eindhoven University of Technology has been established. Our collaborator will provide use with membranes to be integrated in catalytic reactors and will help with reaction modelling. The University will also host some of the team members for a secondment. |
| Impact | The collaborator is going to host one of our team member to provide training and know-how on reactor membrane technologies |
| Start Year | 2022 |