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http://dx.doi.org/10.9713/kcer.2017.55.5.609

Process Development and Economic Evaluation for Catalytic Conversion of Furfural to Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol  

Byun, Jaewon (School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University)
Han, Jeehoon (School of Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University)
Publication Information
Korean Chemical Engineering Research / v.55, no.5, 2017 , pp. 609-617 More about this Journal
Abstract
Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable resource for production of biofuels and biochemicals. Furfural (FF) is an important platform chemical catalytically derived from the hemicellulose fraction of biomass. Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA) is a FF derivative and can be used as an eco-friendly solvent with thermal and chemical stability. Despite large numbers of experimental studies for catalytic conversion of FF to THFA, few research have conducted on the economic feasibility for large-scale THFA production from FF. At the stage of assessment of the potential for commercialization of conversion technology, a large-scale process study is required to identify technological bottleneck and to obtain information for solving scale-up problems. In this study, process simulation and technoeconomic evaluation for catalytic conversion of FF to THFA are performed, as the following three steps: integrated process design, heat integration, and economic evaluation. First, a large-scale process including conversion and separation processes is designed based on experimental results. When the FF processing rate is 255 tonnes per day, the FF-to-THFA yields are 63.2~67.9 mol%. After heat integration, the heating requirements are reduced by 14.4~16.4%. Finally, we analyze the cost drivers and calculate minimum selling price of THFA by economic evaluation. The minimum selling price of THFA for the developed process are $2,120~2,340 per tonne, which are close to the current THFA market price.
Keywords
Tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol; Furfural; Process design; Economic feasibility;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 5  (Citation Analysis)
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