Chemical Recovery of γ-Valerolactone/Water Biorefinery

We introduce the optimization of the pulping conditions and propose different chemical recovery options for a proven biorefinery concept based on γ-valerolactone (GVL)/water fractionation. The pulping process has been optimized whereby the liquor-to-wood (L:W) ratio could be reduced to 3 L/kg without compromising the pulp properties as raw material for textile fibers production. The recovery of the pulping solvent was performed through combinations of lignin precipitation by water addition, distillation at reduced pressure, and liquid CO2 extraction. With a two-step lignin precipitation coupled with vacuum distillation, more than 90% of lignin and GVL could be recovered from the spent liquor. However, a significant part of GVL remained unrecoverable in the residue, which was a highly viscous liquid with complicated phase behavior. The recovery by lignin precipitation combined with liquid CO2 extraction could recover more than 85% GVL and 90% lignin without forming any problematic residue as in the distillation process. The remaining GVL remained in the raffinate containing a low amount of lignin and other compounds, which can be further processed to isolate the GVL and improve the recovery rate.

DOI

10.1021/acs.iecr.8b03723

Citation

Lê, H Q, Pokki, J P, Borrega, M, Uusi-Kyyny, P, Alopaeus, V & Sixta, H 2018, ' Chemical Recovery of γ-Valerolactone/Water Biorefinery ', Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 57, no. 44, pp. 15147-15158 . https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.8b03723

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201812105967

Collections

[article-cris] Kemian tekniikan korkeakoulu / CHEM

Show all metadata

Chemical Recovery of γ-Valerolactone/Water Biorefinery

Access rights

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Authors

Date

Department

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

Pages

Series

Abstract

Description

Keywords

Other note

DOI

Citation

Permanent link to this item

Collections