Comparison of furfural and biogas production using pentoses as platform

Investigation into Lewis and Brønsted acid interactions between metal chloride and aqueous choline chloride-oxalic acid for enhanced furfural production from lignocellulosic biomass

Furfural has been identified as a valuable biobased platform chemical that can be further converted into bioenergy and biochemicals. Furfural is derived from lignocellulosic biomass and can also be regarded as a sustainable alternative to petrochemical products. Herein, the performance of trivalent metal chlorides (FeCl₃, AlCl₃) and tetravalent metal chlorides (SnCl₄, TeCl₄) as Lewis acidic cocatalysts was investigated in an aqueous choline chloride-oxalic acid (16.4 wt% H₂O) deep eutectic solvent (DES) system for producing furfural from oil palm fronds (OPFs). The metal chlorides with greater electrical field gradients were stronger Lewis acids that enhanced both furfural production and degradation reactions. The main degradation product in this reaction system was humin, and this result was confirmed by FTIR analysis. By subjecting OPFs to an aqueous DES reaction (120 °C, 45 min) with SnCl₄ (2.50 wt%), a furfural yield of 59.4% was obtained; without incorporated metal chlorides, the furfural yield was 46.1%. Characterization studies showed synergistic Lewis and Brønsted acid interactions between metal chlorides and DES components. Overall, the residual OPFs showed high glucan content, which led to the production of glucose (71.4%) as a byproduct via enzymatic hydrolysis. Additionally, the aqueous DES system was recycled and reused for several additional runs. The proposed aqueous DES system presents a promising biorefinery approach for the conversion of OPFs to biochemicals.

Evaluation of Shrimp Waste Valorization Combining Computer-Aided Simulation and Numerical Descriptive Inherent Safety Technique (NuDIST)

Nowadays, inherently safer designs are considered as key priorities to prevent or mitigate serious incidents with devastating consequences. The need for process safety assessment during early design phases has motivated the development of several contributions related to computer-aided assessment methodologies to measure the inherent safety of chemical processes. In this work, the large-scale production of chitosan from shrimp wastes was evaluated from a process safety point of view using the numerical descriptive inherent safety technique (NuDIST). To this end, simulation of the chitosan production was performed using Aspen Plus ® to obtain extended mass and energy balances. The assessment of all the chemicals involved within the process was carried out for the following safety parameters: explosivity (EXP), flammability (FL), and toxicity (TOX). The safety assessment of the process included the parameters of temperature (T), pressure (P), and heat of reaction (HR). The maximum chemical safety score was estimated in 171.01 with ethanol as the main contributor to the parameters of explosivity and flammability. The score associated with operating data was calculated at 209.20 and heat of reaction reported to be the most affecting parameter. The NuDIST score was estimated at 380.20. This NuDIST value revealed the low hazards associated with the handling of substances such as shrimp wastes, chitosan, and water, as well as the non-extreme temperature and pressure conditions. In general, the large-scale production of chitosan from shrimp shells was shown to be an inherently safe alternative of waste valorization.