Comparative life cycle assessment of glycerol valorization routes to 1,2- and 1,3-propanediol based on process modeling

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dc.contributor.authorVanapalli, Kumar Raja
dc.contributor.authorNongdren, Lourembam
dc.contributor.authorMaity, Sunil K.
dc.contributor.authorKumar, Vinod
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-30T14:13:36Z
dc.date.available2024-10-30T14:13:36Z
dc.date.freetoread2024-10-30
dc.date.issued2024-10-07
dc.date.pubOnline2024-09-20
dc.description.abstractCrude glycerol, a high-volume byproduct of the biodiesel industry, has seen a significant surplus due to the industry’s rapid growth. It can be a promising feedstock for a range of high-value products via chemical and biochemical routes. This study thus elucidates the relative environmental performance of two prominent glycerol valorization technologies, i.e., catalytic hydrogenolysis to 1,2-propanediol and microbial fermentation (batch and fed-batch) to 1,3-propanediol, using a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA was performed using an experimental data-driven comprehensive process model to represent an industrial-scale biorefinery, handling 20 833 kg/h of glycerol. The LCA results identified cooling water (18-35.5%) and steam (15.2-33.7%) consumption in the distillation and glycerol sourcing (33.3-68.1%) as the critical environmental hotspots, which should be focused on while designing the process. The fed-batch fermentation process was environmentally more benign, with significantly lower environmental impacts than hydrogenolysis (by 35.2%) and batch fermentation (by 48.2%). Integrating effective process heat recovery using pinch technology reduced the overall environmental impacts by 4.9-11.2%. The environmental performance of the overall processes varied substantially (2.4-62.1%) with changes in glycerol sourcing and production methods. Therefore, energy and material recycling with sustainable water and glycerol sourcing can improve the sustainability of the overall process.
dc.description.journalNameACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
dc.format.extentpp. 14716-14731
dc.identifier.citationVanapalli KR, Nongdren L, Maity SK, Kumar V. (2024) Comparative life cycle assessment of glycerol valorization routes to 1,2- and 1,3-propanediol based on process modeling. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Volume 12, Issue 40, October 2024, pp. 14716-14731en_UK
dc.identifier.eissn2168-0485
dc.identifier.elementsID554052
dc.identifier.issn2168-0485
dc.identifier.issueNo40
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c04691
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/23132
dc.identifier.volumeNo12
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAmerican Chemical Society en_UK
dc.publisher.urihttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c04691
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectBiorefineryen_UK
dc.subjectGlycerolen_UK
dc.subjectLife Cycle Assessmenten_UK
dc.subjectPropanediolsen_UK
dc.subjectSensitivityen_UK
dc.subject4004 Chemical Engineeringen_UK
dc.subject3401 Analytical Chemistryen_UK
dc.subject40 Engineeringen_UK
dc.subject34 Chemical Sciencesen_UK
dc.subject12 Responsible Consumption and Productionen_UK
dc.titleComparative life cycle assessment of glycerol valorization routes to 1,2- and 1,3-propanediol based on process modelingen_UK
dc.typeArticle
dc.type.subtypeJournal Article
dcterms.dateAccepted2024-09-03

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