Conceptual Process Design, Techno-Economics, and Greenhouse Gas Analysis of Furfuryl Alcohol Production via Transfer Hydrogenation

Abstract

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) has gained attention as a potentially more sustainable process than conventional hydrogenation with H2 gas. In this process, hydrogen is supplied in situ from a donor molecule without the need for high-pressure H2. We developed a conceptual commercial process for the transfer hydrogenation of furfural into furfuryl alcohol (FFA) and performed techno-economic and greenhouse gas (GHG) analyses aiming to identify bottlenecks and guide future research in this field. Two hydrogen donor compounds were considered: 2-propanol and ethanol. Total capital investment varies between US$24.9 and 33.4 million for these processes, and the minimum selling price for FFA is below the market price of US$1.52/kg only with ethanol as a hydrogen donor. The main impact on the profitability is from selling the dehydrogenated hydrogen donor as a coproduct. Thus, low-cost hydrogen donors that generate high-value dehydrogenation products are required for this process to be competitive with conventional hydrogenation. In addition, utilizing a hydrogen donor that comes free of embodied impact and/or that avoids a GHG release is required for CTH to have a lower GHG emission intensity than conventional hydrogenation.