Integrated Environmental and Exergoeconomic Analysis of Biomass‐Derived Maleic Anhydride

Abstract

Life cycle analysis and exergy analysis are applied to compare the production of maleic anhydride from different feedstock, both biomass‐ and petrochemical‐derived raw materials, in order to evaluate the sustainability of alternative biorefinery processes to conventional routes. The considered processes involve two options: gas and aqueous phase furfural oxidation with oxygen (air) and hydrogen peroxide as oxidants, respectively, considered as sustainable technologies because of the use of renewable feedstock. Conventional routes, used as benchmarks, include the current production processes using benzene or butane as raw materials. The results show that the aqueous phase process is far from being viable from an energy and environmental point of view due to the high exergy destruction and the use of H2O2 as oxidant (whose production entails important environmental drawbacks). On the contrary, the gas phase oxidation of furfural shows competitive results with petrochemical technologies. Nevertheless, the major environmental drawback of the new furfural‐to‐maleic anhydride production processes is detected on the environmental profile of the starting raw material. The results suggest that a better environmental footprint for maleic anhydride production in gas phase can be obtained if environmentally friendly furfural production technologies are used at the commercial scale.

Maleic anhydride from bio-based 1-butanol and furfural: a life cycle assessment at the pilot scale

“…S3†). The results here depicted are in line with those already reported in recent works concerning the sector of bio-based chemicals, 18,38,47,66,67 which confirm that the competitiveness of a biorefinery process is in its possibility of using a combination of dedicated and marginal crops (or waste), and in the co-production of mass and energy flows. Otherwise, the overall efficiency decreases drastically (as seen for E f ).…”

“…13 The usage of n -butane, as previously mentioned, can reduce the intrinsic toxicity of the process and its environmental impacts as already reported in the literature. 14–18…”

Bio-based 1,4-butanediol and tetrahydrofuran synthesis: perspective

“…Although the preparation of MA by selective oxidation of biomass-derived platform molecules 5-HMF and FA under liquid- and gas-phase conditions has been extensively studied at the laboratory scale, an industrial-scale leap has not yet been achieved. Based on this situation, Blanco et al 56 used powerful analytical tools to determine the feasibility and sustainability of bio-based technologies from an economic, energy and environmental perspective, for example, life cycle analysis (LCA) or exergy analysis (ExA), or their combination in exergoenvironmental analysis. Exergoeconomic and environmental analyses have been applied to two MA production processes using FA as the raw material: one based on the use of air as oxidant and gas phase operating conditions, and another one using H 2 O 2 as oxidant, liquid phase operating conditions, and water as the reaction medium.…”

Sustainable Modification of Chitosan Binder for Capacitive Electrodes Operating in Aqueous Electrolytes

“…However, it is not a very health – friendly molecule, and for this reason here we present a novel, more sustainable and less expensive chemical modification of chitosan with maleic anhydride (MA). Moreover, as an added value, MA can also be obtained from renewable sources by microbial fermentation of biomass [32,33] . The reaction of chitosan with MA assures a flexible and robust structure to self‐standing activated carbon (AC) electrodes, stable even in aqueous EDLCs.…”

“…Moreover, as an added value, MA can also be obtained from renewable sources by microbial fermentation of biomass. [32,33] The reaction of chitosan with MA assures a flexible and robust structure to self-standing activated carbon (AC) electrodes, stable even in aqueous EDLCs. Also, the absence of current collectors in self-standing electrodes, which is valuable in terms of use of raw materials, cost, and device weight and volume, is an important feature in view of increasing the overall sustainability of the device.…”