Techno‐economic assessment of the production of bio‐based chemicals from glutamic acid

Abstract

In this review, possible process steps for the production of bio‐based industrial chemicals from glutamic acid are described, including a techno‐economic assessment of all processes. The products under investigation were those that were shown to be synthesized from glutamic acid on lab‐scale, namely N‐methylpyrrolidone (NMP), N‐vinylpyrrolidone (NVP), succinonitrile, and acrylonitrile. The goal was not only to assess the economic feasibility at this stage, but mainly to discover where is the most potential for improvements in these processes, in order to direct future research. The techno‐economic assessment leads to the conclusion that the production of NMP and NVP is the most feasible both in terms of technology and economy. Bio‐based acrylonitrile and succinonitrile do not seem very profitable under the current process configurations. Especially the acrylonitrile process shows very high costs in relation to the possible gains. Further optimization is necessary, but a clear direction where the optimization should be aimed could be derived from the assessment, and was provided in the discussion of the processes. The main point to optimize was the reaction of glutamic acid with sodium hypochlorite, a bottleneck in both the acrylonitrile and the succinonitrile process. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Deoxygenation of biobased molecules by decarboxylation and decarbonylation – a review on the role of heterogeneous, homogeneous and bio-catalysis

“…45 Other examples include the production of gamma-amino butyric acid from glutamic acid by enzymatic decarboxylation, 44 which can be used for the production of for example N-methylpyrrolidone 140 or N-vinyl pyrrolidone. This reaction is not within the bounds of Green Chemistry as large amounts of waste salt are produced and the requirement for cooling makes for an expensive process, 146 however this reaction remains interesting as enzymatic routes using vanadium bromoperoxidases and chloroperoxidases have been shown to oxidatively decarboxylate valine, 147 and appear to produce the same "Br + " activity using hydrogen peroxide. 141 Other simple amines can be produced by the decarboxylation of amino acids, such as ethanolamine from serine, or ethylamine from alanine.…”

Opportunities for Bio-Based Solvents Created as Petrochemical and Fuel Products Transition towards Renewable Resources

“…It is also worth considering other feedstock options, and glutamic acid for the synthesis of NMP and related nitrogen containing compounds is gaining attention [ 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 ]. Glutamic acid is found in dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), a by-product of brewing and biofuel production [ 153 ].…”

Immobilised enzymes in biorenewables production

“…3 A major part of the capital costs arises from the need for heat exchange under industrial conditions of high temperature, high pressures, corrosive conditions or the need to contain dangerous chemicals or intermediates. 4 We can benefit from enzymes in the conversion from functionalised natural molecules into the functionalised chemicals or intermediates that are nowadays produced from oil, [5][6][7][8][9] when we use these enzymes at relatively low temperatures as compared to the conditions of the petrochemical industry. Functionalised chemicals will have a higher added value than chemicals with no or only a few functional moieties.…”