Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments

The global demand for acrylic acid (AA) is increasing due to its wide range of applications. Due to this growing demand, alternative AA production strategies must be explored to avoid the exacerbation of prevailing climate and global warming issues since current AA production strategies involve foss...

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Main Authors: Oseweuba Valentine Okoro, Lei Nie, Houman Alimoradi, Amin Shavandi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-01-01
Series:Fermentation
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/8/1/21
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author Oseweuba Valentine Okoro
Lei Nie
Houman Alimoradi
Amin Shavandi
author_facet Oseweuba Valentine Okoro
Lei Nie
Houman Alimoradi
Amin Shavandi
author_sort Oseweuba Valentine Okoro
collection DOAJ
description The global demand for acrylic acid (AA) is increasing due to its wide range of applications. Due to this growing demand, alternative AA production strategies must be explored to avoid the exacerbation of prevailing climate and global warming issues since current AA production strategies involve fossil resources. Investigations regarding alternative strategies for AA production therefore constitute an important research interest. The present study assesses waste apple pomace (WAP) as a feedstock for sustainable AA production. To undertake this assessment, process models based on two production pathways were designed, modelled and simulated in ASPEN plus<sup>®</sup> software. The two competing production pathways investigated included a process incorporating WAP conversion to lactic acid (LA) prior to LA dehydration to generate AA (denoted as the fermentation–dehydration, i.e., FD, pathway) and another process involving WAP conversion to propylene prior to propylene oxidation to generate AA (denoted as the thermochemical–fermentation–oxidation, i.e., TFO, pathway). Economic performance and potential environmental impact of the FD and TFO pathways were assessed using the metrics of minimum selling price (MSP) and potential environmental impacts per h (PEI/h). The study showed that the FD pathway presented an improved economic performance (MSP of AA: USD 1.17 per kg) compared to the economic performance (MSP of AA: USD 1.56 per kg) of the TFO pathway. Crucially, the TFO process was determined to present an improved environmental performance (2.07 kPEI/h) compared to the environmental performance of the FD process (8.72 kPEI/h). These observations suggested that the selection of the preferred AA production pathway or process will require a tradeoff between economic and environmental performance measures via the integration of a multicriteria decision assessment in future work.
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spelling doaj.art-115af5cf8d6c4567849678b2ee20fdcd2023-11-23T13:43:05ZengMDPI AGFermentation2311-56372022-01-01812110.3390/fermentation8010021Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact AssessmentsOseweuba Valentine Okoro0Lei Nie1Houman Alimoradi2Amin Shavandi3BioMatter Unit, École Polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50-CP 165/61, 1050 Brussels, BelgiumCollege of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University (XYNU), Xinyang 464000, ChinaSchool of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin 9010, New ZealandBioMatter Unit, École Polytechnique de Bruxelles, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50-CP 165/61, 1050 Brussels, BelgiumThe global demand for acrylic acid (AA) is increasing due to its wide range of applications. Due to this growing demand, alternative AA production strategies must be explored to avoid the exacerbation of prevailing climate and global warming issues since current AA production strategies involve fossil resources. Investigations regarding alternative strategies for AA production therefore constitute an important research interest. The present study assesses waste apple pomace (WAP) as a feedstock for sustainable AA production. To undertake this assessment, process models based on two production pathways were designed, modelled and simulated in ASPEN plus<sup>®</sup> software. The two competing production pathways investigated included a process incorporating WAP conversion to lactic acid (LA) prior to LA dehydration to generate AA (denoted as the fermentation–dehydration, i.e., FD, pathway) and another process involving WAP conversion to propylene prior to propylene oxidation to generate AA (denoted as the thermochemical–fermentation–oxidation, i.e., TFO, pathway). Economic performance and potential environmental impact of the FD and TFO pathways were assessed using the metrics of minimum selling price (MSP) and potential environmental impacts per h (PEI/h). The study showed that the FD pathway presented an improved economic performance (MSP of AA: USD 1.17 per kg) compared to the economic performance (MSP of AA: USD 1.56 per kg) of the TFO pathway. Crucially, the TFO process was determined to present an improved environmental performance (2.07 kPEI/h) compared to the environmental performance of the FD process (8.72 kPEI/h). These observations suggested that the selection of the preferred AA production pathway or process will require a tradeoff between economic and environmental performance measures via the integration of a multicriteria decision assessment in future work.https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/8/1/21acrylic acideconomic assessmentwaste valorizationwaste apple pomacebiorefinery
spellingShingle Oseweuba Valentine Okoro
Lei Nie
Houman Alimoradi
Amin Shavandi
Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments
Fermentation
acrylic acid
economic assessment
waste valorization
waste apple pomace
biorefinery
title Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments
title_full Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments
title_fullStr Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments
title_full_unstemmed Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments
title_short Waste Apple Pomace Conversion to Acrylic Acid: Economic and Potential Environmental Impact Assessments
title_sort waste apple pomace conversion to acrylic acid economic and potential environmental impact assessments
topic acrylic acid
economic assessment
waste valorization
waste apple pomace
biorefinery
url https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/8/1/21
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AT houmanalimoradi wasteapplepomaceconversiontoacrylicacideconomicandpotentialenvironmentalimpactassessments
AT aminshavandi wasteapplepomaceconversiontoacrylicacideconomicandpotentialenvironmentalimpactassessments