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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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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Series: | Fermentation |
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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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id | doaj.art-115af5cf8d6c4567849678b2ee20fdcd |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2311-5637 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-10T01:30:20Z |
publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Fermentation |
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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