(477a) Techno-Economic Evaluation of Integrated Renewable Acetic Acid, Glycolaldehyde, and Acetol Production From Biomass-Derived Pyrolysis Oil

Acetic acid, glycolaldehyde, and acetol are bio-based chemicals which can be isolated from pyrolysis oil in an integrated biorefinery. This paper discusses the conceptual design of an integrated separation process for forest residue- and pine-derived pyrolysis oils. The process simulation was performed in Aspen Plus^®, while the equipment cost was estimated in Aspen Process Economic Analyzer. The process was designed for a capacity of 200 kton pyrolysis oil per year and involves extraction, distillation, and evaporation. Water and 2-ethyl-1-hexanol are used as extraction solvents. All process step designs are based on data derived from experiments with forest residue derived pyrolysis oil.   The designed process can isolate more than 99% glycolaldehyde and acetic acid and about two-thirds of acetol present in the oils. In comparison with the forest residue-based process (21 M€), the pine-based process requires a higher capital investment of 23 M€ and a slightly higher production cost 49 M€/a versus 48 M€/a, but is able to provide a higher revenue of 62 M€/a instead of 50 M€/a because pine-derived pyrolysis oil contains more acetic acid, glycolaldehyde, and acetol, which also makes it less sensitive to market price. The plant profitability increases with production capacity up to 300 kton pyrolysis oil per year. In this capacity, pine-derived pyrolysis oil yields approximately a three times higher return-on-investment (ROI) than forest residue-derived pyrolysis oil.