(682g) High Yield of Succinic Acid Production through Deoxydehydration/Hydrodeoxygenation Reactions of Tartaric Acid
AIChE Annual Meeting
2019
2019 AIChE Annual Meeting
Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division
Deoxygenation and Oxidation in Biomass Upgrading
Thursday, November 14, 2019 - 2:18pm to 2:36pm
A novel thermochemical catalytic on-step process to produce succinic acid from tartaric acid (main constituent in winery waste stream), has been recently proposed.3 Despite the remarkable yield of succinic acid (87%) the total carbon balance of the reaction was low. Moreover, the proposed catalyst requires pretreatment, and the reaction mixture needs initiators (HBr and acetic acid) to activate the C-O bond cleavage. Further development of this process is necessary for it to penetrate the market.
Herein, we present our recent findings in producing succinic acid starting from tartaric acid with 97% yield in a batch reactor setup. The process was achieved by utilizing a bifunctional heterogenous catalyst supported on reducible metal oxide, and molecular hydrogen as the reductant. The bimetallic catalyst is retarded against the terminal carboxylic acid groups and can selectively produce succinic acid through two reaction pathways. The first, is the deoxydehydration (DODH) of tartaric acid to produce fumaric acid, followed by the hydrogenation of the C=C bond to succinic acid. While the second pathway, is a sequential hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) to malic acid intermediate then to the final desired product.
References:
(1) Corma, A.; Iborra, S.; Velty, A. Chemical reviews 2007, 107, 2411.
(2) Werpy, T.; Petersen, G. Top value added chemicals from biomass: volume I--results of screening for potential candidates from sugars and synthesis gas, National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (US), 2004.
(3) Fu, J.; Vasiliadou, E. S.; Goulas, K. A.; Saha, B.; Vlachos, D. G. Catalysis Science & Technology 2017, 7, 4944.