Economics, alcohol production from

Fasahati, P., liu, JJ., 2016. Appbeation of MixAlco processes for mixed alcohol production from brown algae Economic, energy, and carbon footprint assessments. Fuel Processing Technology 144, 262—273. Available at http //www.sciencedirect.com/sdence/article/pii/ S037838201630008X (accessed 26.01.16.). 

In 1991, the relatively old and small synthetic fuel production faciHties at Sasol One began a transformation to a higher value chemical production facihty (38). This move came as a result of declining economics for synthetic fuel production from synthesis gas at this location. The new faciHties installed in this conversion will expand production of high value Arge waxes and paraffins to 123,000 t/yr in 1993. Also, a new faciHty for production of 240,00 t/yr of ammonia will be added. The complex will continue to produce ethylene and process feedstock from other Sasol plants to produce alcohols and higher phenols. 

Pyrolysis of scrap tires was studied by several mbber, oil, and carbon black industries [14]. Pyrolysis, also known as thermal cracking is a process in which polymer molecules are heated in partial or total absence of air, until they fragment into several smaller, dissimilar, random-sized molecules of alcohols, hydrocarbons, and others. The pyrolysis temperature used is in the range of 500°C-700°C. Moreover, maintenance of partial vacuum during pyrolysis in reactors lowered the economy of the process. Several patents were issued for the pyrolysis of worn out tires to yield cmde oil, monomers, and carbon black in economic ways [15-18]. The major drawback of chemical recycling is that the value of the output is normally low and the mixed oils, gases, and carbon black obtained by pyrolysis cannot compete with similar products from natural oil. Pyrolyzing plant produces toxic wastewater as a by-product of the operation [19]. 

Cofactor regeneration, an economically essential step in the synthetic use of ADH, was accomplished within the PVA matrix using isopropanol as cosubstrate for the ADH itself or for a second alcohol dehydrogenase from Thermoanaerobium hrockii (E.C. 1.1.1.2). An overall turnover number of 10 was achieved, which is a promising magnitude for technical application. However, while the presence of the cosubstrate in the gel-stabilized two-phase system improved the solubility of substrates in the gel phase and consequently enhanced the productivity of the... 

There are continuing efforts to develop cost-effective processes for fuel alcohol production, although the economics are often dependent on the availability of subsidized feedstocks to compete with traditional fuels derived from oil. The pretreatment and fermentation of such feedstocks, derived from corn, sugar cane, and even municipal waste, yields a dilute aqueous solution of ethanol which must be separated from a complex mixture of waste materials and then concentrated by distillation to remove water. Both batch and continuous production processes have been developed, with the requirement for effective bioseparations during both the pretreatment and ethanol recovery parts of the process. 

For countries with higlier coal prices, the synthesis of valuable chemical products from coal seems economically more attractive than the production of liquid fuels. Thus, the Fischei-Tropsch reaction b reinvestigated for selectivity control towards chemical feedstocks such as olefins, alcohols, or poly methylene P-I4. ... 

Fatty alcohols make up one of the major basic oleochemicals having an increasing growth rate. As a primary raw material for surfactants, growth in fatty alcohol production parallels increasing economic prosperity and improved standards of living. Fatty alcohols are the raw materials of choice for surfactant manufacture because of their biodegradability and availability from renewable resources. 

An abundant and relatively cheap raw material is almost sure to find in time a use to which it can be economically put. The cracking of petroleum, especially vapor-phase cracking, produces tremendous volumes of olefin gases, which are now extensively used as raw materials for alcohol production. The alcohols made by this procedure are ethyl from ethylene, isopropyl from propylene, normal butyl indirectly from ethylene, secondary butyl from normal butylene, tertiary butyl from isobutylene, and secondary and tertiary amyl from amylenes. 

Recycling of all the CO2 in the syngas product from methane will yield a syngas with a H2/CO ratio close to the stoiciometric ratio of 3 1. To obtain lower ratios, supplemental CO2 is required. Imported CO2 is often used for syngas in the production of methanol and 0x0 alcohols. It is technically feasible to add supplemental CO2 to the reformer feed so that the final syngas product H2/CO ratio approaches 2 1 (this is described in more detail in Section III.C). However, obtaining ratios below 2 1 presents technical limitations and economic penalties. 

A considerable amount of work has been carried out in the Soviet Union on the polymerization of ethylene in solutions of heptane, cyclohexane, and of methyl alcohol (7, 8). Again at pressures of between 100 and 300 atm, polymers with densities up to 0.95 were obtained. Polymerization of ethylene in solution should offer significant economic advantages in the case of removal of the product from the reaction region, but little appears to have been heard of Russian exploitation of their original work in this field. 

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