Platform chemical waste

Many industrial organic acids can be produced by fermentation, such as acetic, citric, and lactic acids. Succinic acid is a dicarboxylic acid of potential industrial interest as a platform chemical (1-3). Separation and purification of succinic acid by adsorption was tested to replace current precipitation methods and their associated waste disposal problems. Succinic acid is a valuable intermediate value chemical with a moderate market. For succinic acid to have an economic and energy impact, it will need to become a commodity chemical intermediate with a much lower price. This target price hasbeen estimated to be between 0.22 and 0.30 / lb ( 0.48- 0.66/kg) and is potentially achievable with advanced technology (1). At this price, succinic acid can be catalytically upgraded into other higher valued chemicals suchastetrahydrofuran, 1,4-butanediol, y-butyrolactone, 2-pyrrolidinone, and N-methylpyrrolidinone. 

All considerations for the use of lignocelluloses for the production of bioethanol or other platform chemicals should include the overall mass and energy balance as well as the availability through the year and the transportation needed. Regarding a study of IEA/OECD 2010 [9], there is no additional land available in the short term and only 10% of global forestry and agricultural residues are assumed to be available for biofuel or platform chemical production. Therefore, there will always be a direct competition of bioethanol or other platform chemicals production with food production even if so-called plant waste material is used as the real limitation is the arable land available. 

Very recently, lactones have received increasing attention as potential renewable platform chemicals. Perhaps the most prominent bio-based hydroxy fatty acids lactic acid, whose cyclic ester of two lactate molecules serves precursor for the synthesis of bio-based polymers. Fermentative production of hydroxyl-carboxylic acids from agro-industrial waste is an alternative to the synthesis from dwindling fossil resources (Fiichtenbusch et al. 2000). The enzymatic machinery for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in bacteria offers catalytic pathways for the production of these lactone precursors (Efe et al. 2008). Recent examples include the microbial synthesis of y-butyrolactone and y-valerolactone. Particularly y-valerolactone is of importance and ranks among the top key components of the biomass-based economy. Microbial processes thus offer the perspective of a sustainable fermentative production of optically pure renewable lactones. 

Chaabouni, E., Sarma, S.J., Gassara, R, Brar, S.K., 2014. C3-C4 Platform Chemicals Bioproduction Using Biomass. Biotransformation of Waste Biomass into High Value Biochetnicals. Springer, pp. 473-489. 

The platform chemicals described earlier mainly rely on feedstock, for instance, 70% of the total cost of the fermentation product is based on feedstock. Hence substrate costs are the most influential parameters in platform chemical production from renewable resources. The cost of the substrate is not only based on pretreatment and fractionation but also on the severe environmental damage caused by deforestation for feedstock requirements (Octave and Thomas, 2009). As mentioned earlier, to get a few hxmdred kilograms of chemicals, a huge ton of forest biomass is consumed. Hence the biorefinery sector should divert its focus from wood to forest wastes, paper mill wastes, agricultural residues, and other municipal wastes. This will decrease the pressure on forest biomass and make the entire process sustainable. In order to reduce deforestation, a few strategies are to be followed in biorefineries ... 

Platform Chemical Recovery/ Production From Biodiesel Industry Waste 370... 

Platform Chemical Biorefinery and Agroindustrial Waste Management... 

PLATFORM CHEMICAL BIOREFINERY AND AGROINDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT... 

Agriculture waste is a renewable resource. Unlike crude oil, which is a source for many platform chemicals, agroindustrial wastes are renewable and are constantly regenerated. 

Because of the high demand of biofuels in the present situation, several biorefineries have been established based on the availability of agriculture and forest products and also in efforts to utilize wastes obtainable from the paper and pulp industry, sugar mills, etc. (Cherubini et al., 2009). This system yields transportation fuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol, platform chemicals, and some chemical intermediates for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Since the Phase III biorefineries are the ones that may be expected to serve as an all-in-one source of food, feed, and platform chemicals, the various known forms of Phase 111 biorefineries are discussed in some detail below. 

Agroindustrial Wastes as Feedstock for Bioenei and Platform Chemicals 429... 

AGROINDUSTRIAL WASTES AS FEEDSTOCK FOR BIOENERGY AND PLATFORM CHEMICALS... 

The oil and gas industry produces much waste material, such as scrap metal, human waste, unspent chemicals, oily sludges and radiation. All of the incoming streams to a facility such as a production platform end up somewhere, and only few of the outgoing streams are useful product. It is one of the responsibilities of the engineer to try to limit the amount of incoming material which will finally become waste material. 

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