Process simulation of HMF production from wheat bran and sugar beet pulp
(2021) KETM05 20211Chemical Engineering (M.Sc.Eng.)
- Abstract
- Due to the progressing environmental problems related to global warming, the chemical industry is transitioning from fossil to renewable feedstocks. For added environmental benefits, surplus biomass from the agricultural industry which currently does not have any high-value applications can be used for production of chemicals. This master thesis is written as a part of the tech-no-economic analysis in the Farm2furan research project at Lund University, in which surplus agricultural biomass streams in Sweden are used for production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in a future biorefinery. HMF is a platform chemical, and chemicals produced from HMF can be used for production of monomers, resins, textile dyes, pharmaceuticals, flavors, and... (More)
- Due to the progressing environmental problems related to global warming, the chemical industry is transitioning from fossil to renewable feedstocks. For added environmental benefits, surplus biomass from the agricultural industry which currently does not have any high-value applications can be used for production of chemicals. This master thesis is written as a part of the tech-no-economic analysis in the Farm2furan research project at Lund University, in which surplus agricultural biomass streams in Sweden are used for production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in a future biorefinery. HMF is a platform chemical, and chemicals produced from HMF can be used for production of monomers, resins, textile dyes, pharmaceuticals, flavors, and fragrances.
In this thesis, the simulation software Aspen Plus was used to build a model for production of HMF from wheat bran and sugar beet pulp. To assess how the system behaved a simplified model was built initially, after which a more advanced model including all unit operations need-ed was built. The simulations showed that the wheat bran- and sugar beet pulp-based processes were favored by different combinations of pretreatment steps, which also greatly affected the amount of physical equipment needed. This depends on the composition of the raw material itself and the accessibility of the monosaccharides in the raw material, which ultimately affects the economic viability of the simulated processes. For wheat bran, the maximum yield of HMF from the entirety of the raw material was 19.4%, while the theoretical yield was 29.8%. For sugar beet pulp, the maximum yield was 5.6% while the theoretical yield was 17.7%. Even though both processes showed potential for profitability at this early stage of the process design, the wheat bran process consistently had greater potential with the used indicator. Because of the assumptions made in the process simulation, it is recommended that a more thorough process simulation is made including reaction kinetics before moving on to a potential pilot plant. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- What if you could produce sustainable chemicals from excess agricultural materials? You can!
By using wheat bran, the outer shell of the wheat kernel, or sugar beet pulp, the excess fibrous material that remains after caster sugar production, a sustainable chemical called 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) can be produced.
HMF is a sustainable chemical that has great potential to transform the way chemicals are produced today. As the dangers of global warming become more and more evident, transitioning from fossil raw materials, such as oil and coal, to renewables, such as wood and excess material from agriculture, becomes more and more important to stop the arrival of a disastrous future. When using materials that otherwise would be... (More) - What if you could produce sustainable chemicals from excess agricultural materials? You can!
By using wheat bran, the outer shell of the wheat kernel, or sugar beet pulp, the excess fibrous material that remains after caster sugar production, a sustainable chemical called 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) can be produced.
HMF is a sustainable chemical that has great potential to transform the way chemicals are produced today. As the dangers of global warming become more and more evident, transitioning from fossil raw materials, such as oil and coal, to renewables, such as wood and excess material from agriculture, becomes more and more important to stop the arrival of a disastrous future. When using materials that otherwise would be wasted to produce something of value, it is a win-win situation – for us and for the future generations. In addition, HMF can be used to produce many other chemicals, one of which can be used to produce renewable and environmentally friendly plastic bottles – amazing, right?
As this process is fairly new, it firstly needs to be evaluated in a computer program – a process simulation software – to see how it performs, before building the plant in real life. If the process does not perform well while simulated, how could it do so in real life? The software used for the simulation is called Aspen Plus and includes everything needed to simulate a real chemical plant in the computer.
So how can you use wheat bran and sugar beet pulp to produce chemicals? In wheat, it is the kernel that is used for wheat flour. Wheat flour consists of starch that is made of chains of sugar. After production of wheat flour, the wheat bran is left as excess material. Today, wheat bran is used in for example cereal and bread to add fiber into the diet, as well as in animal feed. Sugar beet pulp is what is left after obtaining the sucrose from the sugar beet. The main application of sugar beet pulp today is in animal feed. In wheat bran and sugar beet pulp, it is the remaining chains of sugars that can be used to produce HMF by undergoing several reactions. As the chains of sugars are stuck in the material, the first step is to extract them by pre-treating the raw material with steam and acid or enzymes, which break up the material and makes the sugar more accessible. Then, when free sugar is present in the form of glucose, it is changed into fructose using an enzyme that can restructure the glucose. There are no extra atoms needed for the restructuring to happen because glucose and fructose already contain the same atoms! The reason for changing glucose to fructose is that more HMF will be produced if fructose is the reactant than if glucose was used. Using glucose means that more by-products, unwanted chemicals that also form in the process, will be formed. Of course, you want as much HMF to be formed as possible, so it does not go to waste. The last step is when the formed HMF is cleaned and purified.
The hope is that HMF, along with many other chemicals, can be produced from renewable materials in the future. For this to become reality, there must be a possibility to earn money from the production process. Good news! The processes of production of HMF from wheat bran and sugar beet pulp have a good outlook, as calculations made shows that there is money to be made from the production even if it becomes much more expensive to buy the raw materials. Even though further investigations are required, we are on our way to a more sustainable future, faster and faster each day. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9066163
- author
- Petersson, Matilda LU
- supervisor
-
- Mats Galbe LU
- organization
- course
- KETM05 20211
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, Wheat bran, Sugar beet pulp, Process simulation, Aspen Plus, Biorefinery, Chemical engineering
- language
- English
- id
- 9066163
- date added to LUP
- 2021-09-29 14:28:34
- date last changed
- 2021-09-29 14:28:34
@misc{9066163,
abstract = {{Due to the progressing environmental problems related to global warming, the chemical industry is transitioning from fossil to renewable feedstocks. For added environmental benefits, surplus biomass from the agricultural industry which currently does not have any high-value applications can be used for production of chemicals. This master thesis is written as a part of the tech-no-economic analysis in the Farm2furan research project at Lund University, in which surplus agricultural biomass streams in Sweden are used for production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in a future biorefinery. HMF is a platform chemical, and chemicals produced from HMF can be used for production of monomers, resins, textile dyes, pharmaceuticals, flavors, and fragrances.
In this thesis, the simulation software Aspen Plus was used to build a model for production of HMF from wheat bran and sugar beet pulp. To assess how the system behaved a simplified model was built initially, after which a more advanced model including all unit operations need-ed was built. The simulations showed that the wheat bran- and sugar beet pulp-based processes were favored by different combinations of pretreatment steps, which also greatly affected the amount of physical equipment needed. This depends on the composition of the raw material itself and the accessibility of the monosaccharides in the raw material, which ultimately affects the economic viability of the simulated processes. For wheat bran, the maximum yield of HMF from the entirety of the raw material was 19.4%, while the theoretical yield was 29.8%. For sugar beet pulp, the maximum yield was 5.6% while the theoretical yield was 17.7%. Even though both processes showed potential for profitability at this early stage of the process design, the wheat bran process consistently had greater potential with the used indicator. Because of the assumptions made in the process simulation, it is recommended that a more thorough process simulation is made including reaction kinetics before moving on to a potential pilot plant.}},
author = {{Petersson, Matilda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Process simulation of HMF production from wheat bran and sugar beet pulp}},
year = {{2021}},
}