Japanese company develops acrylic acid-from-biomass process
26 Nov 2009
Tokyo - Nippon Shokubai Co. Ltd of Tokyo has announced the development of a high-performance catalyst for manufacturing acrolein - an acrylic acid intermediate - from glycerol obtained as a by-product from the manufacture of biodiesel fuel from vegetable oils.
The catalyst can be used in manufacture of acrolein by gas phase dehydration of glycerol feedstock. Acrylic acid can be subsequently obtained from acrolein by gas-phase oxidation.
Nippon Shokubai has also developed a new solid catalyst and a new process for manufacture of biodiesel fuel with vegetable oils used as raw material. The glycerol produced by this method is claimed to have a very high purity and can be used as raw material for manufacturing acrylic acid directly from acrolein without any purification process.
“In recent years, development of catalysts for manufacturing acrolein from by-product glycerine has been actively carried out by many companies, but glycerine developed so far has many problems including productivity, yield, and catalyst life and has not yet been commercialised,” the company explained. “Most of the catalysts developed to date had strong acidic properties but we have solved these problems by controlling the acidic properties of the catalyst.”
The company is to build a pilot plant for this technology in early 2011 at its site in Himeji, Japan where the company’s acrylic acid plant is located.
According to Nippon Shubakai, the acrylic acid from the new manufacturing method can reduce emission of carbon dioxide by about a third compared to the petroleum-sourced raw material.
“As global production of biodiesel fuel grows, a production amount of the by-product glycerinne increases, and development of its applications has been long expected. In addition, from the viewpoint of prevention of global warming, reduction of carbon dioxide emission has become a challenge in manufacturing and consuming chemical products,” said a company statement.
