Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The United States needs to shift from petroleum based chemicals to a drop-in sustainable and biobased alternative at the lowest possible cost by 2030. Our lactic-to-acrylic technology connects rural agricultural value chains to the urban chemicals value chains and provides drop-in bio-based acrylic acid and acrylates at cost parity to today's petrochemical acrylics at greater than 80% reduction in CO2 emissions (Energy Efficiency / Renewable Energy).Producing sustainable acrylic acid and acrylates brings significant health and welfare benefits through increased sustainability to the $11 billion, 6.8 million metric ton per annum acrylics value chain used throughout the superabsorbent polymer, paints, coatings, and adhesives markets. Commercialization of our technology will provide high-quality, well-paying STEM jobs in rural locations near corn fields, similar to ethanol plants, thereby further promoting Agricultually-Related Manufacturing in the United States. US economic competitiveness in global markets will also be increased through new industrial uses for corn-derived commodity chemicals.The Lakril technology includes: (1) a corn-derived lactic feedstock pretreatment process, (2) catalytic dehydration conversion of lactic feedstocks over a bifunctional zeolite catalyst modified by engineered bases, and (3) a separations system to generate high-purity acrylic products. To achieve commercialization and deliver the anticipated benefits to US stakeholders in commercial plants at about 40,000 metric tons per year, we seek to improve our catalytic technology by (a) optimizing the composition of corn-derived lactic feedstocks containing a high water content, (b) developing a robust regeneration procedure for long-term utilization of our catalyst, and (c) scaling up the process 100X into a continuous pilot plant producing 1kg acrylic / day. By accomplishing these technical objectives in the Phase II project, we will demonstrate commercial feasibility for the process and be prepared for the next phase of scale-up and commercialization.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
60%
Developmental
10%
Goals / Objectives
Producing sustainable acrylic acid and acrylates brings significant health and welfare benefits through increased sustainability to the $11 billion, 6.8 million metric ton per annum acrylics value chain used throughout the superabsorbent polymer, paints, coatings, and adhesives markets. Our lactic-to-acrylic technology provides drop-in bio-based acrylic acid and acrylates at cost parity to today's petrochemical acrylics while providing > 80% reduction in CO2 emissions (Energy Efficiency / Renewable Energy). Commercialization of our technology will provide high-quality, well-paying STEM jobs in rural locations near corn fields, similar to ethanol plants, thereby further promoting Agricultually-Related Manufacturing in the United States. US economic competitiveness in global markets will also be increased through new industrial uses for corn-derived commodity chemicals.The Lakril technology includes: (1) a corn-derived lactic feedstock pretreatment process, (2) catalytic dehydration conversion of lactic feedstocks over a bifunctional zeolite catalyst modified by engineered bases, and (3) a separations system to generate high-purity acrylic products. To achieve commercialization and deliver the anticipated benefits to US stakeholders in commercial plants at about 40,000 metric tons per year, we seek to improve our catalytic technology by (a) optimizing the composition of corn-derived lactic feedstocks containing a high water content, (b) developing a robust regeneration procedure for long-term utilization of our catalyst, and (c) scaling up the process 100X. By accomplishing these technical objectives in the Phase II project, we will demonstrate commercial feasibility for the process and be prepared for the next phase of scale-up and commercialization.
Project Methods
In the Phase II Project, Låkril will collaborate with Dr. Wegener at USDA-ARS NCAUR in Peoria, IL to study the regeneration of catalyst at larger scales (5-20 g) under a variety of process conditions. NCAUR will generate replicate batches of deactivated catalyst under fixed process conditions followed by evaluation of oxidativeregeneration parameters such as O2 partial pressure, gas velocities, regeneration time, and temperature ramp rate to develop an efficient regeneration strategy. In parallel, Låkril will explore the effects of varying catalytic testing conditions on subsequent regeneration using a fixed regeneration procedure developed by NCAUR. In both cases, catalysts will be retested after regeneration and characterized by Låkril/UMN to evaluate the impact of deactivation and regeneration on zeolite structure and coke deposition. Through this iterative approach, we will evaluate and determine the optimal regeneration procedure for recovering catalyst performance and then apply it in-situ in a large-scale continuous pilot plant.Overall, these methods therefore allow:1) Determination ofthe optimal feed composition (ethyl lactate and water with potential additions of ethanol, nitrogen, and/or carbon dioxide) to achieve >60% yield with a 6-week catalyst lifetime.2) Optimization ofthe oxidative catalyst regeneration process at >10g scale by evaluating conditions including O2/N2 gas ratios, temperature ramps, and hold times.3) Evaluation ofthe impact of initial catalytic testing conditions on catalyst regeneration process.4) Evaluation of these procedures ina continuous pilot plant with an integrated separations system capable of producing 1 kg of on-specification acrylic acid per day.