Intensified, Kilogram-Scaled, and Environment-Friendly: Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Bio-Based Acylated Hydroxystyrenes
- authored by
- Philipp Petermeier, Pablo Domínguez de María, Emil Byström, Selin Kara
- Abstract
Lignin-derived styrene derivatives are versatile building blocks for the manufacture of biobased polymers. As shown previously, phenol-protected hydroxystyrenes are accessible under industrially sound conditions (>100 g L-1, >95% yield) by subjecting biogenic phenolic acids to enzymatic decarboxylation and base-catalyzed acylation in nonaqueous media (wet cyclopentyl methyl ether, CPME). Herein, we demonstrate the production of 1 kg of 4-acetoxy-3-methoxy-styrene in a 10 L reactor and present practical adjustments to the up- and downstream processing that warrant a straightforward process and high isolated yields. Additionally, an environmental assessment is conducted, starting with a thorough E factor analysis to identify the sources that contribute most to the environmental burden (solvent and downstream processing). Also, the total CO2 production of the process is studied, including contributions from energy use and the treatment of generated wastes. The energy impact is evaluated through thermodynamic analysis, and the environmental footprint contributions by wastes-organic and aqueous fractions-are assessed based on CO2 emissions from solvent incineration and wastewater treatment, respectively. Overall, the holistic assessment of the process, its optimization, scale-up, product isolation, and environmental analysis indicate the feasibility of multistep chemoenzymatic reactions to deliver high-volume, low-value chemicals from biorefineries.
- Organisation(s)
-
Institute of Technical Chemistry
- External Organisation(s)
-
Aarhus University
SpinChem AB
Sustainable Momentum SL
- Type
- Article
- Journal
- ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
- Volume
- 12
- Pages
- 12869-12878
- No. of pages
- 10
- ISSN
- 2168-0485
- Publication date
- 26.08.2024
- Publication status
- Published
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, General Chemical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
- Electronic version(s)
-
https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c03648 (Access:
Open)
