Sustainability evaluation of azelaic acid from techno-economic analysis and environmental life cycle assessment of sustainable azelaic acid production

Kudli, Lavanya Prashantkumar

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120465 Copy

Description

Title

Sustainability evaluation of azelaic acid from techno-economic analysis and environmental life cycle assessment of sustainable azelaic acid production

Author(s)

Kudli, Lavanya Prashantkumar

Issue Date

2023-05-05

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Guest, Jeremy S

Department of Study

Civil & Environmental Eng

Discipline

Environ Engr in Civil Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Azelaic Acid
• Techno-economic Analysis
• Life Cycle Assessment

Language

eng

Abstract

Azelaic acid is a renewable bioproduct and a valuable dibasic monomer with wide ranging industrial applications including lubricants, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. It is produced via oxidative cleavage of oleic acid derived from vegetable oils such as high oleic sunflower oil. The conventional approach to achieving oxidative cleavage is an ozone-based process which is energy intensive and poses a combustion hazard. As an alternative, a recently commercialized process has demonstrated oxidative cleavage using hydrogen peroxide and oxygen in place of ozone. Further, it has been demonstrated that continuous oxidative cleavage using hydrogen peroxide and oxygen can achieve a higher azelaic acid percentage yield as compared to batchwise oxidative cleavage. However, the financial viability and environmental significance of this process remain unclear, especially given significant technological and market driven uncertainties that could undermine commercial feasibility and environmental benefits. In this study, we leverage BioSTEAM – an open-source platform for the design and evaluation of biorefineries – to perform techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) of a hydrogen peroxide and oxygen based continuous oxidative cleavage method for production of azelaic acid under uncertainty. The designed process produces market competitive azelaic acid with a minimum product selling price (MPSP) of $27 per kg of azelaic acid. A sensitivity analysis focused on MPSP was conducted to understand key drivers of MPSP. We find that the minimum product selling price is most sensitive to the high oleic sunflower oil feedstock price followed by the hydrogen peroxide price. Since high oleic sunflower oil is not a bulk commodity, future investigation will focus on using high oleic soybean as an alternative feedstock.

Graduation Semester

2023-05

Type of Resource

Text

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120465

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Lavanya Kudli

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