Process design and economics of an aluminium chloride catalysed organosolv process
In this work, an organosolv process using beech wood as the feedstock, a mixture of water and methanol (50 vol% as the solvent and aluminium chloride as the catalyst is designed. Different to other organosolv processes, the formation of the high value added product furfural occurs already in the cooking stage with a quite high yield (40 mol% based on a lab scale literature process) Different to furfural producing processes, the cellulose remains in the solid phase in high quantity (93 wt% of the initial based on a lab scale literature process) The plant is designed in the way that 99.7 wt% of methanol is recovered. Another specification is the isolation of 95 wt% furfural with a purity of more than 99.5 wt% After consecutive conversion of cellulose, the minimum sugar selling price of glucose as a dilute solution is calculated as 329 /t depending strongly on the furfural yield as well as the application of lignin and the corresponding selling price.