Ion Agirre

Bioenergy II: The Development of a Reactive Distillation Process for the Production of 1,1 Diethoxy Butane from Bioalcohol: Kinetic Study and Simulation Model

1,1 Diethoxy butane was produced carrying out the reaction between ethanol and butanal in a batch stirred reactor using Amberlyst cation-exchange resins as catalyst. The kinetics of this reaction was studied working at different temperatures, feed compositions and catalyst type and loadings. Due to thermodynamic limitations, maximum conversions are quite low for kinetically acceptable temperatures. That is why the kinetic information gathered has been used to develop a model for reactive distillation, which has predicted promising results.

Acetals as Possible Diesel Additives

Nowadays, oil is the source of the vast majority of fuels used for transport, heating and of the hydrocarbons used in petrochemical industry. However, oil is a fossil fuel and some experts predict that its reserves will exhaust approximately in 20–30 years. Moreover, it seems that the demand of fossil fuels will increase at rates that can be estimated from “World Energy Outlook” elaborated by the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2007). Apart from all these data, there are evidences that the climate of the planet is changing due to the global warning. The temperature of the earth is increasing and the ice of the poles is beginning to melt; all these changes are attributed to the Greenhouse Effect. Besides, it has been estimated that 82 % of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions are due to fossil fuel combustion so it is clear that alternative energy sources are needed (see Figure 1).

Production of Furanic Biofuels with Zeolite and Metal Oxide Bifunctional Catalysts for Energy-and Product-Driven Biorefineries

In the last years, research on the transformation of biomass into different compounds has grown significantly with the motivation being to reduce the dependency of oil and to develop of sustainable and environmental friendly energy sources. In this context biomass appears to be as the only renewable source of carbon that is able to provide a substitute for fossil fuels. In the near future, bio-refineries, in which biomass is catalytically converted into pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, plastics and transportation fuels will take the place of current petrochemical plants. Among the transportation fuels, furanic biofuels as 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) and 2-methylfuran (2-MF) have good performance as a fuel for direct injection spark ignition type engines without important modifications of the engine. The transformation of biomass into furanic biofuel compounds takes place via 5 hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the case of the DMF and 2-MF; in the case of the 2-MF it can be also produced from furfural (FF) via furfuryl alcohol (FOL). In these reactions it is necessary to employ of bifunctional catalysts for the hydrogenolysis. Metals are required to fix the hydrogen reaction and sometimes for the C–O and C–C bonds cleavage and the acid-base supports of the dehydration, for the C–C and C–O bonds scissions. This chapter provides an overview of current methods for converting biomass to furanic biofuels with zeolite and metal oxide bifunctional catalysts. The chapter provides state-of-the-art overview on furanic biofuel production from biomass with a brief description of the DMF production process and the 2-MF production process. Use of different bifunctional catalysts for the DMF production process and the 2-MF production process is described. The influence of the support and that of different metals will be discussed along with properties of the bifunctional catalysts like metal dispersion, catalysts acidity and operating conditions. Finally, the use of different solvents to improve the yield of biofuels will be analyzed.