Innovative vanillin yielding from lignin: process modelling and assessment

Abstract

In this work, we present the modelling of a novel process to promote vanillin production from lignin using PODIC®. The model includes the PODIC© production, lignin depolymerisation and final product separation. Furthermore, a complete assessment of the proposed process in terms of economic and environmental performance was performed. Regarding the economic evaluation, a comprehensive study was done leading to high investment (13.76 €/kgLignin) and operational (5.16 €/kgLignin) costs. The main reasons for the elevated costs were identified and further alternative process configuration were evaluated too. Despite this, the main result was that the proposed process is challenging to commercialize. Since it is complex to obtain profits even at larger scales, improvement of the process design to improve the economics are considered. An environmental analysis of the environmental impacts generated by the overall production process of vanillin and phenolic compounds was carried out considering energy consumption, human health, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and human toxicity. Electricity consumption of the PODIC® reactor was identified as the hotspot of the system. The CO2 emissions were also compared with the Borregaard process and found to be similar.