On the Economics and Process Design of Renewable Butadiene from Biomass-Derived Furfural

The catalytic conversion of biomass-derived furfural to 1,3-butadiene is a potential synthetic route to renewable rubber. In this work, we present and evaluate a conceptual process design consisting of three steps: (i) decarbonylation of furfural to furan, (ii) hydrogenation of furan to tetrahydrofuran, and (iii) dehydra-decyclization of tetrahydrofuran to 1,3-butadiene. Detailed reaction and separation systems are designed using process simulation and economic optimization. At a scale of 77 kton year^-1 of furfural (100 kmol h^-1) purchased at .84 kg^-1 ($176 kmol^-1), a minimum sale price of butadiene of $5.43 kg^-1 is calculated. The selectivities of the decarbonylation and dehydra-decyclization catalysts are identified as the key process parameters by performing a sensitivity analysis on the minimum selling price of butadiene. Economic and technological factors necessary to achieve a minimum sale price of butadiene below .50 kg^-1 ($81 kmol^-1) are identified. A quantitative treatment of process sustainability results in a carbon efficiency of ∼58% and an E-factor of ∼1.5 for the overall process.