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.