INTEGRATED GLYCEROL REFORMING IN SUPERCRITICAL WATER AND SUBSEQUENT SYNGAS CONVERSION TO METHANOL

摘要

For the production of a ton of biodiesel, roughly 100 kg of methanol is consumed while the same amount of crude glycerol is formed. As a result, a significant amount of glycerol is produced in biodiesel production. The economic value and sustainability of biodiesel production can be improved by developing high added value outlets for glycerol. An interesting option is the conversion of glycerol to methanol which can be used again in the transesterification step in the biodiesel process. An overview of this concept is schematically depicted in Figure 1, and is referred to as the Glycerol-to-Methanol (GtM) process. The overall process from glycerol to methanol consists of two processes, viz. the glycerol reforming in supercritical water (RSCW) and subsequent catalytic methanol synthesis.