DOI: https://doi.org/10.9767/jcerp.20415

Improving Glycerol Conversion by Implementing Recycle Streams and Reducing Distillation Steps in Glycerol Carbonate Production

Department of Computer Engineering, Universitas Diponegoro, Jl. Prof. Sudarto, SH, Tembalang, Semarang, Indonesia

Received: 13 Jun 2025; Revised: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 28 Jun 2025; Available online: 1 Jul 2025; Published: 30 Dec 2025.
Editor(s): Istadi Istadi
Open Access Copyright (c) 2025 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Fulltext View|Download

Citation Format:
Cover Image
Abstract

The rising surplus of glycerol from biodiesel production drives the need for its valorization into high-value compounds such as glycerol carbonate (GC). This study proposes a process intensification strategy to enhance glycerol conversion efficiency through transesterification with dimethyl carbonate (DMC). The modification involves incorporating a recycle stream for unreacted DMC and reducing one distillation column to minimize energy consumption and thermal degradation. Simulations were conducted using Aspen HYSYS® v11, modeling a CSTR operating at 95 °C and 1 atm with a DMC:glycerol molar ratio of 3:1. Process modification resulted in complete DMC utilization and a shift in separation strategy, with simulated glycerol conversion increasing from 91% to 99.98%. These findings demonstrate the trade-offs between energy efficiency and conversion performance in process redesign, offering valuable insights into more sustainable GC production. Copyright © 2025 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Supporting Information (SI) PDF
Keywords: Glycerol; Glycerol Carbonate; Transesterification; Reactive Distillation; Product Purity

Article Metrics:

Article Info
Section: Original Research Articles
Language : EN
Recent articles
Improving Glycerol Conversion by Implementing Recycle Streams and Reducing Distillation Steps in Glycerol Carbonate Production Conversion Improvement of Propylene to Acrylic Acid Process Process Intensification of Hydrodealkylation (HDA) for Benzene Production through Heat Integration and Gas Recycle Optimization More recent articles
  1. Guedes, P. H. P. S., Luz, R. F., Cavalcante, R. M., & Young, A. F. (2023). Process simulation for technical and economic evaluation of acrolein and glycerol carbonate production from glycerol. Biomass and Bioenergy, 168, 106659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2022.106659
  2. Valverde, J. L., Ferro, V. R., & Giroir-Fendler, A. (2023). Prediction of the solid-liquid equilibrium of ternary and quaternary salt-water systems. Influence of the e-NRTL interaction parameters. Fluid Phase Equilibria, 572, 113832. DOI: 10.1016/j.fluid.2023.113832
  3. Seider, W. D., Lewin, D. R, Seader, J. D., Widagdo, S., Gani, R.,Ng, K. M. (2017). Product and Process Design Principles: Synthesis, Analysis and Evaluation, fourth ed., Wiley, New York
  4. Esteban, J., Domínguez, E., Ladero, M., & Garcia-Ochoa, F. Kinetics of the production of glycerol carbonate by transesterification of glycerol with dimethyl and ethylene carbonate using potassium methoxide, a highly active catalyst. Fuel Processing Technology, 138, 243-251, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2015.06.012
  5. Pattanaik, P. P., Kumar, P. M., Raju, N., & Lingaiah, N. (2021). Continuous synthesis of glycerol carbonate by transesterification of glycerol with dimethyl carbonate over Fe–La mixed oxide catalysts. Catalysis Letters, 151, 1433-1443. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-020-03397-4
  6. Kosamia, N. M., Samavi, M., Uprety, B. K., & Rakshit, S. K. (2020). Valorization of biodiesel byproduct crude glycerol for the production of bioenergy and biochemicals. Catalysts, 10(6), 609. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10060609
  7. Salari, M., Varela, J. C., Zhang, H., & Grinstaff, M. W. (2021). Sustainable glycerol carbonate electrolytes for Li-ion supercapacitors: performance evaluation of butyl, benzyl, and ethyl glycerol carbonates. Materials Advances, 2(18), 6049-6057. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ma00547b
  8. Towler, G. P., & Sinnott, R. K. (2013). Chemical Engineering Design: Principles, Practice, and Economics of Plant and Process Design, second ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, MA
  9. Kaur, A., & Ali, A. (2020). Lithium zirconate as a selective and cost-effective mixed metal oxide catalyst for glycerol carbonate production. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res, 59, 2667–2679. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b05747
  10. Gosu, V., Arora, S., Subbaramaiah, V., Srivastava, V. C., & Gupta, R. B. (2024). Glycerol carbonate synthesis: Critical analysis of prospects and challenges with special emphasis on influencing parameters for catalytic transesterification. ACS Sustainable Resource Management, 1(5), 816-841. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssusresmgt.4c00120
  11. C.M.S. Ferreira. (2018). Flowsheet Proposal for the Purification of Glycerol from Biodiesel Production, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  12. Yu, J., Wang, K., Shao, S., Li, W., Du, S., Chen, X., Chao, C., & Fan, X. (2023). Effect of ionic radius and valence state of alkali and alkaline earth metals on promoting the catalytic performance of La2O3 catalysts for glycerol carbonate production. Chemical Engineering Journal, 458, 141486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.141486
  13. Okoye, P.U., Abdullah, A.Z., & Hameed, B.H. (2016). Glycerol carbonate synthesis from glycerol and dimethyl carbonate using trisodium phosphate, J. Taiwan Inst. Chem. Eng., 68, 51–58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtice.2016.09.011
  14. Jitjamnong, J., Khongprom, P., Ratanawilai, T., & Ratanawilai, S. (2024). Glycerol carbonate synthesis via transesterification of enriched glycerol and dimethyl carbonate using a Li-incorporated MCM-41 framework. Royal Society of Chemistry Advances, 14, 5941-5958. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4RA00290C
  15. Moraru, M. D., Bildea, C. S., & Kiss, A. A. (2024). Process design and control of reactive distillation in recycle systems. Control and Safety Analysis of Intensified Chemical Processes, 183-208. https://doi.org/10.1002/9783527843657.ch7

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update:

No citation recorded.