Total Capital Investment of plastic recycling plants correlates with energy losses and capacity

Plastic pollution is a generational problem, and stakeholders are turning to chemical recycling as a potential solution. However, decision-makers necessitate quick and reliable capital investment estimations to evaluate innovative technologies, especially in the early project stage, when limited historical data are available. To address this need, we built a database of 160+ chemical recycling plants, querying for nominal capacity, year and place of construction, total capital investment (TCI), number of long-term jobs and opportunity of subsidies. Then, we compared conventional association of the advancement of cost engineering AACE class 5 estimation methods, with literature estimates, and commercial capital expenditure confidence intervals for pyrolysis, gasification, solvolysis, and selective dissolution. We demonstrate the unreliability of classic methods, and we propose ballpark correlations based on the plant capacity, or the energy loss. Chemical recycling plants suffer from poor economy of scale (with current technologies), and capacity is not always the best indicator for TCI estimation. Pyrolysis and gasification are energy-driven technologies, and their TCI correlates very well (R2 =0.91-0.92) with the total energy losses. Solvolysis and selective dissolution, instead, are at an earlier development stage, so cost engineers or researchers will have to accept less certain TCI vs capacity (R2 =0.60).

Risk Analysis on PMMA Recycling Economics

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a versatile polymer with a forecast market of 4 Mtons/y by 2025, and 6 USD billion by 2027. Each year, 10% of the produced cast sheets, extrusion sheets, or granules PMMA end up as post-production waste, accounting for approximately 30 000 tons/y in Europe only. To guide the future recycling efforts, we investigated the risks of depolymerization process economics for different PMMA scraps feedstock, capital expenditure (CAPEX), and regenerated MMA (r-MMA) prices via a Monte-Carlo simulation. An analysis of plastic recycling plants operating with similar technologies confirmed how a maximum 10 M USD plant (median cost) is what a company should aim for, based on our hypothesis. The capital investment and the r-MMA quality have the main impacts on the profitability. Depending on the pursued outcome, we identified three most suitable scenarios. Lower capital-intensive plants (Scenarios 4 and 8) provide the fastest payback time, but this generates a lower quality monomer, and therefore lower appeal on the long term. On 10 or 20 years of operation, companies should target the very best r-MMA quality, to achieve the highest net present value (Scenario 6). Product quality comes from the feedstock choice, depolymerization, and purification technologies. Counterintuitively, a plant processing low quality scraps available for free (Scenario 7), and therefore producing low purity r-MMA, has the highest probability of negative net present value after 10 years of operation, making it a high-risk scenario. Western countries (especially Europe), call for more and more pure r-MMA, hopefully comparable to the virgin material. With legislations on recycled products becoming more stringent, low quality product might not find a market in the future. To convince shareholders and government bodies, companies should demonstrate how funds and subsidies directly translate into higher quality products (more attractive to costumers), more economically viable, and with a wider market.

C123 ‐ Methane Oxidative Conversion and Hydroformylation to Propylene : Raw material sources and market analyses of the modular route C3 products

The C123 project will develop two scenarios for the production of C3 products from unutilised natural gas sources. The add-on route targets propylene production in large, established petrochemical facilities. The modular route targets the production of a set of other C3 products from remote, stranded methane sources such as marginal gas or biogas. Potential sites for the exploitation of the C123 technology are investigated. A market study of the potential C3 products from the modular route, propanal, 1-propanol and propionic acid is then provided, which indicates that a smaller, local production process for these chemicals may have economic viability.

Conversion of fatty acid methyl esters into dibasic esters by metathesis and their lubricant properties

Monounsaturated dibasic esters were obtained by FAME metathesis and tested for viscosity, extreme temperature and other lubricant properties. Their 2EH derivatives can produce 100% bio-derived basestocks for widespread heavy duty hydraulic fluids.

Synthesis of acrolein by oxidative coupling of alcohols over spinel catalysts: microcalorimetric and spectroscopic approaches

Oxidative coupling of methanol and ethanol is becoming a promising alternative to produce sustainable acrolein.

Catalysis for the synthesis of methacrylic acid and methyl methacrylate

Methyl methacrylate (MMA) is a specialty monomer for poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) and the increasing demand for this monomer has motivated industry to develop clean technologies based on renewable resources. The dominant commercial process reacts acetone and hydrogen cyanide to MMA (ACH route) but the intermediates (hydrogen cyanide, and acetone cyanohydrin) are toxic and represent an environmental hazard. Esterification of methacrylic acid (MAA) to MMA is a compelling alternative together with ethylene, propylene, and isobutene/t-butanol as feedstocks. Partially oxidizing isobutane or 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (2MPDO) over heteropolycompounds to MAA in a single-step is nascent technology to replace current processes. The focus of this review is on catalysts and their role in the development of processes herein described. Indeed, in some cases remarkable catalysts were studied that enabled considerable steps forward in both the advancement of catalysis science and establishing the basis for new technologies. An emblematic example is represented by Keggin-type heteropolycompounds with cesium and vanadium, which are promising catalysts to convert isobutane and 2MPDO to MAA. Renewable sources for the MMA or MAA route include acetone, isobutanol, ethanol, lactic, itaconic, and citric acids. End-of-life PMMA is expected to grow as a future source of MMA.

Experimental demonstration of an electromagnetic pulse mitigation concept for a laser driven proton source

The targets that are used to produce high-energy protons with ultra-high intensity lasers generate a strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP). To mitigate that undesired side effect, we developed and tested a concept called the "birdhouse." It consists in confining the EMP field in a finite volume and in dissipating the trapped electromagnetic energy with an electric resistor. A prototype was tested at a 10 TW 50 fs laser facility. The recorded average EMP mitigation ratio is about 20 for frequencies from 100 MHz to 6 GHz. The EMP mitigation ratio attains the level of 50 in the frequency range of 1-2 GHz where microwave emission is maximal. We measured the intensity of proton emission in two directions: along the laser propagation direction and along the edge of the proton beam. We observed that the "birdhouse" induces a two-fold increase of the intensity in the center of the proton beam and a two-fold reduction of the intensity on its edge. We did not observe any modification of the proton beam normalized spectrum.

A Comparative Study of Basic, Amphoteric, and Acidic Catalysts in the Oxidative Coupling of Methanol and Ethanol for Acrolein Production

The impact of acid/base properties (determined by adsorption microcalorimetry) of various catalysts on the cross-aldolization of acetaldehyde and formaldehyde leading to acrolein was methodically studied in oxidizing conditions starting from a mixture of methanol and ethanol. The aldol condensation and further dehydration to acrolein were carried out on catalysts presenting various acid/base properties (MgO, Mg-Al oxides, Mg/SiO₂ , NbP, and heteropolyanions on silica, HPA/SiO₂ ). Thermodynamic calculations revealed that cross-aldolization is always favored compared with self-aldolization of acetaldehyde, which leads to crotonaldehyde formation. The presence of strong basic sites is shown to be necessary, but a too high amount drastically increases CO_x production. On strong acid sites, production of acrolein and carbon oxides (CO_x ) does not increase with temperature. The optimal catalyst for this process should be amphoteric with a balanced acid/base cooperation of medium strength sites and a small amount (<100 μmol g^-1 ) of very strong basic sites (Q_diff >150 kJ mol^-1 ).

Influence of Catalyst Acid/Base Properties in Acrolein Production by Oxidative Coupling of Ethanol and Methanol

Oxidative coupling of methanol and ethanol represents a new route to produce acrolein. In this work, the overall reaction was decoupled in two steps, the oxidation and the aldolization, by using two consecutive reactors to investigate the role of the acid/base properties of silica-supported oxide catalysts. The oxidation of a mixture of methanol and ethanol to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde was performed over a FeMoO_x catalyst, and then the product mixture was transferred without intermediate separation to a second reactor, in which the aldol condensation and dehydration to acrolein were performed over the supported oxides. The impact of the acid/base properties on the selectivity towards acrolein was investigated under oxidizing conditions for the first time. The acid/base properties of the catalysts were investigated by NH₃ -, SO₂ -, and methanol-adsorption microcalorimetry. A MgO/SiO₂ catalyst was the most active in acrolein production owing to an appropriate ratio of basic to acidic sites.

Catalytic glycerol hydrogenolysis to 1,3-propanediol in a gas–solid fluidized bed

We report the gas-phase hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol over Pt/WO₃/Al₂O₃in a fluidized bed operating above 240 °C and at ambient pressure.

Early-Stage Capital Cost Estimation of Biorefinery Processes: A Comparative Study of Heuristic Techniques

Biorefineries offer a promising alternative to fossil-based processing industries and have undergone rapid development in recent years. Limited financial resources and stringent company budgets necessitate quick capital estimation of pioneering biorefinery projects at the early stages of their conception to screen process alternatives, decide on project viability, and allocate resources to the most promising cases. Biorefineries are capital-intensive projects that involve state-of-the-art technologies for which there is no prior experience or sufficient historical data. This work reviews existing rapid cost estimation practices, which can be used by researchers with no previous cost estimating experience. It also comprises a comparative study of six cost methods on three well-documented biorefinery processes to evaluate their accuracy and precision. The results illustrate discrepancies among the methods because their extrapolation on biorefinery data often violates inherent assumptions. This study recommends the most appropriate rapid cost methods and urges the development of an improved early-stage capital cost estimation tool suitable for biorefinery processes.

Gas phase oxidation of 2-methyl-1,3-propanediol to methacrylic acid over heteropolyacid catalysts

Heteropolyacids with Cs, V and Cu partially oxidize 2MPDO to methacrylic acid (40% selectivity) in the gas phase at 250 °C.

A New Process for Maleic Anhydride Synthesis from a Renewable Building Block: The Gas-Phase Oxidehydration of Bio-1-butanol

We investigated the synthesis of maleic anhydride by oxidehydration of a bio-alcohol, 1-butanol, as a possible alternative to the classical process of n-butane oxidation. A vanadyl pyrophosphate catalyst was used to explore the one-pot reaction, which involved two sequential steps: 1) 1-butanol dehydration to 1-butene, catalysed by acid sites, and 2) the oxidation of butenes to maleic anhydride, catalysed by redox sites. A non-negligible amount of phthalic anhydride was also formed. The effect of different experimental parameters was investigated with chemically sourced 1-butanol, and the results were then confirmed by using genuinely bio-sourced 1-butanol. In the case of bio-1-butanol, however, the purity of the product remarkably affected the yield of maleic anhydride. It was found that the reaction mechanism includes the oxidation of butenes to crotonaldehyde and the oxidation of the latter to either furan or maleic acid, both of which are transformed to produce maleic anhydride.

Cross-metathesis of biosourced fatty acid derivatives: a step further toward improved reactivity

The improved catalytic conversion of bioresources, namely unsaturated fatty acid derivatives, is presented. The targeted reaction is ruthenium-catalyzed cross-metathesis with functionalized olefins (α,β-unsaturated esters), that affords shorter diesters. These can be used as biosourced (pre)monomers for the production of polyesters. It is demonstrated that switch from terminal to internal cross-metathesis partners (that is, from methyl acrylate to methyl crotonate) allows use of ppm-level catalyst loadings, while retaining high productivity and selectivity. This was exemplified on a commercial biosourced fatty acid methyl esters mixture, using minimal purification of the substrate, on a 50 g scale. We propose that this improved catalytic behavior is due to the sole presence of more stable alkylidene intermediates, as the notoriously unstable ruthenium methylidene species are not formed using an internal functionalized olefin.

Reactivity of ethanol over hydroxyapatite-based Ca-enriched catalysts with various carbonate contents

Fully characterized HAP solids with various Ca/P ratios were used in the Guerbet reaction of ethanol to produce higher alcohols. In this respect, an optimal ratio between the amount of acid and basic sites of 5 was evidenced.

Ammoniation-dehydration of fatty acids into nitriles: heterogeneous or homogeneous catalysis?

Fatty nitriles have lately become of interest in the framework of biofuels and for the valorization of the oil part of biomass to form fine chemicals or polymers. The production of long-chain fatty nitriles by the direct reaction of acids with NH3 has not been extensively studied, although several catalysts have been developed and published as patents. The characterization of this reaction with and without catalyst is, to the best of our knowledge, performed for the first time in this study. Several catalysts with various acid-base features were tested, and the best catalysts at 250 °C (Zn- and In-based catalysts) were further studied. Catalytically active forms and models are proposed for the Zn- and In-based catalysts, and the kinetic parameters for the amide to nitrile reaction are evaluated.

Catalytic oxidative dehydration of glycerol over a catalyst with iron oxide domains embedded in an iron orthovanadate phase

An embedded catalyst for the oxidative dehydration of glycerol, featuring iron oxide (FeO(x)) domains on the surface of an iron orthovanadate (FeVO₄) phase, is developed. Catalytic reactions are conducted in a fixed-bed reactor at 300 °C with a feed composition N₂/O₂/H₂O/glycerol=66.6:1.7:30.3:1.5. Catalytic results show that the catalyst exhibits a better performance than an FeO(x) catalyst prepared by impregnation and than a mixture of FeVO₄ and Fe₂O₃The best yield for acrylic acid was 14 %. The presence of FeO(x) domains on the surface of FeVO₄ catalyzes the oxidation of acrolein to acrylic acid. The catalysts are characterized by a range of techniques. The interaction between the nanometer-sized FeO(x) domains and the FeVO₄ phase is strong enough to stabilize the FeO(x) and retain its high activity. The proximity of the two phases provides an environment for the dehydration of glycerol and the oxidation of acrolein to acrylic acid.

High-pressure phases of calcium: density-functional theory and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo approach

The phase diagram of Ca is examined using a combination of density-functional theory (DFT) and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations. Gibbs free energies of several competing structures are computed at pressures near 50 GPa. Existing disagreements for the stability of Ca both at low and room temperature are resolved with input from DMC. Furthermore, DMC calculations are performed on 0 K crystalline structures up to 150 GPa and it is demonstrated that the widely used generalized gradient approximation of DFT is insufficient to accurately account for the relative stability of the high-pressure phases of Ca. The results indicate that the theoretical phase diagram of Ca needs a revision.

The x-ray calibration facility of the laser integration line in the 0.9-10 keV range: the high energy x-ray source and some applications

The laser integration line (LIL) located at CEA-CESTA is equipped with x-ray plasma diagnostics using different kinds of x-ray components such as filters, mirrors, crystals, detectors, and cameras. The CEA-DAM of Arpajon is currently developing x-ray calibration methods and carrying out absolute calibration of LIL x-ray photodetectors. To guarantee LIL measurements, detectors such as x-ray cameras must be regularly calibrated close to the facility. A new x-ray facility is currently available to perform these absolute x-ray calibrations. This paper presents the x-ray tube based high energy x-ray source delivering x-ray energies ranging from 0.9 to 10 keV by means of an anode barrel. The purpose of this source is mainly to calibrate LIL x-ray cameras but it can also be used to measure x-ray filter transmission of plasma diagnostics. Different x-ray absolute calibrations such as x-ray streak and framing camera yields, x-ray charge-coupled device quantum efficiencies, and x-ray filter transmissions are presented in this paper. A x-ray flat photocathode detector sensitivity calibration recently performed for a CEA Z-pinch facility is also presented.

Importance of sebaceous glands in cutaneous penetration of an antiandrogen: target effect of liposomes

The significance of the sebaceous gland pathway in the cutaneous permeation of an antiandrogen, 4-[3-(4-hydroxybutyl)-4,4-dimethyl -2,5-dioxo-1-imidazolidinyl]-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzonitrile (RU 58841), was studied with normal hairless rat skin and an induced scar hairless rat skin without sebaceous glands. RU 58841 was dissolved in an alcoholic solution and encapsulated in liposomes for comparison. After 24 h, the cumulative percentage of RU 58841 absorbed in vitro was 3-4-fold higher in the normal skin than in the scar skin; in the case of liposomes, the accumulation of the drug in the normal dermis was significantly higher than in the scar one. In the in vivo cutaneous distribution, the epidermis and dermis of the normal skin contained higher amounts of RU 58841 than the scar skin (ninefold with the solution and 16-fold with liposomes). An autoradiography study showed that with the solution, the drug was mainly localized in the stratum corneum/epidermis, and with the liposomes, the drug was mainly localized in the sebaceous glands. We concluded that the sebaceous glands constituted the main pathway for RU 58841. The alcoholic solution encouraged the localization of the drug into the stratum corneum, whereas liposomes targeted the sebaceous glands.

Preparation and characterization of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine liposomes containing interleukin-2

Human recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2) has been associated or mixed with small unilamellar vesicles prepared from dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC). Whatever the mode of IL-2 introduction, a considerable proportion of the added protein was associated with the liposomes, as determined by gel filtration and ultrafiltration/centrifugation, suggesting that IL-2 can interact with the lipid bilayer as well as being entrapped within the aqueous phase. Moreover, IL-2 prevented the aggregation/fusion of the vesicles at 4 degrees C. Liposome-associated protein was partially protected from digestion by pepsin, especially at the C-terminal, since no fluorescence emission from the tryptophan in this region was detected in the resulting peptides after separation by HPLC. Such systems could constitute a sustained release form of IL-2 for immunotherapy.