Design Project Brief

In this project you will design a pilot plant to convert sugars contained in a hemicellulose
waste stream into biorenewable polymers. The plant should be able to produce 75 kg of
polymer per day and it should be based in a Central or Northern European country using
hemicellulose waste from a hardwood processing industry or straw waste. This group will
work on product of resins produced from aldaric acids obtained from the sugars by
oxidation.

What professor wants: Try and come up with a draft process flowsheet if you can so we have
an idea of the individual steps that would be needed in the process to take the hemicellulose
stream through to the polymer resins. We are aiming to produce polyester polyols from
aldaric acids as the final product.
Data for Design:

Feed Composition

Component or Information
pH 2.8
Density (g/L) 1012
Non-volatile solids (g/100g) 4.51
Ashes (g/100g) 0.26
Soluble lignin (g/100g) 0.13

Monomers (g/L)
Glucose 0.06
Xylose 0.75
Arabinose 1.07
Formic Acid 0.17
Acetic Acid 0.67
Levulinic Acid 0.03
HMF 0.03
Furfural 0

Oligomers (g/L)
Glucooligosacharides 6.74
Xylosacharides 16.42
Arabinosacharides 2.12
Formil Groups 0.09
Acetyl Groups 3.02

Uronic Acids (g/L) 3.17

Other Compounds (ppm) CAS-Number

Hexadecanoic Acid 35.42 57-10-3
Icosane 23.76 112-95-8
Henecosane 32.77 629-94-7
1-nonadecene 9.88 18435-45-5
Octadecane 9.33 593-45-3
heptadecane 9.24 629-78-7
Phenols (total) 894.32
Please find attached your feedstock composition and project brief, which states plant
through put and limitations on location. A few notes on this:

-Ashes – these are inorganics. Please research typical inorganics present in wood and
that become solubilised to obtain an estimated of the composition.

-Hemicellulose – this is the total of the monomers + oligomers. The monomers and
single molecules of each of the sugars (or other compounds that also form the structure
of hemicellulose) and that have been hydrolysed before. The oligomers and small chain
polymers composed of a few molecules of the different sugars and acids. The oligomers
will need to be hydrolysed into single molecules.

-Uronic acids – these also come from the hemicellulose.

-Other compounds – hydrocarbons, phenols, etc. These are the volatiles.

-Non-volatile solids: these will be anything in solution that is not volatile, plus the wood
fibres. The amount of wood fibres is not specifically declared, so you have to calculate it
from the data given.

-Water – the solvent is water. The amount is not given so you have to determine that
from the data given.