Environmental Analysis of Catalytic Adipic Acid Production Strategies from Two Different Lignocellulosic Biomasses

A rigorous life cycle assessment was used to analyze two different conceptual process strategies for catalytically producing adipic acid (AA) from corn stover (CS) or kenaf (Ke). On the basis of a system-level analysis, two major environmental impact categories [fossil resource scarcity (FRS) and global warming (GW)] were estimated for both process strategies. From the viewpoint of GW and FRS, the optimal case with a real scenario of South Korea indicates that the Ke-based AA is the most promising strategy. Compared to CS-based AA in the United States of America, Ke-based AA achieved the following savings: 0.15 kg oil equiv per kg of pure AA for FRS and 0.64 kg CO2 equiv per kg of pure AA for GW. The validation of the results on environmental impact was examined by sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, and their results indicated that the primary source for displacing the excess electricity generation and biomass composition is critical.