Design and Optimization for Sustainable Synthesis of Tetrahydrofurfuryl Alcohol by Furfural Hydrogenation: Kinetic and Techno-economic Investigations

To address energy challenges, we propose synthesizing tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol from biomass-derived furfural and hydrogen produced through electrolysis. Building upon prior research [ Energy Convers. Manage. 2022, 265, 115736], the kinetic parameters of the developed catalysts for two-step reactions including furfural hydrogenation to furfuryl alcohol and tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol were investigated, in which the activation energies were Ea1 = 29.35 and Ea2 = 38.97 kJ/mol, respectively. Subsequently, we designed the complete production process, including hydrogen generation, furfural hydrogenation, and tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol purification. To enhance economic efficiency by minimizing energy consumption, the organic Rankine cycle-coupled heat pump was integrated into the process. Following the process design, the parameters were optimized with minimum levelized production cost of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol as the objective function by Matlab using the "MADS" algorithm, which resulted in 1855.85 $/tonne with 76.62 % overall energy efficiency. Finally, sensitivity analyses were performed to determine the cost factors affecting the economic indicators. This work provides a sustainable and profitable process route for producing high-quality chemicals from biomass, particularly in the context of potential future fossil energy crises.