Rigorous Simulation and Optimization of a Plant-wide Glycerol Carbonate (GC) Production Process

The spurring increase in bio-diesel production produces a large amount of glycerol as side product, which causes its over-supply. Hence, converting glycerol (GLY) into other value added chemicals would be a promising solution. In this work, the design and optimization of a plant-wide glycerol carbonate (GC) production processes of GLY and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) is firstly proposed, which is consisted of a reactive distillation section and an extractive distillation-based separation section. The research scope includes regressing the thermodynamic parameters suitable for representing both vapour-liquid and liquid-liquid equilibrium, correcting the kinetic parameters, developing process flowsheets, and optimization.