Análise do ciclo de vida de acrilonitrila produzida a partir de glicerol

Abstract

Acrylonitrile is a monomer traded as a commodity on the global market and with applications in several industrial sectors, produced from the ammoxidation of propylene. New technological alternatives are being studied to minimize the potential impacts of the process on the environment, reducing the use of oil derivatives through renewable and eco-friendly raw materials. This work proposes the application of life cycle assessment in an acrylonitrile plant that uses glycerol as an alternative feedstock, aiming to evaluate the environmental impacts generated compared to a commercial petrochemical process. The use of glycerol, a co-product of biodiesel production, is evaluated with information from strategic databases and published documents, considering its origin in the production process of biodiesel from soybean and waste cooking oil, focusing on the state of Mato Grosso. The results show that the production routes from glycerol derived from the soybean biodiesel and waste cooking oil routes present higher GHG emissions than the SOHIO process (among 6.84% and 276% kg CO2-eq per kg acrylonitrile produced at depend on the route). The categories of water consumption and fossil resource scarcity show favorable results for the use of acrylonitrile. The processes based on the soybean route and the residual oil route save 2 liters and 5.9 liters of water per kg of acrylonitrile produced, respectively. Finally, the scarcity of fossil fuels can reduce 45.32% through the soybean route and 35.52% for the residual vegetable oil route.