Liquid–Liquid Extraction of Formic Acid with 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran: Experiments, Process Modeling, and Economics
Antero Laitinen, Vyomesh M. Parsana, Olli Jauhiainen, Marco Huotari, Leo J. P. van den Broeke, Wiebren de Jong, Thijs J. H. Vlugt, Mahinder Ramdin
Abstract
electrolysis process, which typically contains <20 wt % of FA. Vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) data of the binary system 2-MTHF-FA and liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) data of the ternary system 2-MTHF-FA-water are obtained. Continuous extraction and distillation experiments are performed to test the extraction power and recovery of 2-MTHF from the extract. The VLE and LLE data are used to design a hybrid extraction and distillation process to produce a commercial grade product (85 wt % of FA). A detailed economic analysis of this hybrid extraction-distillation process is presented and compared with the existing FA separation methods. It is shown that 2-MTHF is a cost-effective solvent for FA extraction from dilute streams (<20 wt % FA).