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Para-Xylene Derived from Biorenewable Feedstock

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thesis
posted on 2021-11-15, 18:59 authored by Rachael Weber
Para-xylene is an organic chemical which has been historically produced in the petroleum industry. It has several uses in the chemical industry, but is most prominently used as a feedstock to make terephthalic acid, purified terephthalic acid, or dimethyl-terephthalate-saturated polyester fibers. These compounds are widely used to make plastics. Although the non-renewable resources used to produce para-xylene are not projected to be completely depleted anytime soon, it is assumed that they will run out one day. Thus, methods to produce this chemical from bio-renewable resources should be explored to prolong the production from non-renewable resources, and to have solely renewable production in the future. The purpose of this project is to investigate the production of para-xylene from D-fructose. This process is done in three steps: converting D-fructose to hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), HMF to 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF), and DMF to para-xylene. This project was developed using Aspen Plus Version 8.4 and an economic analysis was performed to determine the market feasibility of this project.

History

Advisor

Myers, John

ISO

eng

Language

English

Publisher

University of Wyoming. Libraries

Collection

Honors Theses AY 15/16

Department

  • Library Sciences - LIBS