Catalytic Conversion of Wastewater from Starch Industry to Levulinic Acid

Abstract

Levulinic acid is known as versatile building block for the production of energy and various petrochemical products. In this present work, levulinic acid was produced by dehydration and rehydration of sugar-rich wastewater containing H₂SO₄ from starch industry. This study proposed feasibility of utilizing waste water that obtained from nano-crystalline process of starch factory as resource for the production of levulinic acid without catalyst adding. The influence of reaction time and reaction temperature to yield of levulinic acid were investigated. It was found that the highest yield of levulinic acid was 91.41 mol % at 140 °C with the reaction time of 240 min.

Keywords: Levulinic acid, wastewater, renewable, energy