OP-II-3

OP-III-A-9organic acids not from the pyrolysis oil, but from aqueous streams available withinthe biorefinery scheme. A potentially attractive feedstock is the aqueous streamobtained from washing the pyrolysis oil with water. The organic acids tend toaccumulate in the aqueous phase and as such this phase is better suitable forreactive extractions with a tertiary amine. The remaining oil phase may be processedfurther for bio-fuel and energy generation (Scheme 1).Here, we report on the isolation of acetic acid from the aqueous stream of phasesplitted pyrolysis oil by reactive extraction using a long chain aliphatic tertiary amine.Acetic acid recovery was optimised by selecting the proper amine and diluentcombination and adjustment of the process conditions. The best results wereobtained with tri-n-octylamine (TOA) in 2-ethyl-hexanol (86% acetic acid recovery atequilibrium conditions). The data were modeled using an equilibrium approach. Thereactive extraction process was succesfully demonstrated using a bench scalecontinuous contactor-separator (CCS) (scheme 2) where acetic acid recoveries of50% were obtained (Scheme 2).η (%)1009080706050403020100 acetic 15 acid 30 formic acid 45 glycolic 60acid7510908070605040302010000 15 30 45 60 75t (min)Scheme 2. Continuous reactive extraction of acetic acid in the CCS deviceReferences[1] K. Sipilä, E. Kuoppala, L. Fagernäs and A. Oasmaa, Biomass and Bioenergy, 14 (1998) 103-113.[2] A.S. Kertes and C.J. King, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 28 (1986) 269-282.[3] F.H. Mahfud, F.P. Van Geel, R.H. Venderbosch and H.J. Heeres, Separation Science andTechnology, 43 (2008) 3056-3074.AcknowledgementsFinancial support from the EU Project BIOCOUP 518312 is gratefully acknowledged.168