acetone production, from isopropanol, UPR, ecoinvent 3.6, Undefined
Location: GLO - Global
This activity represents the production of acetone from isopropanol. Acetone can be produced both by hydrogenation or oxidation of isopropanol with the aid of a catalyst. This process represents the hydrogenation of isopropanol with the aid of a copper catalyst. Acetone is mainly used as a solvent (Lokras et al. 1970 and Scharf et al. 1981). Global production of acetone is around 5.5 million metric tons (Gallardo Hipolito 2011).
Reference(s):
Gendorf (2016) Umwelterklärung 2015, Werk Gendorf Industriepark, www.gendorf.de
Gallardo Hipolito, M. 2011. Life Cycle Assessment of platform chemicals from fossil and lignocellulosic biomass scenarios LCA of phenolic compounds, solvent, soft and hard plastic precursors. Master in Industrial Ecology. Norwegian University of Science and Technology Department of Energy and Process Engineering. Retrieved from: http://daim.idi.ntnu.no/masteroppgaver/006/6362/tittelside.pdf, accessed 6 January 2017
Lokras et al. 1970 Catalytic Dehydrogenation Of 2-Propanol To Acetone. Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Develop., Vol. 9, no. 2
Scharf et al. 1981 Process For The Production Of Acetone From Isobutyraldehyde. United States Patent 4,205,119
For more information on the model please refer to the dedicate ecoinvent report, access it in the Report section of ecoQuery (http://www.ecoinvent.org/login-databases.html)
Undefined unit processes (UPRs) are the unlinked, multi-product activity datasets that form the basis for all of the system models available in the ecoinvent database. This is the way the datasets are obtained and entered into the database by the data providers. These activity datasets are useful for investigating the environmental impacts of a specific activity (gate-to-gate), without regard to its upstream or downstream impacts.
The production of acetone from dehydrogenation of isopropanol is preferred as it as an endothermic reaction and requires less control of the critical temperature. Isopropanol is dehydrogenated to acetone with the aid of a copper catalyst (Lokras et al. 1970 and Scharf et al. 1981). Lokras et al. (1981) suggest the use of Cu-SiO2 as a catalyst. The copper catalyst in not consider significant in terms of emissions for the reaction and it is therefore not included in the dataset and it is assumed to be taken into consideration in the input of chemical factory.
Chemical reaction:
(CH3)2CHOH -> (CH3)2CO + H2
This inventory representing production of a particular chemical compound is at least partially based on a generic model on the production of chemicals. The data generated by this model have been improved by compound-specific data when available.
The model on production of chemicals is using specific industry or literature data wherever possible and more generic data on chemical production processes to fill compound-specific data gaps when necessary. The basic principles of the model have been published in literature (Hischier 2005, Establishing Life Cycle Inventories of Chemicals Based on Differing Data Availability). The model has been updated and extended with newly available data from the chemical industry.
In the model, unreacted fractions are treated in a waste treatment process, and emissions reported are after a waste treatment process that is included in the scope of this dataset. For volatile reactants, a small level of evaporation is assumed. Solvents and catalysts are mostly recycled in closed-loop systems within the scope of the dataset and reported flows are for losses from this system.
The main source of information for the values for heat, electricity, water (process and cooling), nitrogen, chemical factory is industry data from Gendorf. The values are a 5-year average of data (2011 - 2015) published by the Gendorf factory (Gendorf, 2016, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de), (Gendorf, 2015, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de), (Gendorf, 2014, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de). The Gendorf factory is based in Germany, it produces a wide range of chemical substances. The factory produced 1657400 tonnes of chemical substances in the year 2015 (Gendorf, 2016, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de) and 740000 tonnes of intermediate products.
Reference(s):
Hischier, R. (2005) Establishing Life Cycle Inventories of Chemicals Based on Differing Data Availability (9 pp). The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 59–67. 10.1065/lca2004.10.181.7
Gendorf (2016) Umwelterklärung 2015, Werk Gendorf Industriepark, www.gendorf.de
Gallardo Hipolito, M. 2011. Life Cycle Assessment of platform chemicals from fossil and lignocellulosic biomass scenarios LCA of phenolic compounds, solvent, soft and hard plastic precursors. Master in Industrial Ecology. Norwegian University of Science and Technology Department of Energy and Process Engineering. Retrieved from: http://daim.idi.ntnu.no/masteroppgaver/006/6362/tittelside.pdf, accessed 6 January 2017
Lokras et al. 1970 Catalytic Dehydrogenation Of 2-Propanol To Acetone. Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Develop., Vol. 9, no. 2
Scharf et al. 1981 Process For The Production Of Acetone From Isobutyraldehyde. United States Patent 4,205,119
For more information on the model please refer to the dedicate ecoinvent report, access it in the Report section of ecoQuery (http://www.ecoinvent.org/login-databases.html)
ecoinvent EULA