Abstract

Glycerin is a key byproduct from the biodiesel production process. Due to the rapid growth in biodiesel production, the market has been flooded with the crude natural glycerin. This crude glycerin (glycerol) has a very low value because of its impurities, and consequently, a great interest has emerged in the development of technology for alternative uses of glycerol. Among the various possibilities, a technology to convert glycerol to 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol has caught our attention. This compound can be subsequently converted into epichlorohydrin, which is an important intermediate in the production of epoxy resins. 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol is currently being synthesize from propylene via allyl chloride route. However, our technology uses crude natural glycerin, the byproduct of biodiesel production plant, as the starting material and hydrochloric acid as the reagent. The present paper discusses the simulation work on the semi-batch reactor for the production of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol using ASPEN PLUS. The simulation results were then compared with the experimental data.

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