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Wo2017119007a1 PDF
Wo2017119007a1 PDF
(51) International Patent Classification: hite Drive, Watsworth, Ohio 4428 1 (US). KOHLI, Ash-
C07C 29/76 (2006.01) C07C 31/22 (2006.01) wani Kumar; 3, Sukhchain Marg, Dlf I, Haryana, Gurgaon
122002 (IN). MITAL, Vineet; 3, Sukhchain Marg, Dlf I,
(21) International Application Number:
Haryana, Gurgaon 122002 (IN).
PCT/IN20 17/0500 13
(74) Agents: PHILLIPS, Prashant et al; LAKSHMIKU-
(22) International Filing Date:
MARAN & SRIDHARAN, B6/10, Safdarjung Enclave,
January 2017 (09.01 .2017)
New Delhi 1 10029 (IN).
(25) Filing Language: English
(81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every
(26) Publication Language: English kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM,
AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BN, BR, BW, BY,
(30) Priority Data: BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DJ, DK, DM,
201621000574 7 January 2016 (07.01 .2016) IN DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT,
(71) Applicants: INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL TECHNO¬ HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IR, IS, JP, KE, KG, KH, KN,
LOGY [IN/IN]; Institute of Chemical Technology(Deemed KP, KR, KW, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LU, LY, MA,
University), Nathalal Parikh Marg Matunga (East), Maha MD, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG,
rashtra, Mumbai 400019 (IN). INNOW LLC [US/US]; NI, NO, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, QA, RO, RS,
8201, Wilhite Drive, Watsworth, Ohio 44281 (US). RU, RW, SA, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY,
TH, TJ, TM, TN, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN,
(72) Inventors: KALE, Sandeep Bhaskar; DBT-ICT Centre ZA, ZM, ZW.
For Energy Biosciences, Institute Of Chemical Technology
(Deemed University), Nathalal Parikh Marg Matunga (84) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every
(East), Maharashtra, Mumbai 400019 (IN). LALI, Arvind kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, GH,
Mallinath; DBT-ICT Centre For Energy Biosciences, In GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, RW, SD, SL, ST, SZ,
stitute Of Chemical Technology (Deemed University), TZ, UG, ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, RU,
Nathalal Parikh Marg Matunga (East), Maharashtra, Mum TJ, TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE,
bai 400019 (IN). PATEL, Bhavin Manubhai; DBT-ICT DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU,
Centre For Energy Biosciences, Institute Of Chemical LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK,
Technology (Deemed University), Nathalal Parikh Marg SM, TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ,
Matunga (East), Maharashtra, Mumbai 40001 9 (IN). JHA, GW, KM, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG).
Pamela; DBT-ICT Centre For Energy Biosciences, In sti Declarations under Rule 4.17 :
tute Of Chemical Technology (Deemed University), Nath
alal Parikh Marg Matunga (East), Maharashtra, Mumbai — of inventorship (Rule 4. 1 7(iv))
400019 (IN). VANZA, Meghna Jatinkumar; DBT-ICT Published:
Centre For Energy Biosciences, Institute Of Chemical
Technology (Deemed University), Nathalal Parikh Marg — with international search report (Art. 21(3))
Matunga (East), Maharashtra, Mumbai 400019 (IN). YEL- — before the expiration of the time limit for amending the
NE, Payal Meghshyam; DBT-ICT Centre For Energy claims and to be republished in the event of receipt of
Biosciences, Institute Of Chemical Technology (Deemed amendments (Rule 48.2(h))
University), Nathalal Parikh Marg Matunga (East), Maha
rashtra, Mumbai 400019 (IN). GUPTA, Vinod; 8201, W il
©
o
FIELD OF INVENTION
[001] The present disclosure relates to a process for production of high purity glycerol from
relatively impure glycerol.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[002] Glycerol (or glycerine) is a polyhydroxy compound and is a viscous liquid. Glycerol
has three hydroxyl groups that are responsible for its solubility in water and its hygroscopic
nature. Glycerol has wide industrial applications as a raw material in the industrial production
of propylene glycol, epichlorohydrin, acrylic acid, polyhydroxy butyrate etc. Glycerol is also
used in medical, pharmaceutical, food, cosmetics and personal care preparations.
[003] Glycerol (also known as propane-triol) is an important product that is the backbone
component of natural Fats and Oils called triglycerides). Triglycerides are esters of glycerol
with short, medium and/or long-chain carboxylic/fatty acids. Fat splitting for recovery of
fatty acids from oils and fats is achieved by processes such as (A) chemical saponification by
acid, alkali, methoxides etc.; (B) high pressure steam fat/oil Splitting and (C) biochemical
based i.e. enzymatic fat/oil splitting. These processes are typically used in the soap and
cosmetic product industry where the mixture of fatty acids is further fractionated to yield high
purity single component fatty acids. The aforementioned processes of fat/oil splitting
typically produces a stream containing up to 30%w/w glycerol (called sweet water) with
multiple impurities and content of glycerol in such crude stream is a function of the feedstock
used.
[004] Similarly, another process proceeds with the replacement of glycerol moiety by
alcohol, polar or non-polar group such as in trans-esterification process and is carried out in
bio-diesel industry yielding biodiesel and side stream containing crude glycerol with
impurities. Yet, another process of fermentation or synthesis of designer lipids also yields
crude glycerol containing several impurities.
[005] The crude glycerol obtained in aforementioned processes is of variable quality, with a
low selling price. This form of crude glycerol obtained is often dark in appearance with a
viscosity and density higher than water. The dark appearance and part of viscosity imparted
to crude glycerol is due to presence of impurities such as catalyst, various soaps, fatty
alcohols, lipids, organic and inorganic salts, fatty acids, fatty acid esters, solvents like
alcohols, monoglycerides, diglyceides, triglycerides, sterols, tocopherols, condensation
products like diglyceorl and polyglycerols, organic and inorganic polymeric impurities,
sugars, pigments, coloured impurities, water etc. Crude glycerol containing such impurities
can be purified, but the conventional processes are expensive due to large requirement of
processing chemicals, time and energy, and yet yielding low purity glycerol.
[006] The crude glycerol from various know processes is conventionally purified through
treatment with (a) activated carbon, (b) acid addition such sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid,
phosphoric acid, acetic acid, citric acid etc.; (c) alkalis such as sodium hydroxide, potassium
hydroxide, sodium methoxide or potassium methoxide, sodium or potassium salts of fatty
acids to remove unreacted glycerol esters; (d) ion exchange resins; (e) ion exclusion resins;
(f flocculating materials like salts or acids wherein each of these processes requires longer
processing time, large energy and gives reduced recovery of glycerol at low purity. Further,
processes involving acids or flocculating salts leads to acidic pH of glycerol resulting into
loss of glycerol in the form of condensation products, and generating impurities in the
process which are difficult to remove. Acidification operations are generally carried out by
adding at least one strong acid, usually in the form of an aqueous solution. The strong acids
used are sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid, which generate sodium or
potassium sulfates, chlorides and phosphates respectively. The presence of these salts has
great hindrance in several respects during the purification of the glycerol in subsequent
distillation. Indeed, it has been also observed that the sulfates, chlorides and phosphates have
low solubility in glycerol and glycerol/water mixtures. This reduced solubility can be
unfavourable to in distillation and results into reduced recovery of purified glycerol having
low yield and purity.
[007] In another conventional process of purification of crude glycerol involves fractional
distillation process where glycerol is recovered in distillate. Here, amount of energy required
to recover pure fraction of glycerol in distillate is higher with requirement of longer
distillation columns. The process also yields an impure glycerol fraction (called yellow
glycerol) which needs recirculation in the process leading to reduced yields of relatively pure
glycerol (called industry white, IW grade). The IW grade further requires treatment of carbon
to make it pure glycerol for cosmetic applications. To obtain a high purity grade glycerol for
pharma and food application, the two step distillation process is required with carbon
treatment where energy requirement is very high and leads to reduced yields. Such iterative
processes are highly critical with respect to feedstock and are cost as well as energy intensive
to produce pure glycerol for desired applications.
[008] US 20150197469 describes a process of crude glycerin purification originated from
transesterification with alkaline catalysis without using acidification and distillation
producing 96% to 99% pure glycerin, wherein unbalancing of composition of crude glycerin
is carried out by adding fatty materials and thereby separating heavy phase glycerin and
residual of fatty soaps and partial glycerides. The process is carried out at 40 to 95 degree
Celsius. The methanol and humidity in the product is removed by distillation and mixture of
fatty, material is acidified with mineral acids or carboxylic acids. The process of this
invention does not give high purity glycerin i.e. >99% and involves cumbersome operation of
non-specific phase separation. Further, the presence of inorganic salts such as sodium
monophosphate, sodium sulphate and sodium chloride makes the overall process of glycerol
purification expensive and with undesirable corrosion problems.
[009] CN101423456 describes a process for recovering and purifying glycerol as a b y
product of biodiesel production involving use of molecular distillation to obtain a medical-
quality glycerol. Such distillation of glycerol is carried out after the addition of sulfuric acid
to the transesterification reaction medium and requires multiple distillation steps and higher
temperature due to hindrance of salts accompanied with glycerol. The pure glycerol obtained
at low yields by this process requires large energy and results in formation of impurity such
as acrolein at high temperature (~ 2500C).
[0010] EP2483225 discloses the treatment of crude alkaline glycerol obtained as a b y
product of the biodiesel production from vegetable oils and animal fats using organic alkyl
carboxylic acids or their aqueous solution, comprises the steps of: (a) acidification of the
crude alkaline glycerol stock to pH in the range of about 4 to about 6 with organic alkyl
carboxylic acids, in the presence of water in the range from about 5% to about 50%, in
weight with respect to the weight of the crude alkaline glycerol stock; (b) separating the
formed free fatty acids by flotation; (c) removing the alcohol present in the acidified crude
glycerol stock by distillation; (d) separating the acidic glycerol.
[0011] WO 2010/136838 describes a method for processing crude glycerol waste streams
comprising the step of applying a highly concentrated acid (preferably sulfuric acid with
concentration in order of 30 to 100%) to a crude glycerol waste stream at pH 4.0, preferably
in two stages, namely a first pH-stage having a pH of about 7 and a second pH-stage having a
pH between 0 and 7 . The process also involves addition of methanol to the first stage and/or
to second stage. This also involves mixer-settler to remove salts formed in first stage.
[0012] US 2008/0249338 describes a method for purification of glycerol, especially from
biodiesel production, using gel-type acidic ion exchange resin (catalyst beads) beads to
separate free fatty acids and inorganic salts from crude glycerol. The process is able to
process only crude glycerol obtained from biodiesel production and requires glycerol
concentration of at least 40% and containing cations of at least 1%. The patent does not
disclose macro-reticular resins. The resins used are of styrenic, acrylic r combination thereof
with functionality in the form of sulfonic acid, carboxylic, phosphoric acid or combination
thereof as groups. The process requires use of simulated moving bed or sequenced simulated
moving bed to enable continuous separation. Further, the process of this invention is shown
on artificial mixture of pure glycerol and potassium/sodium chloride and not on real feed
obtained from biodiesel production which has large number of impurities of varying
properties. Thus invention has no industrial applicability.
[0013] US2009/0048472 describes method for purification of glycerol from biodiesel
production using alkaline catalysis, where crude glycerol is combined with acid, separating
glycerol layer and then treating glycerol layer to decolourize it. The process involves use of
sodium hydroxide and sodium borohydride (BOROL) followed by removal of salts by ion
exchange chromatography (as per US 2008/0249338). Residual water is removed by
evaporation, and borate salts and other solid removed by filtration. Overall the process is
lengthy and requires corrosive chemical like borohydride. Further, the filtration of salt from
viscous glycerol is cumbersome, costly and gives reduced yields due to loss of glycerol in
filter cake. Such process does not give pharma and food grade glycerol.
[0014] US20 11/0004031 describes glycerin purification by adding methanol and acid
(sulfuric/phosphoric acid) to crude glycerin to form a solution, filtering the solution to
remove a salt of acid, separating a first layer of free fatty acids and second layer of partially
pure glycerin, and distilling off methanol from second layer. The second layer is then treated
for neutralization, filtering to remove excess neutralizing agent (such as calcium hydroxide),
passing through plurality of ion exchange columns, deodorizing and de-watering. This the
invention involves large number of general steps and further involves two basic ion
exchangers, one acidic ion exchange and a mixed bed followed by carbon filter and then
dewatering. The process requires crude glycerin with purity in the range of 50% to 80% and
requires large number of chemicals. This method does not provide solution of sweet water
obtained from fat splitting or saponification process and thus is for only specific feed
material.
[0015] US2015/0126783A1 describes method for producing refined glycerin alkyl ether by
removing glycerin from mixture containing glycerin and glycerin alkyl ether, by using cation
exchange resin, having sulfonic acid group, carboxylic acid group or phosphoric acid group.
The ion exchange resins are gel type or porous type resins and preferably are of gel type. The
process is of simulated moving bed (SMB) type and cannot used for purification and refining
of crude glycerol obtained from saponification and biodiesel production because the impurity
profile is different and SMB is critically governed by input feed composition and impurities.
[0016] K 1020 1600 18245 describes method and apparatus for purifying glycerin generated
in biodiesel production process comprises of neutralizing (using alkali such as caustic soda,
calcium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, calcium oxide) the crude glycerin, evaporating the
water and alcohol, cooling, treating it coagulant in a stirred reactor and filtering the impurities
by steam injected reactor and filtering it, distilling the glycerin and cooling it followed by
treating it with adsorbent agent (clay, activated carbon, zeolite, silica gel and alumina) to
bleaching it and then filtering to obtain pure glycerin. Process also describes use of
flocculating agents such as aluminium chloride, aluminium sulphate, iron sulphate and
sodium aluminate etc. The process of this invention utilizes multiple heating and cooling
steps, filtration steps and neutralization, and thereby it is energy intensive, time consuming
and requires large quantities of chemicals leading to waste streams.
[0017] KR2002/0025154A describes method for preparation of high purity glycerin
monoester wherein hydrophobic adsorbent resin is reacted with isopropylidiene glyceryl
stearate. US2010/0274034A1 describes method and apparatus for producing fatty acid alkyl
ester and/or glycerin using liquid-liquid and solid-liquid extraction of glycerol and fatty acid
alkyl ester, wherein hydrophilic phase and hydrophobic phase (both are liquid) is separated to
obtain separation.
[0018] CN101 172935 describes boric acid resin complexation-distillation integrated
technique for recycling glycerol in low concentration sweet water, involving adjusting pH of
sweet water to a neutral condition, flocculating agent is added, and filtrate is obtained by
filtering after settling; secondly pre-treated boric acid resin fed to chromatographic column
and filtrate is fed to chromatographic column, boric acid resin column is eluted with eluent,
eluent is vaporized to remove eluent agent and produce coarse glycerin, coarse glycerin is
decompressed and distilled, desalted by ion exchange and glycerin of larger than 98.5% is
produced after decolourization with activated carbon. The process of this invention involves
large number of steps. Similarly, CN103073086A also describes adsorption of glycerin
contained in waste water with boric acid treated resin and adsorbed glycerin is eluted with
acid-base treatment and recycling the resin. Boronic acid (similarly boric acid) reacts with
glycerin is known method in titration of cis-hydroxy compounds by adsorption separation.
The present invention dies not addresses the removal of leached boric acid in glycerin
product.
[0019]
[0020] US869905B2 OR US2011/0263908A1 describes method of producing glycerol by
transesterification with alcohol followed by treatment with activated charcoal, white clay,
bentonite or synthetic zeolite to reduce odour and UV adsorbing substances. This invention
also describes the use of ion exchange resins i.e. cation, anion and mixed bed for purification
of glycerol followed by removal of water by distillation. The patent does not discloses the
removal of specific impurities like fatty acids and fatty impurities to purify the glycerol and
also the purity of glycerol.
[0021] WO2013/106249A1 describes the method of Biobased chemical production from
crude glycerin involving purification of glycerin by desalting, decolourizing and
concentrating bioglycerin for production of Biobased chemicals. The invention involves use
of carbon, desalination by ion exchange etc, but does not discloses whether organic
impurities are removed in the process.
[0022] US2009/0198088 describes method for purification of crude glycerin utilizing ion
exclusion chromatography fractionation using fixed bed and moving bed (SMB) to yield
glycerol consisting water and salt as first fraction, one or more dewatering steps under
moderate temperature and pressure, and glycerin concentration. The patent also discloses use
of ion exchange to remove salt from first fraction containing glycerol which is further treated
with activated carbon and vacuum evaporation/distillation or thermal decompression to
remove water to obtain 95 to 99% pure glycerol. The SMB process is difficult to operate and
is cost intensive.
[0023] US 2014/0114095 describe glycerin purification method by removing impurities from
waste glycerin generated in biodiesel production. The method involves heating glycerin with
alkali metal, alcohol, organic fatty acid, and water under reduced pressure to removal alcohol
and water; adding sulfuric acid to neutralize glycerin, centrifuging the glycerin to remove
alkali metal sulphate and organic fatty acid; adding sulphate of alkaline earth
metal(magnesium sulphate) to glycerin and again centrifuging it to remove sulphate of
alkaline earth metal salt of organic fatty acid and passing glycerin through cation and anion
exchange resin. The patent does not disclose nature of ion exchange resins.
[0024] GB2437516 describes method and apparatus for purifying glycerine using filter
membranes and deionisation means, where one or more membranes of different pore sizes
like micro-, ultra-, nano- or hyper-filtration are used. The deionisation is carried out by ion
exchange, captive deionisation, electrodeionisation or decolourisation techniques, washing
steps and conditions steps with temperature, Ph, hardness, softness, concentration etc. and
thus involving multiple steps and time as well as energy consuming operation.
[0025] CN102264678 (PCT/JP2009/071825) describes method of manufacturing glycerine
using ion exchange reaction, a cation exchange, anion exchange and mixed resin of both, but
preferably an anion exchange. The invention also involves use of clay, bentonite, zeolite for
removal of odour and UV absorbing materials from glycerine. Use of clay and like material
reduces the yield of pure glycerine.
[0026] JP 2007/014871 describes method for regenerating ion exchange resins for catalytic
activity. JP 2001/17862A (US2002/0010359A1) describes catalyst for transesterification of
oil such as zeolite, ion exchange resin etc. and does not disclose their use for separation or
purification. JP 2001/302584A (US2001/0042340A1) describes process for producing fatty
acid esters and fuels comprising fatty avid esters, where distillation (steam, extractive and
molecular etc.) are employed. Patent does not disclose purification of glycerol formed in the
reaction.
[0027] CN 103626631 describes method for decolourizing glycerol in biodiesel by-products
using a resin which is a ion exchange resin and does not disclose removal of other fatty
impurities as well as salt.
[0028] CN103896735 describes method for refining crude glycerol as byproduct generated in
high pressure hydrolysis of grease comprising hydrolysis, treatment with hydrochloric acid,
standing, removing upper layer of grease, adjusting pH to 5 to 6.5, by soda ash, then adding
sodium metalaluminate, adding flocculant, stirring for 5 to 30min and filtering. Process then
involves chromatographic columns filled with cation exchange, anion exchange and cation
exchange resin to obtain purified glycerol. Process in this patent does not disclose the
removal of fatty, coloured and organic impurities.
[0029] US2010/0249441A1 describes method for producing fatty acid alkyl ester and/or
glycerin involving reaction of fat/oil with alcohol of solid catalysts, stripping alcohol by
evaporation/thin film evaporation, separating the phases into fatty acid ester and glycerin
with use of separation filter and removal of phosphorus, calcium and their compounds by
adsorber, which is ion exchange resin. This invention dies not disclose removal of fatty
material from glycerin phase.
[0030] US4683347 describes glycerine purification process where glycerol based aetals
and/or ketals (dimethyl ketals) is reduced by extraction with supercritical or near critical
carbon dioxide. Similarly concentration and purification glycerine by extraction with
hydrocarbons is described in US 2154930, extraction with tert-amyl alchol in US 2436209
and solvent with aliphatic alcohols, aromatic alcohols, cyclic amines, ketones, ethers,
aldehydes and esters for extraction of glycerin is described in US2479041. Also distillation
process of separating glycerin from certain acetals/ketals is described in US 4360407.
[0031] EP13 152268-2 describes biodiesel production but glycerol produced in of low purity.
Method described in I . Miesiac, Prezemysi Chemiczny, vol. 82, pp 1045-47 (2003) gives
poor separation of glycerol. EP1978009A and US2009/030243 A describes purification of
glycerol with an ion exchange resin. JP10218810A and JP6184024 A describes use of
distillation and filtration to remove oil, inorganic matter and reducing trace impurities and
colour.
[0032] US4990695 and EP0358255A1 describes process of purifying crude glycerol
(splitters or soap crude) using microfiltration step (after calcium hydroxide treatment) over
ceramic filter material preferably comprising alumina/zirconia followed by distillation and
ion exchange resin treatment. Also involves combination of microfiltration and ultrafiltration.
Here the membrane fouling due to slime calcium based precipitates is severe problem and
gives very low yields of impure glycerol.
[0033] EP 141358A describes process to purify glycerol by combination of alkali treatment
and distillation and JP58 144333 describes combination of alkali treatment followed by use of
anion and cation exchange resins.
[0034] US 5527974 describes process for the purification of glycerol water (sweet water)
from high pressure fat and oil hydrolysis with steam, where fat is separated on plate type
phase separator and aqueous phase is passed over cross flow filtration membrane
(microfiltration membrane of graphite or A1203) and at concentrate is recycle back in the
plate separator. Due to presence of MONG or fatty impurities, membrane clogging/fouling is
major problem in the process and hence cannot be used on larger scale.
[0035] US 7126032B1 describes purification of glycerin from biodiesel production
comprising heating a glycerin containing alcohol, water and fatty acid esters to form
triglycerides by transesterification. Reaction mixture is sparged with nitrogen to remove
water and low molecular weight alcohols, oily layer is separated from glycerin by reducing
pH to below 7.0 and then flash distillation to separate glycerin from water, salts and
glycerides. Also US6262285, 6174501 and 7138536 discusses glycerin purification after
biofuel synthesis by distillation. Only distillation does not separate glycerin from organic
impurities and lead to lower yield as well as gives low purity glycerol.
[0036] US 7718833B2 describes purification of glycerin obtained as a bioproducts from the
transesterification of triglycerides in the synthesis of bio fuels, wherein distillation is used to
strip alcohol from glycerin after adding water to the mixture of glycerin, soap, fatty acid
eaters and lower alcohol; then lowering pH and recovering organic phase of fatty acid and
fatty acid esters and second phase of glycerin. The separation of fatty layer/phase from
glycerin phase is non-selective and gives glycerin with residual organic impurities.
[0037] US 86482 19B2 describes method for purifying glycerin and products obtained there
from comprises of blending crude glycerin with predetermined amount of water, acid and
organic solvent, reacting acid with impurities to from ionic salts and lipids in the mixture,
separating a mixture into top and bottom layer, where glycerin with salts and organic
impurities is recovered as bottom layer, clarifying with micro -bubbles the bottom layer to
remove organic solvent followed by ion exchange resin, electrodialysis and electro-
deionization to remove ionic salts and water from glycerin, and drying the glycerin. The
process is complex and cost intensive due to use to chemicals and phase separation is non-
slective.
[0038] GB214576 describes improved process for electro-osmotic purification of glycerin by
passing solution from anodic diaphragm of linoxyn to cathodic diaphragm of woven sail
cloth.
[0039] US20 11/0065942 Al describes process for preparing esters of alcohols and glycerin
from triglycerides and catalysts in the presence of a controlled quantity of water. The process
does not disclose purification of glycerin.
[0040] EP2431085A1 describes process for purifying glycerin derived from biodiesel
production through acidifying glycerin, neutralizing glycerin, electrodialysis with cation and
anion exchange membrane between anode and cathode. The process does not disclose
removal of fatty and organic impurities.
[0041] US2120227 describes purification of glycerol after distillation and re-distillation
followed by decolourization. This process involves use of activated carbon treatment at 75
degree Celsius with 50% volume of 0.5% sulfuric acid with pH of less than 7.0. The process
involves dilution of glycerol and thus removal water in next becomes energy intensive as well
as acidic treatment give formation of dimeric or polyglycerol as impurities.
[0042] US2234400 describes purification of polyhydric alcohols using one or more steam
distillation and vacuum distillation, which is energy intensive process followed by carbon
treatment and even then ester type impurities are present in final glycerol product.
[0043] US2381055 describes purification of glycerin obtained from fermentation through hot
digestion, saponification, acidification with sulfuric acid, filtration, anion exchange resin
treatment and distillation. The process of this invention is not suitable for crude glycerol
obtained in biodiesel and fat splitting processes.
[0044] US2487611 describes purification of anhydrous glycerin with use of acetone to the
methanolic solution of glycerin, to remove precipitates/floccs of salts and other impurities,
solvent is then removed by distillation and glycerin is distilled under reduced pressure. The
process gave low yield of glycerol i.e. 67% to 82%.
[0045] US2960447 describes purification of synthetic glycerol through concentration by
evaporation (at pH 3 to 5), adding non-volatile base like hydroxide/carbonate to form high
boiling impurities at pH 9 to 12 and then flashing the glycerol, fractionation to remove low
boiling impurities followed by re-distillation steps. Thus the process highly energy intensive
and gives low yields. US 1466665 describes process of making synthetic glycerin from
petroleum oil through reaction and saponification.
[0046] US2977291 describes purification of glycerol by distillation to remove glycols and
volatile impurities, treating glycerol with sulfuric acid at 100 to 140 degree Celsius
temperature for 1 to 6 hours and then neutralizing it with anion exchange resin, alkali or
alkaline earth metal oxides followed by fractional distillation of glycerol. The process is
highly energy intensive.
[0047] US3003924 describes method of producing glycerine from lignified cellulose through
digestion, saccharification, fermentation, precipitation using calcium hydroxide and
magnesium hydroxide, aeration, yeast recycle and resulting liquid medium is distilled to
obtain glycerine in conventional manner. Similarly, US2741638 and US2772207 also
discusses purification of glycerol from dilute solution obtained after fermentation and
hydrolysis.
[0048] US5 177008 describes process for manufacturing ethanol and for recovering glycerol,
succinic acid, lactic acid and distiller's dry grain and solubles or a solid fertilizer, wherein
stillage from fermentation/distillation is clarified using crossflow microfiltration on inorganic
membranes, treating the clarified stillage using ion exclusion material for
chromatographically separating glycerol from other constituents followed by purifying
glycerol using ion exchange, evaporation and distillation. The process of this invention is
complex and involves large number of steps leading reduced recovery of glycerol.
[0049] CN101481297A1 describes method for refining glycerol from biodiesel by-products
through addition of organic solvent to the phase, adjusting pH to 1 to 7 to from a precipitate,
filtration to remove solid material followed by alkaline ion exchange resin and acidic ion
exchange resin treatment and elution with water. The eluate is dehydrated under reduced
pressure to obtain refined glycerin. The yield of this process is very low i.e. 85%.
[0050] CN203513532U describes crude glycerol refining technology system with pre-
treatment tank, distillation kettle, decolourization tank, ion exchange column and high
temperature evaporator. The invention does not disclose the process of refining of glycerol.
[0051] CN102229521A1 describes refined and crude glycerol by-product recovery processes
using multiple ion exchange methods and CN 102775275A describes refined glycerin
purification process involving lime treatment, ion exchange acidification process and thus
higher chemicals consumption and large mineral content.
[0052] US2012/0245398 describes process for purification of crude glycerol obtained from
saponification, hydrolysis and transesterification processes of oils/fats by reaction of the
crude glycerol with c l to c6 carboxylic acids or anhydride to form glycerol esters, separating
glycerol esters by distillation and then reacting those esters with alkayl or cycloalkyl alcohols
followed by separation of glycerol. The glycerol obtained in the process is of yellow colour
and at low yields.
[0053] US20 16/0052847 describes production of partially refined waste glycerol
(fermentation grade glycerol) involving de-oiling using hydrophobic solvent (alkene, alakne,
acetate, fatty acid alcohol ester etc.) to extract organic impurities, dewatering by drying at
elevated temperatures and desalting using polar solvent to precipitate salts. The process does
not give pure glycerol.
[0054] US4655879 describes glycerol distillation after alkalization of glycerol crude in
presence of air oxidation and using thin film evaporator with re-distillation of residue,
rectification, and re-evaporation in packed bed column with falling film, followed by
bleaching product with activated carbon. The process is highly energy intensive due to
multiple distillation steps and gives two types of glycerin a colourless and yellow gray
coloured, thus reducing recovery of pure glycerol and also giving difficult to purify yellow
fraction.
[0055] CN105585423A describes an improved glycerol production process involving pre-
treatment using activated carbon/coke, kaolin or organobentonite and regenerating spent
adsorbent with hot steam, treating the pre-treated glycerol (a yellow liquid) on resin column
packed with macroporous adsorbent resin like XDA-1, HYA-103 or HYA-106, regenerating
the resins with 3 to 5% NaOH at a temperature and then with 0.5 to 1.5% hydrochloric acid
followed by water till pH to 4 to 6 . Glycerol obtained from resin column is distilled and then
evaporated to obtain >80% glycerol. The process utilizes macroporous ion exchange resins
which are no n- selective and utilized both acid and alkali stream which need to be treated
separately enhancing the cost of overall operation. Further, the glycerol obtained if of low
purity.
[0056] Carmona et al., (J Chemcial Technol Biotechnol, 2009, 84, pp-738-744 and pp-1130-
1135) has discussed purification of glycerol/water solutions from biodiesel synthesis by ion
exchange for sodium removal using Amberlite 252 and Amberlite IRA- 120, and chloride
removal by Amberlite IRA-420. The paper only addresses sodium and chloride removal and
not any other ions and resins used showed that it has more selectivity for potassium than
sodium.
[0057] Busby et al., (Meeting of American oil chemical society, 1951) showed purification of
glycerol by several columns of cation, anion and mixed bed with five different ion
exchangers in series followed by distillation to get glycerol product to obtain 95 to 99% pure
glycerol. This involves several columns generating large effluent making the process highly
expensive.
[0058] The disposal of crude glycerol is costly, and it is much advantageous to undergo
purification to generate pure glycerol for its utilization in more than 1000 applications. To
achieve this, there are several separations and purification processes that are developed and
operated for crude glycerol obtained from biodiesel and fat splitting industries/processes. The
techniques utilized till date are chemical pre-treatment, methanol removal, vacuum
distillation, fractional and molecular distillation, ion exchange and ion exclusion
chromatography, activated carbon, clay or bentonite treatment, and membrane separations
etc.
[0059] However, current purification and refining processes for crude glycerol are high in
energy requirement and are deemed not feasible for small to medium or even large scale
plants (Ardi et al., progress, prospects and challenges in glycerol purification process: a
review, Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 42, 205, pp-1 164-1 173). It has been
identified that the recovery of high quality glycerol at low energy and less effluent is playing
a key role in cost reduction. Thus, there is a need to utilize crude glycerol through suitable
purification and refining process technology towards sustainable growth.
[0060] During biodiesel and fat splitting processes, the impurities formed such as soap,
solvent like methanol, water, salts, and material organic non-glycerol (MONG). MONG
consists of fatty acids (saturated and unsaturated), fatty acids esters, sterols, tocopherol,
monoglycerides, di-glycerides, triglycerides, pigments and coloured impurities, organic
polymerized and coloured impurities, glycerol dimmers and oligomers, polyglycerols, sugars
and condensation products etc. Inorganic impurities are mainly salts, acids and alkali, and
residual catalysts. All these impurities have more tendencies to concentrate in the glycerol
phase/stream during separation of biodiesel phase and glycerol phase; and fatty acids phase
and sweet water phase etc. Therefore, crude glycerol has large number of organic and
inorganic impurities and requires a process to remove these impurities selectively rather than
developing large number of operation to purity it to meet pharmacopoeial (USP, EP, BP, JP,
IP etc) and food chemical Index specifications (>99.5% assay purity) for its use in food,
pharma and cosmetics as well as in other industrial applications.
[0061] None of the prior art processes provides solution for removal these impurities
selectively with less number of operations and at low energy requirement making the process
economically and commercially viable, green and sustainable (a) Neutralization and
acidification converts soaps into fatty acids and separates out, but increases the ash and
MONG content in glycerol fraction and thus glycerol purity of >98.1% cannot be obtained
even after fractional distillation making overall process costly and energy intensive (b)
Further, ion exchange and ion exclusion chromatography resins based technique could give
enhanced purity by removal of free fatty acids, inorganic salts and free ion impurities. But the
major issues in viable purification method using ion exchanger/ion exclusion resins is fouling
by fatty acids, oils and soaps, and thus further requiring large quantities of regeneration
liquids generating large quantity of waste streams/water as well as reduces resin life (Ardi et
al., progress, prospects and challenges in glycerol purification process: a review, Renewable
and sustainable energy reviews, 42, 205, pp- 1164- 1173). Thus, this technique requires
selective removal of such fouling agents, specifically MONG fraction by some other
operation so as to make ion exchange/ion exclusion technique effective on industrial scale
(c) Adsorption on activated carbon, charcoal, clay, bentonite etc is mainly used as the finish
steps to refine the purified glycerol and to reduce colour as well as some fatty acids. Carbon
was found to remove lauric and myristic acids effectively, although other fatty acids such as
plamitic acid, oleic acid and steric acid and other unknown compounds were found in refined
glycerol (Ardi et al., progress, prospects and challenges in glycerol purification process: a
review, Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 42, 205, pp- 1164- 1173), indicating that
carbon though it is useful, it leaks few fatty acids and therefore requires a technique to
remove such fatty acids selectively before or after carbon treatment (d) Membrane
technology is also utilized in glycerol purification but the membrane fouling by MONG,
durability of membrane and high osmotic pressure due to glycerol concentration are strong
limiting factors and again such technique requires selective removal of MONG for membrane
to work without frequent fouling due to complex organic impurities (e) Distillation (vacuum,
fractional, molecular, membrane etc.) are established methods but requires high energy, high
in maintenance and are very sensitive to feed compositions, which is bound to happen due to
feedstocks used to obtain crude glycerol are natural sources. Therefore, distillation operation
are operated to obtain a pure glycerol fraction in single or multiple distillations in series, and
another fraction as impure glycerol with high content of MONG (called yellow glycerol),
thus reducing recovery of pure glycerol. Reduced recoveries and recycle of impure fraction to
distillation re-boiler are due to presence of MONG in the glycerol to be distilled and thus
requires a process to remove such organic impurities selectively before or after distillation.
[0062] Thus, none of the existing or conventional techniques/processes selectively removes
organic or MONG impurities and thereby give reduced yields and/or purity even after usage
of number of unit operations. Further, the prior art processes left large scope for further
enhancement in efficiencies of existing operation by developing a new technique/process to
remove organic/MONG impurities and improve the yield and purity of glycerol with low
energy and cost for industrial viability.
[0063] In order to reduce the above reported drawbacks, there is need to develop a process
for purification of glycerol, free of organic, MONG and inorganic salts, using the crude
glycerol or partially pure glycerol.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0064] The subject matter described herein is directed towards a process for purification of
glycerol. The present disclosure provides a process for purification of both, crude as well as
partially pure glycerol.
[0065] In an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a process for purification and
refining of glycerol, the process comprising steps of: (a) contacting glycerol with at least one
hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent and at least one polar impurity affinity adsorbent to
obtain a first fraction of pure and refined glycerol having purity greater than 99%, wherein
the order of contacting with at least adsorbent one hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent
and at least one polar impurity affinity adsorbent can vary; (b) displacing the residual
glycerol from the at least one hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent and the at least one
polar impurity affinity adsorbent by a displacing phase to obtain a second fraction of pure and
refined glycerol having purity greater than 99%; and (c) subjecting the first and second
fraction of pure and refined glycerol to at least one water removal treatment to obtain a final
pure and refined glycerol, wherein the final pure and refined glycerol has assay purity greater
than 99%, water content less than 0.5%, impurities less than 0.5%, and the recovery of the
final pure and refined glycerol is greater than 98%.
[0066] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present subject matter will be
better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. This
summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form. This summary
is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor
is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
[0067] The following drawings form a part of the present specification and are included to
further illustrate aspects of the present disclosure. The disclosure may be better understood by
reference to the drawings in combination with the detailed description of the specific
embodiments presented herein.
[0068] Figure 1 depicts the reproducibility of process in terms of loadability (kg of glycerol
processed /lit of adsorbents) and assay purity of purified and refined glycerol over 50
consecutive cycles with regenerated and reused adsorbent and recycled regenerating liquid.
[0069] Figure 2 depicts recovery of purified and refined glycerol from the process of present
disclosure over 50 consecutive cycles with regenerated and reused adsorbent and recycled
regenerating liquid.
[0070] Figure 3 represents the HPLC chromatogram of standard pharmacopoeial grade
glycerol.
[0071] Figure 4 represents the HPLC chromatogram of purified and refined glycerol by the
process of present disclosure showing only glycerol same as that of pharmacopoeial standard.
[0072] Figure 5 represents the HPLC chromatogram of crude glycerol obtained from fat/oil
splitting process (sweet water) showing glycerol and other peaks are impurities.
[0073] Figure 6 represents the HPLC chromatogram of the crude glycerol obtained from
saponification process showing glycerol and other peaks are impurities.
[0074] Figure 7 represents the HPLC chromatogram of crude glycerol obtained as a
byproduct of bio-diesel production (by transesterification process) showing glycerol and
other peaks are impurities.
[0075] Figure 8 depicts the HPLC chromatogram of partially pure glycerol (yellow glycerol)
showing glycerol and other peaks are impurities.
[0076] Figure 9 represents the HPLC chromatogram of partially pure glycerol (industrial
white glycerol) showing glycerol and other peaks are impurities.
ADVANTAGES
[00163] The present disclosure has several advantages over prior art, which are as
follows:
1) The present disclosure provides a cost effective process for purification of
glycerol having wide application in medical, pharmaceutical, food, industrial
applications and personal care preparations.
2) The present disclosure provides a robust but simple separation technique for
removal of polymeric, organic, MONG and inorganic, coloured impurities to
produce high purity of glycerol.
3) The present disclosure provides a high recovery and purity (near 100%) of
glycerol from feed of crude glycerol.
4) In the process adsorbents and absorbents are regenerated and recycled in the process.
5) The present invention provides purified and refined glycerol at low cost and low
energy requirements and in lesser number of steps/operations.
EXAMPLES:
[00164] The disclosure will now be illustrated with working examples, which is
intended to illustrate the working of disclosure and not intended to take restrictively to imply
any limitations on the scope of the present disclosure. Unless defined otherwise, all technical
and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of
ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Although methods and materials
similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice of the disclosed
methods and compositions, the exemplary methods, devices and materials are described
herein. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods, and
experimental conditions described, as such methods and conditions may vary.
Example 1 : Pre-treatment of crude glycerol to obtained from various sources
[00165] Crude glycerol or partially pure glycerol obtained from biodiesel production,
fat/oil splitting saponification and fermentation process was treated using different known
processes such as distillation, flocculation/coagulation, filtration, neutralization, acidification
etc. to obtain partially pure glycerol so as to process it using the process of present invention.
In case of sweet water and crude glycerol obtained from fat/oil splitting about 0 . 1 to 3.0% of
polymeric mass/impurities and coloured impurities were observed. It was found that the
crude glycerol obtained from above sources is of varying quality and therefore, partially pure
glycerol obtained after pre-treatment is also of varying quality but clear enough to be
processed using adsorbents of present invention. Table 1 shows quality of crude or partially
purified glycerol obtained from biodiesel production, fat/oil splitting, during distillation of
biodiesel crude glycerol and crude glycerol obtained after flocculation, filtration and
concentration by evaporation of sweet water from fat/oil splitting process. These glycerol
containing impurities are used in the process of present invention to recover purified and
refined glycerol of more than 99% assay purity and more than 98% recovery with MONG
and ash below 0.01% as well as moisture below 0.5%. Industry white (IW) grade glycerol is
also a partially pure glycerol and is directly used in the process to obtain purified and refined
glycerol Table 2 shows the quality of glycerol obtained after applying pre-treatment steps to
various crude glycerol to obtain partially pure glycerol.
Table 1: Quality of crude glycerol or partially pure glycerol obtained from biodiesel
production, fat/oil splitting and fermentation process, and used in the process of present
invention (Sr. No 1 to 4 is crude glycerol from biodiesel production; Sr. No. 5 to 6 is yellow
glycerol obtained after distillation of crude biodiesel glycerol; Sr. No. 7 to 8 is industry white
grade glycerol obtained after distillation of biodiesel and fat/oil splitting process
respectively; Sr. No 9 to 11 is sweet water from fat/oil splitting process; and Sr. No 12 and
1 is crude glycerol obtained from fat/oil splitting process after treatment with flocculation,
filtration and concentration by evaporation.
( ) ( )
1 77.0 3.3 16.1 2.3 4.6 <0.01 1.25
2 61.0 2.3 2.5 29.4 6.8 0.23 1.20
3 83.4 2.7 10.7 1.5 4.2 0.18 1.25
4 74.5 2.4 14.3 4.6 6.7 0.55 1.25
5 94.8 5.4 2.0 0.0 3.2 <0.01 1.25
6 89.42 7.2 0.82 0.0 9.7 <0.01 1.26
7 96.5 7.6 1.3 0.0 1.0 <0.01 1.21
8 97.1 7.1 1.8 0.0 1.1 0.00 1.26
9 8.3 4.1 91.29 0.04 0.15 0.00 1.02
10 30.0 4.5 68.9 0.13 0.47 0.00 1.07
11 19.7 4.4 79.5 0.09 1.61 0.00 1.04
12 88 9.8 2.3 <0.5 5.4 0.00 1.23
13 84 8.9 6.4 <0.5 6.9 0.00 1.23
14 5.4 5.3 91.21 3.12 0.23 0.00 1.01
Table 2 : Quality of partially pure glycerol obtained after pre-treatment to crude glycerol
obtained from various sources shown in table 1 above.
filtration
Flocculation,
10 30.0 5.1 68.8 0.14 0.41 0.00
filtration
Flocculation,
filtration,
11 87.4 4.8 2.7 0.41 7.25 0.00
concentration
by evaporation
Dilution,
12 Flocculation, 70.2 9.5 25 <0.5 4.1 0.00
filtration
13 Distillation 92.19 7.1 0.6 <0.01 7.21 0.00
Flocculation,
14 5.5 5.4 91.9 2.30 0.24 0.0
filtration
[00178] The present disclosure thus provides an efficient method for purification of
glycerol, wherein purity levels of above 99% can be achieved with recovery being above
98%. It is a common experience in the field of purification of chemical substances, that it is
relatively easy to purify a substance up to a certain extent, but beyond that it is very
challenging to further purify or refine the substance, especially when the impurities have
already been brought down to a very small percentage, though still above acceptable limits. It
was delightful to note in case of the present disclosure that, on subjecting the glycerol to
purification by reverse phase adsorption (hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent), this
percentage could be brought down to below 0.01%. Eventually after all steps were carried
out, the pure and refined glycerol so obtained had a purity of 99.6% with all the impurities
well within the acceptable limit. The process uses a hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent
and a polar impurity affinity adsorbent to achieve such high levels of purity. The use of a
hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent for purification of glycerolis hitherto unknown. The
process disclosed herein scores over the traditional processes in terms of cost-effectiveness,
operational simplicity, very high recovery and purity of resultant glycerol, and regeneration
and recycling of adsorbents used.
[00179] Although the subject matter has been described with reference to specific
embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various
modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternate embodiments of the subject
matter, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of
the subject matter. It is therefore contemplated that such modifications can be made without
departing from the present subject matter as defined.
I/We Claim:
1. A process for purification and refining of glycerol, the process comprising steps of:
(a) contacting glycerol with at least one hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent
and at least one polar impurity affinity adsorbent to obtain a first fraction of
pure and refined glycerol having purity greater than 99%, wherein the order of
contacting with at least adsorbent one hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent
and at least one polar impurity affinity adsorbent can vary;
(b) displacing the residual glycerol from the at least one hydrophobic impurity
affinity adsorbent and the at least one polar impurity affinity adsorbent by a
displacing phase to obtain a second fraction of pure and refined glycerol
having purity greater than 99%; and
(c) subjecting the first and second fraction of pure and refined glycerol to at least
one water removal treatment to obtain a final pure and refined glycerol,
wherein the final pure and refined glycerol has assay purity greater than 99%, water
content less than 0.5%, impurities less than 0.5%, and the recovery of the final pure and
refined glycerol is greater than 98%.
2. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the glycerol is obtained from a process
selected from the group consisting of saponification, fat/oil splitting, biodiesel
production, fermentation, and combinations thereof.
3. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the glycerol is selected from crude glycerol,
partially pure glycerol, yellow glycerol, IW (industry white) grade glycerol, and
combinations thereof.
4. The process as claimed in claim 3, wherein the glycerol is selected from crude glycerol
and a combination of crude and partially pure glycerol, and the process further comprises
a pre-treatment of glycerol before contacting with at least one hydrophobic impurity
affinity adsorbent and at least one polar impurity affinity adsorbent.
5. The process as claimed in claim 4, wherein the pre-treatment is carried out by a
treatment method selected from the group comprising neutralization, acidification,
dilution, flocculation, filtration, flashing, distillation, evaporation, and combinations
thereof.
6. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent
comprises; (a) base selected from the group consisting of synthetic polymer, natural
polymer, inorganic matrix, and combinations thereof; and (b) at least one hydrophobic
impurity affinity group as an interacting group.
7. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polar impurity affinity adsorbent
comprises: (a) base selected from the group comprising synthetic polymer, natural
polymer, inorganic matrix and combinations thereof; and (b) at least one group selected
from positively charged group, negatively charged group, and combinations thereof, as a
polar impurity affinity interacting group.
8. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hydrophobic impurity affinity group or
polar impurity affinity group is part of base or grafted on base by known chemical
reactions.
9. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the glycerol is contacted with at least one
hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent at a temperature in the range of 15 - 150 °C, for
a residence time in the range of 5 minutes to 5 hours, and at a pH in the range of 1 - 12.
10. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the glycerol is contacted with at least one
polar impurity affinity adsorbent at a temperature in the range of 15 - 150 °C, for a
residence time in the range of 5 minutes to 5 hours, and at a pH in the range of 1 - 12.
11. The process as claimed in claiml, wherein the displacing of residual glycerol from the
hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent is carried out by a displacing phase selected
from the group consisting of water with pH of 7, water with a pH greater than 7, water
with a pH less than 7, air, hot air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, steam, and combinations
thereof.
12. The process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displacing of residual glycerol from the
polar impurity affinity adsorbent is carried out by a displacing phase selected from the
group consisting of water with pH of 7, water with a pH greater than 7, water with a pH
less than 7, air, hot air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, steam, and combinations thereof.
13. The process as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of regenerating the
hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent, wherein the regeneration is carried out by
eluting the hydrophobic impurity affinity adsorbent with a regeneration liquid to obtain
eluted adsorbed impurities and regenerated adsorbent.
14. The process as claimed in claim 13, wherein the regenerating liquid is selected from the
group consisting of neutral water having pH of 7, acidified water having pH below 7,
alkaline water having pH above 7, hot water, solvent selected from methanol, ethanol,
butanol, acetonitrile, acetone, tert-butanol, isopropyl alcohol or combinations or
azeotropic mixtures thereof.
15. The process as claimed in claims 1 or 13, furthercomprises the step of conditioning or
equilibrating the regenerated adsorbent for reuse.
16. The process as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of regenerating the polar
impurity affinity adsorbent, wherein the regeneration is carried out by eluting the polar
impurity affinity adsorbent with a regeneration liquid to obtain eluted adsorbed
impurities and regenerated adsorbent.
17. The process as claimed in claim 16, wherein the regenerating liquid is selected from the
group consisting of neutral water having pH of 7, acidified water having pH below 7,
alkaline water having pH above 7, hot water, solvent selected from methanol, ethanol,
butanol, acetone, acetonitrile, tert-butanol, isopropyl alcohol, azeotrope, alkali selected
from sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, ammonia, sodium
carbonate, sodium bi-carbonate, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, triethylamine,
acids selected from sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, citric acid, boric acid,
salts selected from sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium acetate, sodium citrate,
potassium acetate, potassium citrate, ammonium chloride, ammonium acetate, sodium
sulphate, potassium sulphate, ammonium sulphate, sodium carbonate, potassium
carbonate, or combinations or azeotropic mixtures thereof.
18. The process as claimed in claims 1 or 16, further comprises the step of conditioning or
equilibrating the regenerated adsorbent for reuse.
A . CLASSIFICATION O F SUBJECT MATTER
INV. C07C29/76 C07C31/22
ADD.
According to International Patent Classification (IPC) o r t o both national classification and IPC
B . FIELDS SEARCHED
Minimum documentation searched (classification system followed by classification symbols)
C07C
Documentation searched other than minimum documentation to the extent that such documents are included in the fields searched
Electronic data base consulted during the international search (name of data base and, where practicable, search terms used)
Category* Citation of document, with indication, where appropriate, of the relevant passages Relevant to claim No.
□ Further documents are listed in the continuation of Box C . See patent family annex.
Date of the actual completion of the international search Date of mailing of the international search report