Table 1. Life Cycle Inventory of the Biochemical and Chemical (Sn-MCM-41 and Sn-In-MCM-41 Catalysts) Routes and of the Improved Conditions for the Production of 1 kg of ML.
| biochemical route | Sn-MCM-41 | Sn-In-MCM-41 | Sn-In-MCM-41 improved conditions | Sn-In-MCM-41 improved conditions and 100% ML yield | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bacteria [kg] | 0.009 | ||||
| nutrients [kg] | 0.061 | ||||
| glucose [kg] | 1.30 | 2.02 | 1.39 | 1.39 | 0.86 |
| methanol [kg] | 0.017 | 3.57a | 2.47a | 1.23a | 0.76a |
| H2SO4 [kg] | 1.30 | ||||
| thermal energy (MJ) | 107 | 97 | 72.5 | 37.2 | 21.1 |
| water [kg] | 106 | 19.8 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 8.5 |
| Ca(OH)2 [kg] | 0.69 | ||||
| SnCl2 [kg] | 0.021 | 8.00·10–3 | 8.00·10–3 | 4.99·10–3 | |
| InCl3 [kg] | 7.50·10–3 | 7.50·10–3 | 4.66·10–3 | ||
| TEOS [kg] | 1.51 | 1.04 | |||
| Na2SiO3 [kg] | 0.61 | 0.38 | |||
| CTABr [kg] | 0.44 | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0.19 | |
| NaOH [kg] | 0.17 | 0.12 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
a
5% of the total required. 95% is recovered by distillation. Methanol required for glucose conversion to ML is provided by this 5%.