109: Integrating synthetic chemistry and sustainability assessments towards a renewables-based chemical industry: A chemocatalyzed route to 3-Hydroxypropanoic acid (3-HPA) in water

Abstract: The development of green, reliable, and inexpensive syntheses of commodity chemicals from biomass is a key necessity for a robust sustainable industrial chemistry. 3-Hydroxypropanoic acid (3-HPA) has gained significant traction as a monomer for poly-HPA and a precursor of acrylic acid, widely used in coatings, textiles, and adhesives. 3-HPA production methods based on carbohydrate fermentation have seen considerable advances, but still present challenges, including low concentration, yield, and separation. Chemocatalyzed processes based on biomass are competitive alternatives with a lower barrier to entry. The development of new methodologies, coupled with early-stage environmental impacts and sustainability assessments, can effectively direct the adoption of less impactful industrial processes. This work introduces a new a two-step route to 3-HPA from biobased levulinic acid and its evaluation using life cycle assessment (LCA) and emergy analysis, a systems thinking sustainability assessment. The novel route uses inexpensive reagents at ambient temperature and pressure with water as a solvent. Recent progress shows that one of the key reagents (excess Na2SO3) can be substituted with glucose, leading to a 90% reduction of the carbon footprint related to reagent consumption in this step. The process also generates small amounts of succinic acid, acetic acid, and formic acid as valuable coproducts. After developing a pilot proposal, a prospective LCA and emergy analysis will be conducted to compare the projected impacts to the corresponding petrochemical production of 3-HPA. This chemocatalyzed route unlocks industrially relevant chemistry from renewable-based reagents in an aqueous medium. The use of preliminary LCA metrics helps reveal the highest impact steps and optimize process design, whereas emergy analysis evaluates the contribution of the supporting ecosystems and the overall sustainability of the process. This work shows how the integration of environmental indicators at early stage can meaningfully direct the development of new sustainable processes, providing a holistic understanding of the interconnection between natural, human, and chemical systems.