Glycolic Acid Production from Ethylene Glycol via Sustainable Biomass Energy: Integrated Conceptual Process Design and Comparative Techno-economic–Society–Environment Analysis

Glycolic acid (GA) is a promising building block for synthesizing biodegradable materials, which could replace conventional coal-derived and petroleum-derived plastic materials. However, conventional coal-based GA routes are facing severe obstacles in nonrenewable energy consumptions and pollutant emissions. Biomass energy is regarded as a potential contributor to a greener and cleaner development. Herein, we develop and evaluate a novel ethylene glycol (EG) selective oxidation to GA process using renewable biomass energy, which aims to realize the sustainable and cost-effective production of GA based on the highly efficient bimetallic PtMn/MCM-41 nanocatalysts. Compared with other GA production processes, the bio-based EG selective oxidation to GA process has significantly boosted the techno-economic performance (increasing the energy efficiency by 19.7% and the net present value by 121%). Furthermore, the life cycle society–environment assessment also indicates that the performance of fossil energy demand (FED), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and water resource consumption (WRC) in the EG selective oxidation to GA process is superior to that of other coal-based techniques (reducing FED, GHG, and WRC by 881.3, 32.7, and 47.8%, respectively). This study aims to give unambiguous and quantitative results for developing a sustainable and cost-effective bio-based GA production process and provide guidance for other engineering applications of biomass polyhydric alcohols.