Towards Sustainable Adipic Acid Production: Process Modelling of Conventional and Electrochemical Pathways
- 1Department of Process and Energy (P&E
- 2Delft University of Technology
- 3-Refinery Institute, Delft University of Technology, Leeghwaterstraat 39, Delft, Netherlands, 2628 CB
Abstract
Adipic acid (AA) is produced at more than 3 Mt annually, with approximately 95% of global capacity relying on a benzene-derived process in which nitric acid oxidation generates stoichiometric N2O emissions. Electrochemical alternatives, including electrocatalytic oxidation (ECO) of ketone–alcohol (KA) oil and electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) of bio-derived muconic acid (MA), have shown promising cell-level performance, but their techno-economic feasibility has rarely been evaluated using fully integrated process models. Here, we developed Aspen Plus models for three 100 kt a-1 AA production plants located in the Rotterdam industrial region: the conventional nitric acid route with N2O abatement, an ECO route replacing nitric acid oxidation with an alkaline membrane electrolyser and electrodialytic KOH recovery, and a biomass ECH route converting clarified MA fermentation broth to trans-3-hexenedioic acid (t3HDA). All routes were evaluated using consistent feedstock, utility, cost, and emissions assumptions. The conventional process achieves a minimum selling price (MSP) of $1.58 kg-1 and emissions of 4.79 kgCO2e kg-1, consistent with current European AA prices. The ECO route reaches $2.33 kg-1 and 2.20 kgCO2e kg-1, while the biomass ECH route reaches $3.97 kg-1 and 1.18 kgCO2e kg-1. Importantly, electrolyser performance is not the dominant cost barrier. Electrolyte recovery, product concentration, crystallisation, and chilling account for a substantial fraction of capital and utility demand. MSP is particularly sensitive to electricity price, while process emissions strongly depend on grid carbon intensity. Neither electrochemical route is currently cost-competitive with the incumbent process. Moreover, upstream N2O abatement would substantially reduce the emissions advantage of ECO. These results identify downstream separation and product recovery, rather than catalyst performance alone, as the key constraints to economically viable electrochemical AA production.
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BibTeX
@misc{khan2026towards,
title = {{Towards Sustainable Adipic Acid Production: Process Modelling of Conventional and Electrochemical Pathways}},
author = {S.U. Khan and E. Yeo and W. de Jong and E. Goetheer and R. Kortlever and Shahid Ullah Khan},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15008035/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008035/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Towards Sustainable Adipic Acid Production: Process Modelling of Conventional and Electrochemical Pathways
AU - S.U. Khan
AU - E. Yeo
AU - W. de Jong
AU - E. Goetheer
AU - R. Kortlever
AU - Shahid Ullah Khan
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15008035/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008035/v1
AB - Adipic acid (AA) is produced at more than 3 Mt annually, with approximately 95% of global capacity relying on a benzene-derived process in which nitric acid oxidation generates stoichiometric N2O emissions. Electrochemical alternatives, including electrocatalytic oxidation (ECO) of ketone–alcohol (KA) oil and electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) of bio-derived muconic acid (MA), have shown promising cell-level performance, but their techno-economic feasibility has rarely been evaluated using fully integrated process models. Here, we developed Aspen Plus models for three 100 kt a-1 AA production plants located in the Rotterdam industrial region: the conventional nitric acid route with N2O abatement, an ECO route replacing nitric acid oxidation with an alkaline membrane electrolyser and electrodialytic KOH recovery, and a biomass ECH route converting clarified MA fermentation broth to trans-3-hexenedioic acid (t3HDA). All routes were evaluated using consistent feedstock, utility, cost, and emissions assumptions. The conventional process achieves a minimum selling price (MSP) of $1.58 kg-1 and emissions of 4.79 kgCO2e kg-1, consistent with current European AA prices. The ECO route reaches $2.33 kg-1 and 2.20 kgCO2e kg-1, while the biomass ECH route reaches $3.97 kg-1 and 1.18 kgCO2e kg-1. Importantly, electrolyser performance is not the dominant cost barrier. Electrolyte recovery, product concentration, crystallisation, and chilling account for a substantial fraction of capital and utility demand. MSP is particularly sensitive to electricity price, while process emissions strongly depend on grid carbon intensity. Neither electrochemical route is currently cost-competitive with the incumbent process. Moreover, upstream N2O abatement would substantially reduce the emissions advantage of ECO. These results identify downstream separation and product recovery, rather than catalyst performance alone, as the key constraints to economically viable electrochemical AA production.
ER -