Fractionation of glycerol acetates with supercritical CO2

Abstract

Glycerol acetates are sustainable products that exhibit several industrial applications. These compounds are traditionally synthesized by the esterification of glycerol with acetic acid, and their fractionation is key to isolate high value-added products. The supercritical fractionation of glycerol acetates is an interesting alternative to separate efficiently these low volatile viscous mixtures at low temperatures to avoid thermal degradation. In this work, we investigate the CO2 fractionation of a commercial mixture of glycerol acetates. Experimental fractionations under equilibrium conditions are carried out at temperatures between 301 K and 323 K and pressures between 100 bar and 130 bar. Moreover, we model the extractions with the GCA-EOS, which in a previous work, predicted that it would be technically feasible to fractionate the glycerol acetate mixture using CO2. In this work, we show that the GCA-EOS is a useful tool to design and optimize the scaled-up separation process.