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EP-4737492-A2 - ETHANOL

EP4737492A2EP 4737492 A2EP4737492 A2EP 4737492A2EP-4737492-A2

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a novel and practical alcohol and derivatives thereof which have more industrial value than existing petrochemical raw materials. [Solution] Ethanol, characterized in that a peak in gas chromatography measured by gas chromatograph mass spectrometry (GC / MS) has at least one peak with a retention time selected from (A) a peak of 5 minutes 25 seconds to 5 minutes 35 seconds and two peaks of 2 minutes 55 seconds to 3 minutes 5 seconds; (B) a peak of 12 minutes 30 seconds to 12 minutes 40 seconds; (C) a peak of 6 minutes 36 seconds to 6 minutes 45 seconds; and (D) a peak of 15 minutes 00 seconds to 15 minutes 15 seconds.

Inventors

  • HAMACHI, KOKORO
  • YAGIHASHI, Noritoshi
  • NISHIYAMA, Haruka
  • NATSUYAMA, Kazuto

Assignees

  • Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200128

Claims (12)

  1. Ethanol product, characterized in that a peak in gas chromatography measured by gas chromatograph mass spectrometry (GC / MS) has a peak with a retention time of the following (B): (B) a peak of 12 minutes 30 seconds to 12 minutes 40 seconds; wherein the peak of (B) is derived from n-tetradecane, and the concentration of n-tetradecane is 0.01 mg / L or more and 1.0 mg / L or less, wherein the peaks are obtained by analyzing the ethanol product by a GC / MS method as described in the description.
  2. The ethanol product according to claim 1, wherein the peak in gas chromatography has a peak with a retention time of the following (C); (C) a peak of 6 minutes 36 seconds to 6 minutes 45 seconds; and the peak of (C) is derived from n-decane.
  3. The ethanol product according to claim 2, wherein the concentration of n-decane is between 0.01 mg / L and 1.0 mg / L.
  4. The ethanol product according to claim 1, wherein the peak in gas chromatography has a peak with a retention time of the following (D); (D) a peak of 15 minutes 00 seconds to 15 minutes 15 seconds; and the peak of (D) is derived from n-hexadecane.
  5. The ethanol product according to claim 4, wherein the concentration of n-hexadecane is 0.01 mg / L or more and 1.0 mg / L or less.
  6. The ethanol product according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the ethanol is derived from microbial fermentation using a gas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
  7. The ethanol product according to claim 6, wherein the gas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen is derived from waste.
  8. A method for manufacturing an ethanol product, comprising: a step of converting a carbon source into a synthetic gas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen; a microbial fermentation step of supplying the synthetic gas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen to a microbial fermentation tank to obtain an ethanol-containing liquid by microbial fermentation; a separation step of separating the ethanol-containing liquid into a liquid or solid component containing microorganisms and a gas component containing ethanol; a liquefaction step of condensing and liquefying the gas component; a purification step of purifying ethanol from the liquid obtained in the liquefaction step; wherein the purified ethanol product is characterized in that a peak in gas chromatography measured by gas chromatograph mass spectrometry (GC / MS) has a peak with a retention of the following (B): (B) a peak of 12 minutes 30 seconds to 12 minutes 40 seconds; wherein the peak of (B) is derived from n-tetradecane, and the concentration of n-tetradecane is 0.01 mg / L or more and 1.0 mg / L or less, wherein the peaks are obtained by analyzing the ethanol product by a GC / MS method as described in the description.
  9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of purifying the synthetic gas.
  10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the carbon source is derived from waste.
  11. Use of the ethanol product according to any one of claims 1 to 7, as a raw material for the manufacture of a chemical product, a polymer raw material, or a fuel.
  12. A fuel comprising ethanol product according to any one of claims 1 to 7 and/or ethyl-t-butyl ether obtainable from the ethanol product according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2019-012564 and 2019-012568, filed January 28, 2019; Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2019-050436, 2019-050465, 2019-050472, 2019-050474, 2019-050480, 2019-050484 and 2019-050489, filed March 18, 2019; Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2019-117720, 2019-117745, 2019-117749, and 2019-117754, filed June 25, 2019; and Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-126455, filed July 5, 2019; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to ethanol and, more particularly, to ethanol in which the content of specific trace components is adjusted, especially to novel resource recycling type ethanol using a gas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen as a substrate, which is not derived from conventional petroleum resources or biomass resources. [Background Art] Petrochemical products are used in various parts of our lives. On the other hand, because they are familiar products, they cause various environmental problems due to mass production and mass consumption, which is a major problem on a global scale. For example, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride, which are representative products of petrochemical industry, are consumed in large quantities and disposed of, and these wastes are a major cause of environmental pollution. In addition, concerns about the depletion of fossil fuel resources and global environmental issues such as the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been discussed when petrochemical industry products are mass-produced. In view of increasing awareness of such environmental problems on a global scale, methods for producing various organic substances from raw materials other than naphtha, which is a raw material for petrochemical products, have recently been studied. For example, attention has been drawn to a method for producing bioethanol from edible raw materials such as corn by a sugar fermentation method. However, it has been pointed out that such a sugar fermentation method using edible raw materials uses the limited farmland area for production other than food, which leads to escalation in food prices. In order to solve this problem, the use of non-edible raw materials that have conventionally been disposed of has also been considered. Specifically, there have been proposed methods for producing alcohols by a fermentation method using waste wood, cellulose derived from waste paper, or the like as non-edible raw materials, and methods for producing alcohols by gasifying biomass raw materials as described above and using a catalyst from synthetic gas, but the current situation is that these methods have not yet been put into practical use. Furthermore, even if various petrochemical products can be produced from these de-petrochemical raw materials, they will eventually become waste plastics that do not decompose naturally, and therefore they are not effective as a fundamental solution to environmental problems. Currently, combustible waste disposed of in Japan reaches to about 60,000,000 tons / year. The amount of energy is equivalent to about 2 hundred trillion kilocalories, which is much more than that of naphtha used as a raw material for plastics in Japan, and it can be said that these wastes are also heavy resources. If these waste resources can be converted into petrochemical products, it will be possible to realize an ultimate resource recycling society that does not rely on petroleum resources. In view of the above, Patent Documents 1 and 2 disclose techniques for producing a synthetic gas (a gas mainly composed of CO and H2) from waste and producing ethanol from the synthetic gas by a fermentation process. However, as also pointed out in Patent Document 3, synthetic gas produced from waste contains a wide variety of impurities that have not been revealed, and some of them are toxic to microorganisms, so that the productivity has become a large problem in producing alcohol from synthetic gas by microbial fermentation. Also, alcohol obtained by microbial fermentation of synthetic gas contains various components derived from impurities in the synthetic gas, and these components cannot be completely removed by purification treatment such as distillation. Therefore, the development of derivatives from alcohol obtained by microbial fermentation of synthetic gas has been a major technical problem. [Prior Art Documents] [Patent Documents] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2016-059296Patent Document 2: International Publication No. WO2015-037710Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2018-058042 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to examination by the present inventors, for example, C2 raw material represented by conventional ethanol is known as a starting mat