Question

Due to overly reliance on non-biodegradable plastic, abundance of plastic waste has led to waste management issues. Malaysia, one of the top producers of palm oil, is investigating the feasibility to convert empty fruit bunch (EFB) (waste from palm oil production) to bioplastic. One of the potential bioplastic from EFB is poly(levulinic acid–pentaerythritol) (PLA-PE). PLA-PE has shown promises as an alternative to replace conventional plastic due to its mechanical strength and moldability. PLA-PE is produced by the reaction of levulinic acid (LA) (extracted from EFB) with pentaerythritol (PE) at 210°C. However, the reaction between LA and PE at lower temperature would favor the formation of pentaerythritol tetralevulinate (PE-TL). Whereas, reaction at elevated temperature would cause PLA-PE turning to ash. Your task is to design an isothermal PFR to synthesize the PLA-PE. Since the polymer is recently discovered, data available for these reactions are scarce in literature.

i. Discuss how should the experiments be conducted to obtain the necessary data in designing the reactor.

ii. Discuss the considerations need to be taken in designing the reactor that produce high product concentration. State TWO (2) assumptions made to design the reactor.

Answer 1