Improving Glycerol Conversion by Implementing Recycle Streams and Reducing Distillation Steps in Glycerol Carbonate Production

The rising surplus of glycerol from biodiesel production drives the need for its valorization into high-value compounds such as glycerol carbonate (GC). This study proposes a process intensification strategy to enhance glycerol conversion efficiency through transesterification with dimethyl carbonate (DMC). The modification involves incorporating a recycle stream for unreacted DMC and reducing one distillation column to minimize energy consumption and thermal degradation. Simulations were conducted using Aspen HYSYS® v11, modeling a CSTR operating at 95 °C and 1 atm with a DMC:glycerol molar ratio of 3:1. Process modification resulted in complete DMC utilization and a shift in separation strategy, with simulated glycerol conversion increasing from 91% to 99.98%. These findings demonstrate the trade-offs between energy efficiency and conversion performance in process redesign, offering valuable insights into more sustainable GC production. Copyright © 2025 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).