Waste to Chemicals: Obtaining lactic acid by means of synthesized catalysts from industrial sludge as a residual glycerol valuation alternative

About 80% of basic chemical industry processes will be developed through the use of catalysts, however, these materials are relatively expensive and in our country the ignorance in this type of process has limited the takeoff of the basic chemical industry. The establishment of the White Paper and the promotion of an organic law that promotes the circular economy generates the need that our country seeks innovative alternatives in which waste that are currently considered environmental liabilities can be valued. Therefore, this project proposes to obtain lactic acid, which is a promoter of biodegradable plastics, from glycerol, but applying a catalytic technology. Glycerol currently has a lot of interest since it is a byproduct generated in large amounts of biodiesel manufacturing processes; In addition to this process, catalysts synthesized from industrial sludge that are hazardous waste in our environmental legislation will be used. These catalysts will be obtained from galvanoplasty industry, fuel storage and mining tailings; That have metallic content and that will allow the reaction to be carried out to conditions that can be scalable at the industrial level. An experimental methodology will be applied based on: i) Discrimination of catalysts to verify catalytic activity; Ii) Selection of operation conditions iii) exhaustive characterization of catalysts before and after the process; As well as glycerol, iv) Development of the kinetic model for the catalyst with the best performance of lactic acid as a basis for simulating the process at an industrial scale and designing the process for the national context and v) promoting the scientific dissemination of the knowledge of catalysis in our country. The results obtained will strengthen the culture of the circular economy since glycerol residues, industrial sludge residues to obtain a chemical with high added value such as lactic acid that in turn is raw material of biodegradable materials will be valued

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