Propylene glycol, also known as 1,2 propanediol, is one of the most important chemicals in the industry. It is a water-soluble liquid, considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as safe to manufacture consumer products, including foodstuffs, medicines, and cosmetics. This chemical has essential properties, such as solvent, moisturizer, or antifreeze, in addition to a low level of toxicity. This paper aims to present the selection, simulation, and dimensioning of a trickle bed reactor at a laboratory scale. The sizing was validated with other authors. Two predictive models have been considered for reactor modeling, intrinsic kinetics and coupled intrinsic kinetics, along with mass transfer equations and the wetting of the catalyst particles. The model was implemented using Aspen Custom Modeler^® (20 Crosby Dr. Bedford, MA 01730, EE. UU.) to study the reactor behavior in terms of conversion. The results show the profiles of different variables throughout the reactor and present higher glycerol conversion when mass transfer is added to the model.

Alkaline delignification is a keystone pretreatment that governs carbohydrate accessibility, energy use, and yields across pulp and biorefinery value chains, yet its kinetic understanding remains fragmented and largely confined to bench-scale studies. This review provides an integrated assessment of the evolution and current state of kinetic approaches applied to alkaline delignification of lignocellulosic biomass, aiming to bridge academic research and industrial application. A systematic review following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses) guidelines identified 74 peer-reviewed articles and 359 patents published between 1995 and 2025. Kinetic models were classified into conventional (nth-order and pseudo-first-order) and emerging categories (Avrami/Š–B, diffusion-based, mechanistic multistep, isoconversional, and ML/statistical). The results show that pseudo-first-order kinetics and batch-scale studies dominate the literature, while pilot-scale validation and hybrid mechanistic data-driven frameworks remain limited. Patent analysis revealed technological convergence within D21C and C08B IPC domains, reflecting growing industrial interest in alkaline pulping and cellulose valorization. Unlike previous reviews, this work uniquely integrates conventional and emerging kinetic models with a patent-based technological perspective, providing a unified view of academic and industrial progress. The insights presented here provide a foundation for advancing future research, particularly by encouraging the development of standardized experimental protocols and the validation of kinetic models across multiple scales. Moreover, this review provides a consolidated reference for both academic researchers and industrial practitioners seeking to enhance delignification efficiency, reduce reagent consumption, and improve the sustainability of biorefinery processes.

Se determina mediante el uso de herramientas computacionales el comportamiento de la hidrólisis del aceite de soja con agua subcrítica. Empleando la cinética de reacción de segundo orden propuesta en la literatura, se realiza una simulación fluido dinámica empleando el programa COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS. Se utiliza un enfoque 2D en un plano horizontal que representa la sección transversal de un reactor agitado. Se consideraron los efectos turbulentos y se seleccionaron los modelos TRANS y κ-ε para las simulaciones, que se desarrollaron a tres niveles de calentamiento (523K, 548K y 573K). Los resultados obtenidos a 548K fueron consecuentes con los datos experimentales referenciados, presentando un error aproximado de 4% con lo reportado.

Palm kernel meal (PKM) is one of the main byproducts of the oil palm industry. PKM can be obtained as the result of solvent or mechanical extraction of palm kernel oil; in both cases, meal has a remaining oil content that could be recovered. In this work, PKM coming from a mechanical pressing extraction system with an initial oil content between 7 to 8% (wt.) was treated with subcritical water in a batch stirred reactor. To find the proper operational conditions, a three-step experimental process was performed. Extraction temperature, reaction time, particle size and alkaline catalyst usage were selected as process factors. After subcritical extraction, the system was cooled down and depressurized; then oil phase was separated by centrifugation. After extraction, meal was oven-dried at 80 °C. A maximum recovery of 0.034 kg-oil/kg-meal was obtained at 423 K, 720 s and particles smaller than 0.001 m. The experimental procedure showed consistent extraction yields of 40% without modifying the quality of the obtained oil.