Economic and technological aspects of chemical sorbitol production/Aspectos economicos y tecnologicos de la produccion de sorbitol por via quimica

Sorbitol is an important platform molecule with applications in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical sectors and with potential in biopolymers. It is obtained in batch reactors through the hydrogenation of glucose, on Ni-Raney catalysts. The leaching of nickel in the reaction media involves additional purification steps and makes the product more expensive. This work evaluates the current and future market of sorbitol, considering its applications. In addition, it collects information on the use of different metals and supports that offer higher selectivity in obtaining sorbitol from glucose or directly from cellulose, from biomass residues. It was verified that the sorbitol market presents an expectation of growth of more than 5 % until 2022. Even though the Ni-Raney catalyst is the most economically competitive, it can be replaced efficiently by the ruthenium supported in different materials.