Patent 12103912 was granted and assigned to Cargill on October, 2024 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Methods and systems for producing alkyl hydroxyalkanoate from hydroxycarboxylic acid recovery bottoms. The methods generally comprise the steps of obtaining a hydroxycarboxylic acid recovery bottom, adding a mono-alcohol to the hydroxycarboxylic acid recovery bottom to obtain a first mixture, heating the first mixture, optionally in the presence of a catalyst, to form a reaction product, distilling the reaction product, and recovering an alkyl hydroxyalkanoate fraction.