SEP: Sustainable Forest-Based Biofuel Pathways to Hydrocarbon Transportation Fuels: Biomass Production, Torrefaction, Pyrolysis, Catalytic Upgrading, and Combustion

NSF可持续能源途径（SEP）项目隶属于NSF可持续发展科学、工程和教育（SEES）倡议，将支持密歇根理工大学David Shonnard教授及其同事的研究项目。可替代石油基液体运输燃料的可再生替代品是国家能源安全的战略目标。为期四年的木材到车轮（W2W） SEP项目将通过在基于森林的基础设施兼容的车辆运输液体生物燃料领域进行变革性、多学科、全面和综合的研究来实现这一目标。假设驱动的研究将被组织成三个主要的推力加上一个跨领域的推力整合活动；1)可持续森林系统，2)基于两阶段焙烧/热解的转化过程，3)先进生物燃料的能源利用，4)综合可持续性评估与决策。可持续森林系统的研究重点将包括森林生产力建模、生态系统营养和生产力以及基因组学指导的原料（杨树）改良。“转化过程”项目将研究一种新的基于两阶段焙烧和热解的加工策略，以制备用于多功能催化升级为碳氢化合物绿色柴油产品的改良生物油。能量利用推力将采用替代燃料方法，以确定燃料成分类别和燃烧特性之间的关系，并向转换推力团队提供关于最佳GD组成目标的反馈。可持续发展评估的推力将产生决策支持工具，包括指标集、执行过程模拟和优化、技术经济分析、生命周期评估、温室气体分析和能源平衡。该项目的目标是实现科学和工程上的突破，以生产具有全系统效益的基础设施兼容的绿色柴油（GD）；例如发动机的清洁燃烧（低颗粒物和氮氧化物），与化石燃料相比，减少了生命周期温室气体排放，每加仑成本低，创造农村就业机会，提高了能源独立性，每英亩森林生物量的高生产率，有利于转化的植物基因型，以及优化了使用GD规定成分组成的发动机。研究人员包括林业、社会科学、化学工程、机械工程等领域的11名教师、7名博士生和1名博士后，将为复杂的自然/工业/社会耦合系统开发新的知识。该SEP项目将培养具有技术研究经验和广泛的可持续发展教育的多样化高技能生物燃料劳动力，以支持可再生运输燃料行业。研究小组将与当地社区互动，以获取他们认为是社区可持续发展的重要措施的信息。通过这种互动，这些社区将接受有关生物燃料生产技术的教育，了解可持续性意味着什么，如何衡量可持续性，以及在其所在地区建立可持续生物燃料系统是否需要在目标之间进行权衡。该团队将实施一项W2W SEP多元化计划，以：(1)招募女性、少数族裔和残疾人士作为研究生，以及(2)实施综合实践，使SEP学生和博士后在学术和专业上取得成功。可持续性评估研究推力的结果将反馈给其他推力团队，以指导研究并克服在生命周期的关键处理阶段出现的可持续性挑战。该项目将促进美国生物质生物燃料生产的发展，以取代几乎所有进口石油，支持国内就业，并减少温室气体排放。项目可交付成果将有助于建立一个以高生产率森林能源作物、可持续森林管理实践、催化剂和工艺技术、发动机系统创新、可持续决策数据库和分析方法/软件工具为特色的新型森林生物燃料产业。

The NSF Sustainable Energy pathways (SEP) Program, under the umbrella of the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative, will support the research program of Prof. David Shonnard and co-workers at Michigan Technological University. Drop-in, renewable replacements for petroleum-based liquid transportation fuels is a national strategic goal for energy security. The four-year Wood to Wheels (W2W) SEP project will achieve this goal by conducting transformative, multidisciplinary, comprehensive, and integrated research in the area of forest-based infrastructure-compatible liquid biofuel for vehicular transportation. Hypothesis-driven research is to be organized into three main thrusts plus a cross-cutting thrust integration activity; 1) Sustainable Forest Systems, 2) Two-Stage Torrefaction/Pyrolysis-Based Conversion Processes, 3) Energy Utilization of Advanced Biofuels, and 4) Integrated Sustainability Assessment and Decision Making. The Sustainable Forest Systems research thrust will feature research in forest productivity modeling, ecosystem nutrition and productivity, and genomics-guided feedstock (poplar) improvement. The Conversion Processes thrust will investigate a novel two-stage torrefaction and pyrolysis based processing strategy to prepare an improved bio-oil for multi-functional catalytic upgrading to a hydrocarbon green diesel fuel product. The Energy Utilization thrust will incorporate a surrogate fuels approach to determine the relationship between fuel component classes and combustion characteristics, and to provide feedback to the Conversion thrust team on targets for optimal GD composition. The Sustainability Assessment thrust will produce decision support tools including indicator sets, perform process simulation and optimization, technoeconomic analyses, life cycle assessments, greenhouse gas analyses, and energy balances.The goal of this project is to achieve scientific and engineering breakthroughs for production of an infrastructure-compatible green diesel (GD) with system-wide benefits; such as clean combustion in engines (low particulates and NOx), reduced life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuel, low cost per gallon, rural job creation, increased energy independence, high productivity per acre of forest biomass, plant genotypes with favorable composition for conversion, and engines optimized to use the prescribed component makeup of the GD. Researchers, including 11 faculty, 7 PhD students, and one postdoc from Forestry, Social Sciences, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, will develop new knowledge about complex coupled natural/industrial/societal systems. This SEP project will create a diverse highly skilled biofuels workforce with the technical research experiences and broad sustainability education needed to support a renewable transportation fuels industry. The research team will interact with local communities to gain information on what they believe to be important measures of sustainability in their communities. Through this interaction, these communities will receive education on biofuel production technologies and what sustainability means, how it can be measured, and whether trade-offs among goals are necessary to institute sustainable biofuel systems in their area. The team will implement a W2W SEP diversity plan to: (1) recruit women, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities as graduate students, and (2) implement integrated practices that enable the academic and professional success of the SEP students and postdoc. Results from the Sustainability Assessments research thrust will be fed back to the other thrust teams in order to guide research and overcome sustainability challenges that arise at key processing stages along the life cycle.The project will contribute to the development of biomass-based biofuel production in the US in order to displace nearly all imported petroleum, to support domestic jobs, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Project deliverables will help establish a new forest-based biofuels industry featuring high productivity forest energy crops, sustainable forest management practices, catalysts and process technologies, innovations in engine systems, sustainable decision-making databases, and analysis methods/software tools.