EAGER: Lignin as a Sustainable Resource for Hydrocarbon-Like Transportation Fuels

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PI: Kiran, ErdoganProposal Number: 1250663Institution: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityTitle: EAGER: Lignin as a Sustainable Resource for Hydrocarbon-Like Transportation FuelsAn important future goal in alternative energy research is the development of biofuel technologies that are based on non-edible feedstocks. In this context, the development of resources with reduced feedstock variations that are sustainable and are not based on food crops is a continuing challenge. Equally important is the transformation of biomass to hydrocarbon-like liquid fuels with low oxygen-to- carbon (O/C) and high hydrogen-to-carbon ratios (H/C) as this is required for compatibility with petroleum- based transportation fuels for which future demands are projected to be particularly high.Among the biomass components (namely cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin), lignin has the lowest O/C and the highest H/C ratio. As such, if it were to exist as a uniform feedstock, it would be an extremely attractive starting material for conversion to hydrocarbon-like liquid transportation fuels. Currently, such a resource does not exist. Lignins that are available are the byproducts of pulping processes, which are complex mixtures with high content of carbohydrate fractions. They have high O/C ratios, and their compositions depend on the pulping process employed.This EAGER research project will explore the feasibility of an integrated approach to generate a uniform carbohydrates-free lignin feedstock as a resource for generation of hydrocarbon-like transportation fuels. The process that is envisioned will employ the tunable properties of supercritical fluids combined with the dissolving power of ionic liquids. An integrated process is being considered that will also be generating value-added by products which can themselves be a resource for alternative fuels or chemical feedstocks. Among the byproducts are oils and fats which can be a resource for biodiesel; or extractives-free cellulose and hemicelluloses which can be a resource for bioethanol or can directly be used as a pulp source in paper production. The primary focus of the initial exploration is however on the feasibility of generation of a carbohydrates-free uniform lignin source which can be converted to liquid biofuels with low O/C and high H/C ratio, similar to petroleum-based hydrocarbon fuels using mixtures of ionic liquids with supercritical fluids.The research will generate the key preliminary data pertaining to supercritical fluids and ionic liquid mixtures with respect to their penetration, extraction and modification power of the complex cell walls of plant and woody biomass. New information will be generated on the miscibility of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin in mixtures of supercritical fluids and ionic liquids as well as new information on depolymerization and hydrodeoxygenation of extractives-free lignin. These findings are expected to be also of value in several other application areas such as materials science and polymer modifications. This research project will train one graduate and one underdraduate student in the involved multidisciplinary disciplines.