BRIGE: Cellulose saccharification observed in real-time in a high-temperature microreactor - research and outreach

BRIGE：在高温微反应器中实时观察纤维素糖化 - 研究和推广

• 批准号: 1342320
• 负责人: Michael Timko
• 金额: $ 17.5万
• 依托单位: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1342320&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BRIGE; Cellulose; saccharification; observed; real

Technical Description: Despite years of effort, breaking down lignocellulosic feedstocks into small molecule building blocks remains prohibitively expensive. A major challenge is that the primary component of lignocellulosic biomass, cellulose, is highly crystalline and recalcitrant to most enzymatic and biological decomposition techniques. As a result, expensive and energy intensive pre-treatment steps are required to convert biomass into a form that is amenable to enzymatic breakdown into constituent sugars -- a process termed saccharification. Making pre-treatment more efficient can greatly reduce the capital costs of biofuel production. Progress in this direction has been impeded by the fact that pre-treatment conditions are harsh -- acidic with temperatures typically greater than 100 °C. Pre-treatment reactors are therefore not typically optically accessible, and the vast majority of pre-treatment studies have only been able to evaluate end effects achieved after the pre-treatment process has been completed. For this reason, engineering data on how to design, scale-up, and operate pre-treatment reactors is lacking information on how the solid biomass phase responds over time during pre-treatment reactions. In this work, we will use a high-temperature microreactor for a real-time study of cellulose de-crystallization, an important step in the overall pre-treatment process. The microreactor will be constructed with an optically transparent pyrex window that will permit microscopic and spectroscopic monitoring of cellulose particles as they undergo decrystallization reactions. Specifically, we plan to use on-line Raman microscopy to follow decrystallization and sugar forming reactions that occur when cellulose is heated in the presence of acids. These data will be used to develop detailed engineering models that can be used to design and optimize large-scale pre-treatment reactors.Broader Significance and Importance:Results from this study will help decrease the costs of converting lignocellulosic biomass into fuels, chemicals, and materials. Cellulose is the world's most abundant carbon source. Hence, utilizing cellulose as a feedstock for production of fuels, chemicals, and materials will reduce reliance on petroleum, a non-renewable resource. Utilizing biomass cellulose is currently cost prohibitive, largely due to the expensive pre-treatment processes that are required to render cellulose into a form that can be converted into simple carbohydrates. Pre-treatment reactors are currently designed empirically and the data and engineering models developed in this project will contribute fundamental knowledge to reactor design and operation, thereby reducing their costs.Broadening Participation of Underpresented Groups in Engineering:Outreach is an integrated component of the proposed effort. The primary data product of the microreactor studies will be sets of vibrational frequencies that are characteristic of the degrading cellulose. With collaborators in the Humanities Department at WPI, we will convert the vibrational data into audible sounds, a process termed "sonification". Following this, we will develop an algorithm to re-modulate the vibrational "sounds" into a musical form. Given the anticipated structure of the vibrational data sets, we anticipate that it will naturally be converted most easily into repetitive, beat-driven, forms of music, such as hip-hop or techno. The outreach component will recruit graduate and undergraduate students to participate in the microreactor research, develop the hip-hop outreach tool, and to serve as mentors and role models as part of the K-12 outreach. Local faculty from underrepresented groups will be invited to give talks to the outreach students, providing an additional mentorship and role-model forum.This research has been funded through the Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering solicitation, which is part of the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program of the Engineering Education and Centers Division.

技术描述：尽管经过多年的努力，将木质纤维素原料分解成小分子构建块仍然非常昂贵。一个主要的挑战是木质纤维素生物质的主要成分，纤维素，是高度结晶的，对大多数酶和生物分解技术都是顽固的。因此，将生物质转化为一种可被酶分解为组成糖的形式（这一过程被称为糖化）需要昂贵且能源密集的预处理步骤。提高预处理效率可以大大降低生物燃料生产的资本成本。这方面的进展一直受到预处理条件恶劣的阻碍——酸性，温度通常高于100°C。因此，预处理反应器通常不是光学可及的，并且绝大多数预处理研究只能评估预处理过程完成后获得的最终效果。因此，关于如何设计、放大和操作预处理反应器的工程数据缺乏关于预处理反应期间固体生物质相如何随时间变化的信息。在这项工作中，我们将使用高温微反应器进行纤维素脱晶的实时研究，这是整个预处理过程中的重要一步。该微反应器将采用光学透明的耐热玻璃窗，以便在纤维素颗粒进行脱结晶反应时进行微观和光谱监测。具体来说，我们计划使用在线拉曼显微镜来跟踪纤维素在酸的存在下加热时发生的脱结晶和糖形成反应。这些数据将用于开发详细的工程模型，这些模型可用于设计和优化大型预处理反应器。更广泛的意义和重要性：这项研究的结果将有助于降低将木质纤维素生物质转化为燃料、化学品和材料的成本。纤维素是世界上最丰富的碳源。因此，利用纤维素作为生产燃料、化学品和材料的原料将减少对石油这种不可再生资源的依赖。利用生物质纤维素目前成本过高，主要是由于将纤维素转化为可转化为简单碳水化合物的形式所需的昂贵的预处理过程。目前，预处理反应器的设计是经验性的，本项目开发的数据和工程模型将为反应器的设计和运行提供基础知识，从而降低其成本。扩大弱势群体在工程领域的参与：外联是提议努力的一个组成部分。微反应器研究的主要数据产品将是具有降解纤维素特征的振动频率集。与WPI人文系的合作者一起，我们将把振动数据转换成可听的声音，这一过程被称为“声化”。接下来，我们将开发一种算法，将振动“声音”重新调制成音乐形式。考虑到振动数据集的预期结构，我们预计它将自然地最容易转换为重复的，节拍驱动的音乐形式，如嘻哈或技术。外展部分将招募研究生和本科生参与微反应器研究，开发嘻哈外展工具，并作为K-12外展的一部分担任导师和榜样。来自代表性不足群体的当地教师将被邀请给外联学生演讲，提供额外的指导和榜样论坛。这项研究是由工程教育和中心部的工程项目扩大参与计划的一部分，即工程项目扩大参与研究启动基金资助的。