US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Fractional catalytic pyrolysis for the production of biobased materials and fuels

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This project supports a cooperative research effort by Foster Agbelvor of Utah State University and Waleed El-Zawawy of the National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. The goal of their project is to develop new catalysts that can be used to convert waste agricultural biomass feedstocks directly into phenols and anhydrosugars which can then be used, without any secondary separation steps, to produce biodegradable plastics and other value added products. This research seeks to improve the process of catalytic pyrolysis, which uses heat and a catalyst to break down tough, lignocellulosic biomass, in this case agricultural waste from rice, cotton and banana farming, into small molecules that can be used for other purposes. In this research effort, the products of catalytic pyrolysis, anhydrosugars and phenolics, will be used to make biodegradable plastics. Overall, this process allows plastics to be made from a renewable resource that is otherwise a waste material, while also making a product plastic that causes less pollution. The Egyptian team will be primarily responsible for developing new catalysts while the U.S. team will work to improve the pyrolysis process including the use and recycling of gases, with both teams seeking to improve yields of the desired aromatic products. The research effort will also use the oils produced from fractional catalytic pyrolysis to produce biobased polyurethane foam and "novolac" polymers.Overall this research may lead to new knowledge of how to produce chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass. It will also demonstrate how to generate new and high-value plastic products from agricultural wastes that are widely available in Egypt and the USA, while simultaneously addressing the problem of disposal of those agricultural wastes. In Egypt the byproducts of rice and cotton production are often burned in the fields, increasing air pollution that is responsible for significant deterioration of archeological monuments. The conversion of the agricultural residues to biobased materials has the potential to start new industries and create employment opportunities in rural Egypt and the USA. The project will also involve the participation of female scientists such as Dr. Maha Ibrahim, the training of Egyptian junior researchers and a U.S. graduate student. This project is funded through the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund Program. Support for the U.S. side of these cooperative projects is provided to the National Science Foundation by the U.S. Department of State. The Egyptian Government provides support for the Egyptian side of the collaboration.