SBIR Phase I: Catalytic Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass into Glucose using Green Solvents

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是从生物质中生产低成本葡萄糖。 从生物质生产具有成本竞争力的生物燃料一直是一个重大的工业挑战，因为分馏和转化为糖和生物燃料的成本很高。 已显示可再生溶剂能够将生物质有效地分级分离成三种组分，其可以在溶剂内进一步加工成更高价值的产品。 生物质的组成部分之一可以进一步加工以产生葡萄糖。 从单一生物质来源共同生产葡萄糖与一种或两种其它高价值产物的能力提供了显著的经济优势。如果成功，这种生物精炼概念将能够从各种生物质类型中生产具有成本竞争力的葡萄糖。 该I期研究项目的目标是证明从γ-戊内酯中的纤维素糖低成本生产葡萄糖，并使用该过程的副产物生产γ-戊内酯。 该方法的第一步，生物质的分馏，已经在实验室规模上使用多种类型的生物质进行了证明。 溶剂溶解五碳碳水化合物（C5）和木质素组分，留下固体纤维素。已经证明在可再生溶剂中生产C5碳水化合物相对于水性体系是有利的，因为酸在这些溶剂中的增加的反应性允许利用低浓度的酸、短的停留时间（分钟）和低温。 木质素在这些温和的条件下被保存并沉淀出来;而C5碳水化合物被转化为糠醛。 该项目建议将相同的溶剂优势应用于将纤维素转化为糖，以低成本提供单体葡萄糖。该工艺中使用的溶剂将由副产品生产，这表明该工艺可以自我维持并提高碳利用率。生产的葡萄糖将类似于从玉米或甘蔗中生产的葡萄糖，并且在价格上具有竞争力。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is the production of low cost glucose from biomass. The production of cost-competitive biofuels from biomass has been a significant industrial challenge due to the high cost of fractionation and conversion into sugars and biofuels. A renewable solvent has been shown to enable the efficient fractionation of the biomass into three components, which can be further processed within the solvent into higher value products. One of the component parts of biomass can be further processed to produce glucose. The ability to co-produce glucose with one or two other high value products from a single source of biomass provides a significant economic advantage. With success, this biorefinery concept will enable the production of cost competitive glucose for biofuels from a variety of biomass types. The objectives of this Phase I research project are to demonstrate the low cost production of glucose from cellulosic sugar in gamma-valerolactone and use the by-products from this process to produce the gamma-valerolactone. The first step in the process, fractionation of the biomass, has been demonstrated at bench scale using multiple types of biomass. The solvent solubilizes the five-carbon carbohydrates (C5) and lignin components leaving a solid cellulose. Production of the C5 carbohydrates in the renewable solvent has been proven to be advantageous versus aqueous systems as the increased reactivity of acids in these solvents allows for the utilization of low concentration of acid, short residence times (minutes) and low temperatures. The lignin is preserved in these mild conditions and precipitated out; while the C5 carbohydrate is converted into furfural. This project proposes to apply the same solvent advantages in the conversion of cellulose to sugars delivering monomeric glucose at low cost. The solvent utilized in the process will be produced from by-products, demonstrating that the process can be self-sustainable and improve the carbon utilization. The glucose produced will be similar to the glucose produced from corn or sugarcane and will be competitive in price.