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

这个小型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。一种可再生的溶剂已被证明能够有效地将生物质分成三个组分，这些组分可以在溶剂中进一步加工成更高价值的产品。生物质的一个组成部分可以进一步加工以生产葡萄糖。从单一生物质来源与一种或两种其他高价值产品联合生产葡萄糖的能力提供了显著的经济优势。如果成功，这一生物精炼概念将使从各种类型的生物质中生产具有成本竞争力的葡萄糖用于生物燃料成为可能。这一第一阶段研究项目的目标是证明在丙戊内酯中从纤维素糖中低成本地生产葡萄糖，并利用这一过程的副产品来生产丙戊内酯。这一过程的第一步，即生物质的分级，已经在实验室规模上使用多种类型的生物质进行了演示。该溶剂溶解五碳碳水化合物(C5)和木质素成分，留下固体纤维素。在可再生溶剂中生产C5碳水化合物已被证明比水体系更有利，因为这些溶剂中酸的反应性增加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保存下来，然后沉淀出来；而C5碳水化合物则转化为糠醛。该项目建议在将纤维素转化为糖的过程中应用相同的溶剂优势，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，表明该工艺可以自我持续，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.