SBIR Phase II: Catalytic Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass into Furfural and Dissolving Pulp using Green Solvents

这一小型企业创新研究第二阶段项目的广泛影响/商业潜力提供了一个技术平台，将木材和玉米秸秆等非食品类生物质转化为生物燃料、化学品和生物制品。生物质利用是增加全球可持续性和减少石油温室气体排放的解决方案。该项目将利用木材生物质同时联产溶解纸浆、糠醛和工业木质素三种高端产品，其中溶解纸浆和糠醛是本项目的重点。目前生产这些产品的方法只使用三种主要生物质成分中的一种。通过联合生产两种产品，随着生产成本分摊到更大的产品量，收入增加，单位生产成本降低。使用这种从生物质中获得的溶剂在生物质转化行业中是一种独特的方法，提供了一种替代传统酶或微生物加工的方法。好处包括恢复美国的糠醛生产，降低溶解纸浆的生产成本，以及增加目前价值较低或没有价值的可再生生物质的商业价值。这种可持续和环境友好的技术将通过刺激投资和创造就业机会，提高全球可持续性，振兴农村经济。该第二阶段研究项目的目标是演示我们的技术，并将其推向中试规模，该技术使用伽马戊内酯(GVL)作为溶剂，从生物质中同时生产溶解纸浆和糠醛。虽然其他技术专注于从生物质中生产单一产品，但GVL？能够以高浓度和高纯度将木质纤维生物质分离成三种主要成分(纤维素、半纤维素和木质素)，产生显著的成本和技术优势。GVL分级法以高得率(90%)和高纯度(90%)生产固体纤维素，不需要进行前处理或进一步的化学精炼。这种纤维素可以转化为可溶解的纸浆，用于高端应用，如纺织品(人造丝)、玻璃纸或微晶纤维素。半纤维素组分不需要从GVL中分离出来，在GVL中以高产率(75%)和高浓度很容易地转化为糠醛，从而将分离成本降至最低。初步的质量和能量平衡以及基于实验室数据的技术经济模型预测了诱人的财务回报。任务将集中在生物质分级以生产溶解纸浆、糠醛提纯和实验室规模的GVL回收。这项试验工作将为综合、连续工艺、中试示范装置的工程开发提供参考。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project provides a technology platform to convert non-food biomass, such as wood and corn stalks, into biofuels, chemicals, and bioproducts. Biomass utilization is a solution to increase global sustainability and decrease petroleum-based greenhouse gas emissions. This project will use wood biomass to simultaneously co-produce three high-end products, dissolving pulp, furfural, and technical lignin, of which the dissolving pulp and furfural are the focus of this project. Current methods of producing these products only use one of the three primary biomass components. By co-producing two products, revenues increase and unit production costs decrease as production costs are spread over a larger product volume. The use of this solvent obtained from the biomass is a unique approach in the biomass conversion industry and offers an alternative to conventional enzyme or microbial processing. Benefits include restoring furfural production in the United States, decreasing dissolving pulp production costs, and increasing the commercial value of renewable biomass that currently has low or no value. This sustainable and environmentally friendly technology will increase global sustainability and revitalize rural economies by stimulating investment and creating jobs. The objectives of this Phase II research project are to demonstrate and advance to pilot scale our technology to simultaneously co-produce dissolving pulp and furfural from biomass using gamma valerolactone (GVL) as solvent. While other technologies focus on the production of a single product from biomass, GVL?' ability to fractionate lignocellulosic biomass into its three main components (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) at high concentration and purity, produce significant cost and technical advantages. GVL fractionation produces solid cellulose at high yield (90%) and purity (90%), without the need for pre-treatment or further chemical refining. This cellulose can be converted into dissolving pulp for high-end applications such as textiles (rayon), cellophane, or microcrystalline cellulose. The hemicellulose fraction does not need to be separated from the GVL and is readily converted into furfural within GVL at high yields (75%) and high concentrations, minimizing separation costs. Preliminary mass and energy balances and techno-economic modeling based on lab data predict attractive financial returns. Tasks will focus on biomass fractionation to produce dissolving pulp, furfural purification, and GVL recovery at bench-scale. This experimental work will inform the engineering development for an integrated, continuous process, pilot demonstration unit.