I-Corps: Production of Jet Fuel from Biomass Derived Lignin

I-Corps：利用生物质木质素生产航空燃料

• 批准号: 1655505
• 负责人: Bin Yang
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-11-01 至 2017-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1655505&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Production; Jet; Fuel; Biomass

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to deliver a price-competitive source of alternative jet fuel that will help meet growing worldwide demand while allowing the airline industry to achieve carbon-neutral growth. Demand for jet fuel is increasing rapidly driven by global economic growth. Usage is expected to rise from the current 80 billion gallons a year worldwide to more than 100 billion gallons by 2040. At the same time, prices are expected to increase and constraints in supply are likely to cause pricing volatility. Finally, concerns over greenhouse gas emissions could drive adoption of alternative fuels. All of these factors are creating a need for new fuel sources, for both commercial and military applications. This I-Corps project will focus on using waste lignin, the second most plentiful renewable carbon source behind cellulose, in a proprietary process to make jet fuel range hydrocarbons and chemicals to increase the flexibility of existing applications.This I-Corps project aims to commercialize a process for biojet that converts waste lignin from cellulosic biomass refineries using a combination of catalyst and acidic zeolite to make relatively long-chain hydrocarbons. The current version of biorefineries undervalues lignin's potential to address the world's high quality liquid fuel requirements. Despite the potential, selective conversion of lignin has proven to be challenging. Processes that have been successful at breaking the lignin bonds have typically resulted in shorter chain monomers as opposed to the longer chain hydrocarbons needed for fuel. The surprising outcome of the process used here is a mix of hydrocarbons that are long-chain and can be made into nearly the right mix for jet fuel. Scaling this process and putting it into production alongside current biorefinery production facilities would significantly improve biomass conversion and improve the economics of biofuels and chemicals production.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是提供一种具有价格竞争力的替代航空燃料来源，这将有助于满足全球不断增长的需求，同时使航空业实现碳中和增长。在全球经济增长的推动下，对航空燃料的需求正在迅速增长。 预计到2040年，全球每年的使用量将从目前的800亿加仑增加到1000亿加仑以上。与此同时，预计价格将上涨，供应方面的限制可能导致价格波动。最后，对温室气体排放的担忧可能会推动替代燃料的采用。所有这些因素都需要新的燃料来源，用于商业和军事应用。 这个I-Corps项目将专注于利用废弃木质素，这是仅次于纤维素的第二大可再生碳源，该I-Corps项目旨在将生物喷气发动机的工艺商业化，该工艺使用催化剂和酸性沸石的组合转化来自纤维素生物质精炼厂的废木质素，以制备相对长的-链烃 目前的生物炼制低估了木质素满足世界高质量液体燃料需求的潜力。尽管有潜力，但木质素的选择性转化已被证明是具有挑战性的。在破坏木质素键方面已经成功的方法通常产生较短链的单体，而不是燃料所需的较长链烃。令人惊讶的结果是，这里使用的过程是长链碳氢化合物的混合物，可以制成几乎正确的喷气燃料混合物。扩大这一过程的规模，并将其与目前的生物炼制生产设施一起投入生产，将大大提高生物质转化率，并提高生物燃料和化学品生产的经济性。