Collaborative Research: Zeolite catalysts for biomass upgrading

塑料和其他工业化学品的制造依赖于主要来自石油和天然气原料的关键化学构件。生物质等可再生资源越来越多地被用来制造相同的产品或替代产品。这种生物量通常由作物残渣或故意种植的植物组成，这些植物不是粮食农业的竞争对手。目前的生物基化学品，如羟甲基呋喃甲醛、呋喃甲醛及其衍生物，有望替代由化石燃料制成的化学品，并已被确定为生物精炼过程中的顶级平台化学品。这项研究项目研究了使用催化剂制造这些生物质衍生平台化学品，这些催化剂可以促进更高的产品产量和更低的环境足迹。该项目的平行目标是将研究活动与教育和推广方案相结合，以在本科生和研究生教育水平以及向普通公众提供重要的教育机会。教育外展包括蒙大拿州立大学和科罗拉多矿业学院设计的网站模块的联合课程和基于Skype的讲座。这一项目的成果正在向科学界传播，并在教材讲座中加以实施，使两所学校的学生受益。这一合作项目的中心主题是证明，合理设计具有定制性能的纳米沸石可以产生有效的催化剂，对生物质和糖转化为商业有用的平台化学品具有高催化活性。这项工作的具体目标是：(1)开发合理设计纳米沸石催化剂的化学合成策略；(2)了解前体溶液转化为沸石的基本形成机理；(3)评价纳米沸石催化剂对糖和生物质催化转化为糠醛及其衍生物的催化性能；(4)阐明微孔纳米沸石催化剂在糖类转化为羟甲基呋喃、呋喃及其衍生物中的基本结构/催化关系。这项基础性研究将对合成条件的了解与沸石的性质(包括晶粒度分布、孔径大小、比表面积和酸位分布)、催化活性和目标脱水产品的产品收率联系在一起。这项研究还旨在建立新的自组装概念，作为广泛的沸石催化剂的通用合成方法，这些沸石催化剂将具有可调性能，并将生物质转化为工业相关化学品。

Manufacturing of plastics and other industrial chemicals depends on key chemical building blocks sourced primarily from petroleum and natural gas feedstocks. Increasingly, renewable resources such as biomass are used to make the same product or drop-in substitutes. This biomass is typically made up of crop residues or purposely grown plants that are not competitors for food agriculture. Current biobased chemicals such as hydoxymethylfurfural, furfural, and their derivatives are promising drop-in replacements for chemicals made from fossil fuels and have been identified as top platform chemicals from biorefining processes. This research project studies the manufacture of these biomass-derived platform chemicals using catalysts that can promote higher product yields and a lower environmental footprint. Parallel objectives of this project are to integrate the research activities with education and outreach programs to provide significant educational opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate education levels and to the general public. The educational outreach includes a joint course between Montana State University and the Colorado School of Mines designed as website modules and Skype-based lectures. The results of this project are being disseminated to the scientific community and implemented in course material lectures to benefit the student body at both institutions. The central theme of this collaborative project is to demonstrate that rationally designing nanocrystalline zeolites with tailored properties can lead to effective catalysts exhibiting high catalytic activity for biomass and sugar conversion into commercially useful platform chemicals. The specific objectives of this work are to: (1) develop chemical synthesis strategies to rationally design nanocrystalline zeolite catalysts, (2) understand the basic formation mechanisms governing the transformation of precursor solutions into zeolites, (3) evaluate catalytic performance of nanocrystalline zeolite catalysts for the catalytic conversion of sugars and biomass into furfural and derivatives, and (4) elucidate fundamental structure/catalytic relationships of microporous nanocrystalline catalysts in the conversion of sugars into hydoxymethylfurfural, furfural, and their derivatives. This fundamental research ties understanding of synthesis conditions to properties of the zeolite, including crystal size distribution, pore size, surface area and acid site distribution, to catalytic activity and to product yield of targeted dehydration products. The research also aims to establish novel self-assembly concepts as general synthesis methods for a broad range of zeolite catalysts that will have tunable properties and convert biomass into industrial relevant chemicals.