PFI-TT: Green Technology for the Cost-effective Production of Renewable Bio-products from Non-food Biomass.

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this PFI project is to cost-effective production of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from agricultural residues such as wheat and rice straws, cornstovers and other non-food biomass items. HMF is a critical, versatile and renewable immediate that can be used to produce fuels and a variety of other products such as polymers including polyesters, polyurethanes, polyamides and poly(ethylene-furanoate); binders, adhesives, coatings and foams, some of which have market size in the range of billion lb/yr. The worldwide HMF industrial production is 30 tons/year. It is not produced in any industrial scale because it is not yet an economic viable product. The proposed technology is designed to change that. The catalytic process proposed in this project will be significant avoiding the food-or-fuel dilemma. The solvent used in the process is green and environmental friendly. The polymeric solid acid catalyst is non-toxic and reusable. The project will also train skilled workers for the emerging biorefinary industry. The technology if successful and commercialized could benefit the state of Arkansas in effective utilization of crop residues. This project involves close collaboration with a minority and women-owned industrial partner for commercialization. The proposed project aims to develop cost effective production of HMF using a paradigm shift catalytic membrane reactor to hydrolyze agricultural residues including rice and wheat straws and directly dehydrate hydrolyzed sugars to HMF with high yield and selectivity. HMF will be simultaneously separated from the product stream using size-based customized membranes. One of the keys to success lies in optimizing the polymeric solid acid catalyst that is capable of catalyzing both hydrolysis and dehydration reactions efficiently. The catalytic activity is shown to be tunable by varying the chain length and chain density of the grafted polymers on substrates. The catalyst and its activity are found to be stable over repeated runs. This green technology replaces the currently used highly corrosive sulfuric acid and expensive cellulase enzymes for biomass hydrolysis, as well as becoming a promising catalyst to replace the toxic metal chloride for glucose dehydration to HMF. Another key to success is the design of a catalytic membrane reactor for simultaneous HMF production and separation leading to process intensification and significant cost reduction. The ultimate goal of this project is to convert lignocellulosic biomass to HMF with high yield and high selectivity in an economical and environmental friendly manner.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.