Collaborative Research: Integrated Biorefinery for Pyrolysis Biofuels and Biotemplated Nanomaterials

合作研究：热解生物燃料和生物模板纳米材料的综合生物精炼厂

• 批准号: 1932922
• 负责人: Emily Ryan
• 金额: $ 10.94万
• 依托单位: Trustees of Boston University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1932922&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Integrated; Biorefinery; Pyrolysis

As the world?s population and energy demands increase, our global reliance on fossil fuel resources to provide this energy puts an incredible strain on the environment. The modern biorefinery could produce sustainable energy by converting lignocellulosic biomass to fuels through thermal and chemical routes. However, one of the primary issues with using pyrolysis (heating in the absence of oxygen) as a thermochemical conversion technique is the need for significant fuel upgrading to improve stability and increase the heating value of the oil. Though bio-oils can be upgraded post-production, current methods suffer from catalyst poisoning and high materials and operation costs. This research project aims to address these issues by incorporating inorganic compounds, such as metal nitrates and acetates into cellulosic feedstocks, to simultaneously engineer high-value nanomaterials via bio-templating and catalytically upgrade pyrolysis bio-oils, thus reducing the need for costly downstream upgrading. Using machine learning based techniques, such as materials informatics for potential catalyst selection and statistical design of experiments, to inform process variable decisions, the proposed work will add to a fundamental body of knowledge on in situ upgrading of thermochemically derived biofuels while offering a new paradigm in computationally informed, experimentally verified renewable fuel design.The proposed research will focus on upgrading of biofuels during pyrolysis by simultaneously making bio-templated nanoparticles. Materials Informatics approaches will be used to select in situ pyrolysis catalysts and surrogate reactions will be used to predict (and then validate via integrated feedback loop) potential reaction pathways and formed nanomaterial structure. By developing a new Pyrolysis Product Index that looks at where, for example, oxygen goes during pyrolysis, and how yields of marker compounds change upon catalyst incorporation, the principal investigators aim to synthesize a new way to discuss biofuel upgrading pathways, helping to standardize what is a rather diverse literature in terms of what is deemed to be a good pathway. The project also aims to elucidate the physical changes occurring during pyrolysis of metal-impregnated biomass using in operando Raman spectroscopy through an international collaboration with a group from Queens Mary University (United Kingdom). The objective is to improve our knowledge of which reaction pathways are most critical to devolatilization, and how to better design catalysts to improve both primary pyrolysis and to limit secondary reactions, such as re-condensation, and to promote cracking, thereby reducing tar formation. The proposed work also involves nanomaterials characterization to understand the process variables impacting size, morphology and crystallinity of bio-templated nanomaterials. Advances in fundamental science stemming from the proposed work may lead to the design of an optimized integrated biorefinery to convert renewable sources to energy and materials. In addition to training graduate and undergraduate students in research, there ae plans to engage and mentor underrepresented students and develop and international graduate student exchange between Cornell, Boston and Queen Mary Universities. An active learning module for renewable energy applications will be developed, implemented and assessed in the three participating universities.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.

随着世界人口和能源需求的增加，我们在全球范围内对化石燃料资源的依赖给环境带来了巨大的压力。现代生物精炼厂可以通过热和化学途径将木质纤维素生物质转化为燃料来生产可持续能源。然而，使用热解（在无氧条件下加热）作为热化学转化技术的主要问题之一是需要对燃料进行重大升级以提高稳定性并增加油的热值。尽管生物油可以在生产后升级，但目前的方法存在催化剂中毒以及高昂的材料和运营成本。该研究项目旨在通过将金属硝酸盐和醋酸盐等无机化合物纳入纤维素原料中来解决这些问题，通过生物模板同时设计高价值纳米材料并催化升级热解生物油，从而减少昂贵的下游升级的需要。使用基于机器学习的技术，例如用于潜在催化剂选择和实验统计设计的材料信息学，为过程变量决策提供信息，拟议的工作将增加热化学衍生生物燃料原位升级的基础知识体系，同时为计算信息、实验验证的可再生燃料设计提供新的范例。拟议的研究将重点关注生物燃料在热化学衍生生物燃料中的升级。 通过同时制备生物模板纳米颗粒进行热解。材料信息学方法将用于选择原位热解催化剂，替代反应将用于预测（然后通过集成反馈回路进行验证）潜在的反应途径和形成的纳米材料结构。 通过开发一种新的热解产品指数，该指数着眼于热解过程中氧气的去向，以及标记化合物的产量在催化剂掺入后如何变化，主要研究人员旨在综合一种新的方法来讨论生物燃料升级途径，帮助标准化相当多样化的文献，以确定什么是良好的途径。该项目还旨在通过与女王玛丽大学（英国）的一个小组的国际合作，阐明用于操作拉曼光谱的金属浸渍生物质热解过程中发生的物理变化。目的是提高我们对哪些反应途径对脱挥发分最关键的了解，以及如何更好地设计催化剂以改善初级热解并限制二次反应（例如再缩合）并促进裂化，从而减少焦油形成。拟议的工作还涉及纳米材料表征，以了解影响生物模板纳米材料的尺寸、形态和结晶度的工艺变量。 拟议工作所带来的基础科学进步可能会导致设计优化的综合生物精炼厂，将可再生资源转化为能源和材料。除了培训研究生和本科生进行研究之外，还计划吸引和指导代表性不足的学生，并发展康奈尔大学、波士顿大学和玛丽女王大学之间的国际研究生交流。可再生能源应用的主动学习模块将在三所参与的大学中开发、实施和评估。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Enhancing pyrolysis gas and bio-oil formation through transition metals as in situ catalysts

• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2021.121900
• 发表时间: 2021-09-17
• 期刊: FUEL
• 影响因子: 7.4
• 作者: Hubble, Andrew H.;Ryan, Emily M.;Goldfarb, Jillian L.
• 通讯作者: Goldfarb, Jillian L.

Applying transfer learning with convolutional neural networks to identify novel electrolytes for metal air batteries

• DOI: 10.1016/j.comptc.2021.113443
• 发表时间: 2021-09-17
• 期刊: COMPUTATIONAL AND THEORETICAL CHEMISTRY
• 影响因子: 2.8
• 作者: Yan，Alfred;Sokolinski，Tatiana;Ryan，Emily M.
• 通讯作者: Ryan，Emily M.