SBIR Phase I: Scalable Production of Platform Chemicals from Inedible Biomass and CO2

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is enable the production of sustainably-sourced plastics offering superior performance at lower cost than conventional petroleum-sourced plastics. The technology in this project produces materials from CO2 and inedible biomass. It dramatically lowers the manufacturing cost by eliminating more than half the steps required by traditional methods. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop process chemistry conditions for the continuous oxidation of furfural to furoic acid using air as the oxidant. Furfural is a feedstock chemical produced industrially from diverse inedible (lignocellulosic) biomass sources. Furfural oxidation is a key step in the process for producing FDCA. The proposed project will advance the translation by demonstrating that oxidation can take place under continuous flow at high rates and conversions using operating conditions (flow rate, concentration, pressure, etc.) amenable to high-volume production. This project will evaluate a suite of reaction parameters and a collection of catalysts under continuous liquid and air flow to find optimal conditions. A preliminary assessment of catalyst stability under high-performance conditions will also be performed.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.