Advanced catalytic materials for waste conversion to biofuel and biomass-derived green chemicals

该项目旨在开发“城市生物质”的新材料和新工艺，将这种经常富含生物质的原料转化为生物燃料和附加值产品，以应对温室气体减排和废物处理方面的挑战。工业合作伙伴Enerkem目前正在埃德蒙顿建设其第一个将废物转化为生物燃料的全规模商业工厂，其研发活动主要集中在气化、合成气制甲醇、以碘甲烷为促进剂将甲醇催化羰化为乙酸甲酯，以及乙酸甲酯氢解生产生物乙醇。根据Enerkem的商业努力，将实施两个主要的子项目，旨在显著改进工艺：(1)生物二甲醚的无碘羰化反应将允许排除有毒和腐蚀性的碘；为此将开发双功能金属-固体酸催化剂，方法是在流动微反应器和较大规模的固定床流动反应器中结合活性中心DFT建模、催化剂合成、表征和程序升温反应测试；(2)建立稳定的生物燃料重整催化剂的结构-活性关系，包括重整催化剂的表征和设计、催化干法重整、催化蒸汽辅助干法重整和非催化焦化重整，包括反应机理的模型评价和过程集成研究。交付成果将有助于相关生物质产业的技术和经济成功，以及可再生能源、废物转化和多相催化领域的知识进步。

The project aims at the development of novel materials and processes for "urban biomass", a synonym of municipal waste, by converting such recurrent biomass-rich feedstock to biofuel and value-added products, addressing the challenges of GHG reduction and of waste disposal. The industrial partner, Enerkem, is currently constructing its first waste-to-biofuels full-scale commercial plant in Edmonton, and its R&D activities are largely focused on gasification, syngas-to-methanol synthesis, catalytic carbonylation of methanol to methylacetate using methyl-iodide as promoter, and the hydrogenolysis of the methyl acetate to produce bio-ethanol. In connection with Enerkem's commercial effort two main subprojects are to be pursued aiming at significant process enhancements: (1) Iodine-free carbonylation of bio-dimethyl ether, DME, will allow excluding toxic and corrosive iodides; bifunctional metal-solid acid catalysts will be developed for this purpose via combination of active site DFT modeling, catalyst synthesis, characterization and testing in temperature-programmed reactions in a flow microreactor, as well as in a larger scale fixed-bed flow reactor; (2) Establishing structure-activity relationship of a stable reforming catalyst for biofuel production and will address reforming catalyst characterization and design, catalytic dry reforming, catalytic steam-aided dry reforming and non-catalytic char reforming, including model-based evaluation of the reaction mechanisms and process integration studies. The deliverables will contribute both to the technological and economic success of the related biomass-based industries, as well as to the knowledge advancement in the fields of renewable energy, waste conversion, and heterogeneous catalysis.