Chemicals and Fuels from Biomass Through Extraction and Catalytic Conversion

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The Forestry Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has identified co-production of new, high value bio-energy, bio-chemicals, and bio-materials as a priority for Canadian forestry. To develop such processes, and the mass transfer models, kinetic models, and economic evaluations needed to support reliable scale-up, the proposed research program will be divided into three focus areas: FA1) hemicellulose recovery through hydrolysis, FA2) extractives recovery for use as valuable products, and FA3) chemical conversion of biomass derivatives. Because cellulosic biomass at approximately $60/dry ton is equivalent in energy cost to petroleum at $20/barrel, the economic obstacle to commercialization is the high cost of biomass conversion, as has been pointed out in several studies. Therefore, as part of FA1 a detailed characterization of Canada's primary biomass resource, softwoods, will be performed using a unique fixed bed flowthrough reactor (FBFR) in order to optimize hemicellulose hydrolysis and its integration with chemical conversion. FA1 will also optimize the application of hemicellulose polysaccharides as strength additives in BC's Northern bleached softwood kraft pulp. In addition, FA2 activities will adapt the techniques for biomass hydrolysis to extract valuable nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals, beta-thujaplicin and plicatic acid, from Western red cedar. Extraction studies will be accompanied by development of chromatographic purification technology for beta-thujaplicin and plicatic acid. FA3 will examine two promising routes to platform chemicals: oxidation of pyrolysis oil derived from biomass and catalytic hydrogenation of biomass polysaccharides. Proposed FA3 research includes groundbreaking studies scrutinizing the impact of other biomass components on these thermochemical conversions. Novel and standard reactors will be combined with gas and liquid chromatography to support all of these activities. Catalyst features will be measured using instrumentation within the UBC Applied Catalysis Research facility. For each FA, process models and techno-economic analyses will be developed through computer simulations to accelerate optimization, determine commercial viability, and identify process improvements with the greatest impact. Ultimately, this research program will provide vital fundamental insights into biorefining kinetics and transport phenomena to guide applications and facilitate technology advances, establish new revenue streams and employment opportunities for Canada's forestry industry, train much-needed HQP, and contribute to the socio-economic health of rural communities.