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

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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.