Integrated Biorefinery for Conversion of Crop Residues into Bio-based Polymers

拟议研究计划的长期目标是开发一种综合生物精炼厂，用于生物基聚合物材料作物残留物的增值。该项目的短期目标是：(1)开发一种高效且具有成本效益的分离工艺，用于从作物秸秆中生产高纯度纤维素和木质素，(2)生产用于涂料/塑料/防晒霜的木质素基紫外线吸收剂，以及用于土壤保水性的吸水聚合物，(3)开发用于一锅将纤维素转化为果糖的新酶/菌株，(4)将葡萄糖/果糖转化为2,5-呋喃二羧酸（FDCA），生产聚呋喃酸酯（PEF）作为包装材料中聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）的绿色替代品，以及(5)证明拟议的综合生物精炼厂在工业规模（50-100吨/天）上从作物残留物生产生物基聚合物的技术经济可行性。

The long-term goal of the proposed research program is to develop an integrated biorefinery for valorization of crop residues for bio-based polymer materials. The short-term objectives of this program are to (1) develop an efficient and cost-effective fractionation process for production of high purity cellulose and lignin from crop residues, (2) produce lignin-based UV-absorbers for coatings/plastics/sunscreens applications, and water absorbing polymers for soil water retention application, (3) develop new enzymes/bacterial strains for one-pot conversion of cellulose to fructose, (4) convert glucose/fructose into 2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), and produce polyethylene furanoate (PEF) as a green replacement for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for packaging materials, and (5) demonstrate techno-economic feasibility of the proposed integrated biorefinery for production of the bio-based polymers from crop residues at industrial scale (50-100 tonnes/day). Canada is one of the largest agricultural producers and exporters in the world. According to Statistics Canada, over 65 million tonnes of major grains and oilseeds (wheat, canola seeds, corn, barley, soybeans and oats) were produced in 2011. If estimated based 1.5 tonne crop residue per tonne of grain production, the agriculture sector of Canada generates about 100 Mt crop residues annually. Crop residues are conventionally utilized for silage for livestock, fertilizer after composting, or solid fuel for heat or electricity generation. This DG proposal targets at an integrated biorefining approach to higher value utilization of two major components of crop residues, i.e., cellulose and lignin, for the production of bio-based polymers (i.e., lignin-based UV-absorbing, water-absorbing polymers, and cellulose-derived PEF for packaging materials). The world production of synthetic polymers (PE, PP, PVC, PS, PET, etc.) is immense, mainly from petroleum, reaching approx. 400 million tonnes per year with over $400 billion marker value. There is a pressing need for developing bio-based polymers in order to reduce the carbon footprints of the synthetic polymer production. Utilization of crop residues for high-value bio-polymers would thus strengthen Canada's leading position in bioeconomy, reduce its dependency on fossil resources (hence greenhouse gas emission), and create new profit streams and jobs for Canadian agriculture sector. This proposed program will contribute to training of 16 HQP, including 3 PhD students, 2 MESc and 8 MEng students, 1 postdoctoral fellow and 2 BESc undergraduate interns. The HQP will gain necessary expertise and skills for biorefinery and bioproducts development, e.g., lignocellulosic biomass fractionation, chemical modification of lignin, bio-based polymers characterization/applications, bioconversion of cellulose, catalytic conversion of carbohydrates, chemical reactors design, techno-economic analysis and scale-up of a process.