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

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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.