SBIR Phase I: Selective Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of Wood Biomass to Market Driven High Value Phenolic Chemicals

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种催化工艺，用于从木质素中选择性地生产高价值特种化学品。7000万吨木质素废物，每年由造纸和纸浆工业以及生物精炼厂产生。虽然木质素是芳香族积木化学物质的丰富来源，可以减少我们对石油的依赖，但在不影响碳水化合物价值的情况下，它选择性地分解成芳香化合物是一个巨大的挑战。这项技术为解决这一难题提供了独特的解决方案，即木质生物质和市政木屑中的木素成分可选择性地一步转化为两种高价值的特种酚类化合物，同时生产活性纤维素和木糖。木质素衍生的酚类及其次级产品(异丁香酚、香草醛、二甲氧基苯酚)的市场规模每年超过11亿美元。目前，这些化学品是由高成本的丁香油和石油原料生产的。如果大规模生产的技术经济分析是有利的，这种一步法技术将从木质素中产生价值，从而极大地造福于造纸和纸浆工业以及生物炼油厂。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将通过展示更准确的经济分析、工艺设计和分离方法，并验证目标应用的产品规格，来评估和确定这项独特技术的商业可行性和经济可行性。目前的生物精炼工艺充分利用木材的碳水化合物部分来生产纤维素乙醇和可发酵糖。然而，由于缺乏有效的技术来分解顽固的木质素，这一平均占植物质量25-30wt%的馏分在很大程度上没有得到充分利用。这种一步催化技术通过产生高价值的化学品增加了独特的价值，提高了整体碳效率，同时在不需要多余水的情况下使生物质脱木素。

The broader impact/ commercial potential of this project is the development of a catalytic process for the selective production of high value specialty chemicals from lignin. 70 million tons lignin waste, generated by paper and pulp industries and biorefineries annually. While lignin is a rich source of aromatic building block chemicals that can lessen our dependence on petroleum, its selective deconstruction into aromatic chemicals without affecting the value of carbohydrate is a big challenge. The proposed technology provides a unique solution to this challenge in which lignin constituent of wood biomass and municipal wood chips is selectively converted into two high value specialty phenolic compounds in one-step with the simultaneous production of reactive cellulose and xylose. The markets for the lignin derived phenols and their secondary products (isoeugenol, vanillin, dimethoxylphenol) are over $1.1 billion dollars per year of available market. Currently these chemicals are manufactured from high cost clove-oil and petroleum feedstock. If techno-economic analysis for large scale production is favorable, this one-step technology will greatly benefit the paper and pulp industries and biorefineries by generating value from lignin. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will evaluate and establish the commercial feasibility and economic viability of this unique technology by demonstrating a more accurate economic analysis, process design and separation methods, and validating the products specifications for the target application. The current biorefinery processes make full use of the carbohydrate fractions of wood for the production of cellulosic ethanol and fermentable sugars. However, because of lack of effective technology for breaking the recalcitrant lignin, this fraction accounting for an average 25-30 wt% of the plant mass is largely underutilized. This one-step catalytic technology adds unique value by producing high value chemicals, increasing the overall carbon efficiency, while simultaneously delignifying biomass without the need for excess water.