PFI:AIR - TT: High yield production of furans from biomass hydrolysates using a hybrid enzyme- and chemo-catalytic technology

该PFI：AIR技术转化项目的重点是将生物质转化为平台化学品（呋喃）的变革性技术，该技术将取代石油衍生原料用于燃料和化学品生产。 这些呋喃是工业上所必需的各种其他化学品和中间体的基础材料。一个允许用可再生资源（例如生物质）而不是石油技术经济地生产它们的过程将减少对化石燃料的依赖，减少温室气体的排放，并将环境影响降到最低。该项目将导致概念验证的发展，示范和评价综合混合酶和化学催化技术，用于从生物质糖高产生产呋喃。与依赖低效水基反应介质的竞争工艺相比，该技术具有几个明显的优势。它提供了一种内聚途径，可有效地将生物质糖转移到非水反应介质中;以高产率生产呋喃产品;并分离呋喃用于下游加工，所有这些都具有低能量输入和工艺流的再循环。该项目解决了以下技术差距，因为它从研究发现转化为商业应用：（1）设计，建造和测试可扩展的过程配置，允许从实验室过渡到更大规模;（2）收集集成过程的长期运行指标;（3）过程经济性和环境影响的评估;以及（4）评价具有不同生物质原料及其上游预处理/糖化方法的集成工艺。此外，参与该项目的人员，即本科生和研究生，将通过托莱多大学基于精益LaunchPad方法开发的新的跨学科举措获得创业和创新经验。

This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on a transformative technology for converting biomass to platform chemicals (furans) that would replace petroleum-derived feedstocks for fuel and chemical production. These furans serve as building blocks for a variety of other chemicals and intermediates that are necessary in industry. A process that allows them to be economically produced from renewable resources (e.g. biomass) instead of petroleum-based technologies would result in reduced dependence on fossil fuels, reduced emission of greenhouse gases, and minimal environmental impact. The project will result in a proof-of-concept development, demonstration, and evaluation of an integrated hybrid enzyme-and chemo-catalytic technology for high-yield production of furans from biomass sugars. When compared to competing processes that rely on inefficient water-based reaction media, the technology has several distinct advantages. It provides a cohesive pathway to efficiently transfer biomass sugars into a non-aqueous reaction medium; produces the furan product in high yield; and isolates the furan for downstream processing, all with low energy input and recycling of process streams. This project addresses the following technology gaps as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application: (1) the design, construction, and testing of a scalable process configuration that allows transition from bench to larger scale; (2) the collection of metrics for the prolonged operation of the integrated process; (3) the assessment of the process economics and environmental impacts; and (4) the evaluation of the integrated process with diverse biomass feedstocks and their upstream pretreatment/saccharification methods. In addition, personnel involved in this project, namely undergraduate and graduate students, will receive entrepreneurship and innovation experiences through new interdisciplinary initiatives developed at The University of Toledo based on the Lean LaunchPad approach.