I-Corps: Production of Jet Fuel from Biomass Derived Lignin

I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响和商业潜力是提供一种具有价格竞争力的替代航空燃料来源，这将有助于满足全球不断增长的需求，同时使航空业实现碳中和增长。在全球经济增长的推动下，航空燃料的需求正在迅速增长。预计到2040年，全球汽油使用量将从目前的每年800亿加仑增加到1000亿加仑以上。与此同时，预计价格将上涨，供应紧张可能导致价格波动。最后，对温室气体排放的担忧可能会推动替代燃料的采用。所有这些因素都产生了对商业和军事应用的新燃料来源的需求。这个I-Corps项目将专注于利用废木质素，这是仅次于纤维素的第二大可再生碳源，在一个专有的过程中制造喷气燃料范围的碳氢化合物和化学品，以增加现有应用的灵活性。I-Corps的这个项目旨在将一种生物喷射工艺商业化，该工艺利用催化剂和酸性沸石的组合，将纤维素生物质精炼厂的废木质素转化为相对长链的碳氢化合物。目前的生物精炼厂低估了木质素在满足世界高质量液体燃料需求方面的潜力。尽管有潜力，木质素的选择性转化已被证明是具有挑战性的。成功打破木质素键的过程通常会产生短链单体，而不是燃料所需的长链碳氢化合物。这里使用的过程令人惊讶的结果是长链碳氢化合物的混合物，可以制成几乎合适的喷气燃料混合物。扩大这一过程的规模，并将其与现有的生物精炼厂生产设施一起投入生产，将显著改善生物质转化，提高生物燃料和化学品生产的经济性。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to deliver a price-competitive source of alternative jet fuel that will help meet growing worldwide demand while allowing the airline industry to achieve carbon-neutral growth. Demand for jet fuel is increasing rapidly driven by global economic growth. Usage is expected to rise from the current 80 billion gallons a year worldwide to more than 100 billion gallons by 2040. At the same time, prices are expected to increase and constraints in supply are likely to cause pricing volatility. Finally, concerns over greenhouse gas emissions could drive adoption of alternative fuels. All of these factors are creating a need for new fuel sources, for both commercial and military applications. This I-Corps project will focus on using waste lignin, the second most plentiful renewable carbon source behind cellulose, in a proprietary process to make jet fuel range hydrocarbons and chemicals to increase the flexibility of existing applications.This I-Corps project aims to commercialize a process for biojet that converts waste lignin from cellulosic biomass refineries using a combination of catalyst and acidic zeolite to make relatively long-chain hydrocarbons. The current version of biorefineries undervalues lignin's potential to address the world's high quality liquid fuel requirements. Despite the potential, selective conversion of lignin has proven to be challenging. Processes that have been successful at breaking the lignin bonds have typically resulted in shorter chain monomers as opposed to the longer chain hydrocarbons needed for fuel. The surprising outcome of the process used here is a mix of hydrocarbons that are long-chain and can be made into nearly the right mix for jet fuel. Scaling this process and putting it into production alongside current biorefinery production facilities would significantly improve biomass conversion and improve the economics of biofuels and chemicals production.