Process Intensification for Acceleration of Bio & Chemo Catalysis in Biorefining

生物精炼厂采用来自可持续来源的原料，最好是来自非食品竞争来源的原料。这些材料被转化为有价值的材料，可直接用于护肤霜或香料和香水的润肤剂等产品。或者，它们也可以作为后续工艺的原料，生产更复杂的产品，如用于生产聚氨酯的单体。然而，现有的工艺技术是为石化原料设计的。这种工艺和相关设备经过几十年的改进，对于这些化学物质和材料来说是最理想的。即使有了新技术，报废旧工艺设施并用新设备取而代之的成本也可能使其在经济上失去吸引力。由于生物炼油业仍在发展中，在进行不可撤销的长期资本投资之前，有一个引进新的创新工艺和工艺设备的重大机会。该项目旨在评估这样一种极其新颖的专有混合技术，该技术已经在邻近的工业部门产生技术专利，但迄今尚未被考虑用于生物精炼。生物炼油厂的许多操作都涉及使用不溶于水的材料。这意味着在反应混合物中有固体颗粒(如植物材料)或液滴(如油)。问题的出现是因为将不溶物质转化为产品所需的催化剂或试剂必须溶解在水中。因此，反应必须在固体或油与水的界面上进行。在这类反应中，原料和催化剂的紧密混合对快速转化至关重要。我们已经开发了一种新型的混合工艺，它可以通过产生更小的液滴和颗粒来极大地增加原料的表面积。我们的目标是通过两个例子系统的集中可行性研究来展示这种化学、生物和工程的新组合的机会。在第一个系统中，我们考察了来自生物精炼厂的废木质素和生物质中存在的木质素的降解过程，这些木质素是通过常用的酶来降解的。以木材、秸秆等为代表的木质纤维生物质是可持续有机材料的最大单一来源。然而，这种生物质中的木质素部分除了最具侵略性的化学处理外，对所有的化学处理都是耐受的，虽然酶在自然界中负责木质素的降解，但对于商业过程来说，它们太慢了。然而，木质素是可再生原料中为数不多的芳香族化合物来源之一，这些都是重要的工业产品。因此，一条商业上可行的木质素降解途径对工业具有极大的吸引力。在第二个系统中，我们的目标是从生物炼油厂的原料中提取植物油，而不是将它们全部转化为生物柴油，我们的目标是将它们氧化成更有价值的中间原料，例如用于制备塑料的材料。因此，我们用植物制造的塑料部分取代了石油制造的塑料，同时也为与生物炼油厂相关的新行业创造了机会。对于这两个例子，转化都将在水中实现，而不需要任何额外的化学物质的帮助，这些额外的化学物质传统上是为了克服工艺问题或改善原材料以使其更容易使用。因此，该混合器将简化工艺，减少浪费，并通过消除与分离和纯化相关的额外处理步骤来降低能源消耗。由于所有这些都增加了生产化学品的成本，并可能产生污染，化学、生物和工程的成功整合将从可再生资源中生产出更清洁的产品，提供潜在的商业机会。

Biorefineries take as their feedstock materials from sustainable sources and ideally from non-food competitive sources. These materials are converted into valuable materials which may be used directly in products such as emollients for skin care creams or flavour and fragrances. Alternatively they may in turn be a raw material for a subsequent process which produces more complex products such as a monomer used for production of polyurethanes. However the existing process technologies have been designed for petrochemical based feedstocks. Such processes and the associated equipment have been refined over decades to be optimal for these chemistries and materials. Even when new technologies become available the cost of scrapping old process facilities and replacing them with new equipment may make it economically unattractive. Since the biorefinery industry is still developing there is a significant opportunity to introduce new and innovative processes and process equipment before long term capital investments are irrevocably made. The project seeks to evaluate one such extremely novel proprietary mixing technology which is already producing technology patents in adjacent industry sectors but has not to date been considered in biorefining. Many operations in biorefineries involve using water-insoluble materials. This means that there are solid particles (eg plant material) or droplets of liquids (eg oil) in the reaction mixture. Problems arise because the catalysts or reagents needed to convert the insoluble materials to products have to be dissolved in the water. Therefore, the reactions have to take place at the interface between the solid or oil and the water. In such reactions the intimate mixing of the feedstock and the catalysts is crucial to rapid conversion. We have developed a new type of mixing process that can vastly increase the surface area of the feedstock by producing smaller drops and particles. We aim to demonstrate the opportunities of such a novel combination of chemistry, biology and engineering through a focussed feasibility study with two example systems. In the first system we look at the degradation of waste lignin from biorefineries and the lignin present in biomass by commonly available enzymes. Lignocellulosic biomass as exemplified by wood, straw etc. is the single biggest source of sustainable organic materials. However the lignin fraction of this biomass is resistant to all but the most aggressive of chemical treatments and, whilst enzymes are responsible for the degradation of lignin in nature, they are much too slow for commercial processes. Nevertheless, lignin is one of the few sources of aromatic compounds in renewable feedstocks, and these are important industrial products. Therefore, a commercially viable route to lignin degradation would be extremely attractive to industry. In the second system we aim to take plant oils from biorefinery feedstock and, rather than converting them all to biodiesel, our goal is to oxidise them to more valuable intermediate feedstocks, such as materials used to prepare plastics. Thus we partly replace plastics made from oil with plastics made from plants,while also generating opportunities for new industries associated with the biorefinery. For both examples the conversions will be achieved in water without the aid of any of the additional chemicals which are traditionally introduced to overcome processing problems or to condition raw materials to make them easier to work with. Therefore, the mixer will simplify the processes and reduce waste, and also decrease energy consumption through the elimination of extra processing steps associated with separation and purification. As all of these things add to the cost of producing a chemical and may produce pollution, successful integration of the chemistry, biology and engineering will yield cleaner products from renewable resources, offering potential business opportunities.