Ionic Liquid Biorefining of Lignocellulose to Sustainable Polymers

目前，我们从石油精炼中获得的不仅仅是燃料。日常生活中使用的许多塑料、溶剂和其他产品都来自这些不可再生的资源。我们的研究计划旨在用从植物中产生的替代品来取代许多用作塑料的常见材料。这将使我们能够将英国转向非石油燃料来源(例如生物燃料)的愿望与我们生产可再生聚合物和相关产品的能力联系在一起。植物细胞壁由两个主要成分组成：碳水化合物聚合物(长链糖链)和木质素，木质素是将植物粘合在一起的粘合剂。我们将首先开发使用称为离子液体的可持续溶剂来分离这两种成分的方法。离子液体是室温下的液体，在考虑到传统有机溶剂通常无法进行的情况下，可以进行各种化学转化。这些离子液体也减少了污染，因为它们没有水蒸气，可以从无毒的非石油资源中提取。我们将分离出碳水化合物聚合物，并使用酶将其分解成单糖，然后使用各种专门为此过程设计的新型催化材料将这些糖进一步转化为塑料的积木。木质素流也将被分解并重建成可以取代普通材料的新塑料。所有这些可再生聚合物都将用于广泛的消费产品，包括包装材料、塑料容器和建筑材料。我们正在创造的化学原料将是灵活的(用于化学、材料和燃料合成)、安全(这些原料主要是无毒的)和可持续的(大多数开发的产品是可生物降解的)。这将有助于减少英国物质经济对环境的整体影响。我们将使用的化学专注于创造高能效和低成本的方法来制造这些材料，而不会产生大量的废物。我们致力于只开发对我们大家生活的环境有利的未来制造路线。此外，天然材料来源的特性通常比使用人工手段创造的材料更好。我们计划利用自然资源的这些优势，以生产现有产品的替代品和性能更好的新产品。这将使我们的合成路线既对环境负责，又具有经济优势。由于英国国内专业知识的积累，英国有机会在这一领域处于国际领先地位。该项目的总体目标是开发可持续的制造路线，以刺激英国新的商业和对环境负责的方法，制造共同的、高价值的材料。我们将汇聚设计工艺、制造塑料、种植生物质原料资源和开发新化学产品的科学专家。资源的灵活性对这一努力的成功至关重要，因为任何一种植物的生物质都不能全年用于生产。我们将与负责任的制造业的经验丰富的领导者一起，开发以可持续和经济效益的方式制造日常材料的新方法。这项研究的结果将是向我们的材料、化学和能源经济的根本哲学转变。这项工作中提出的技术将有助于打破我们对迅速枯竭的化石资源的依赖，使我们能够既可持续又自给自足。这将带来更高的安全性，更少的污染，以及更可靠和更负责任的英国经济。

We currently make more than just fuel from petroleum refining. Many of the plastics, solvents and other products that are used in everyday life are derived from these non-renewable resources. Our research programme aims to replace many of the common materials used as plastics with alternatives created from plants. This will enable us to tie together the UK's desire to move to non-petroleum fuel sources (e.g. biofuels) with our ability to produce renewable polymers and related products.Plant cell walls are made up of two main components: carbohydrate polymers (long chains of sugars) and lignin, which is the glue holding plants together. We will first develop methods of separating these two components using sustainable solvents called ionic liquids. Ionic liquids are salts which are liquids at room temperature, enabling a variety of chemical transformations to be carried out under consitions not normally available to traditional organic solvents. These ionic liquids also reduce pollution as they have no vapours and can be made from non-toxic, non-petroleum based resources.We will take the isolated carbohydrate polymers and break them down into simple sugars using enzymes and then further convert those sugars into building blocks for plastics using a variety of novel catalytic materials specifically designed for this process. The lignin stream will also be broken down and rebuilt into new plastics that can replace common materials. All of these renewable polymers will be used in a wide range of consumer products, including packaging materials, plastic containers and construction materials. The chemical feedstocks that we are creating will be flexible (used for chemical, material and fuel synthesis), safe (these feedstocks are predominantly non-toxic) and sustainable (most of the developed products are biodegradable). This will help reduce the overall environmental impact of the material economy in the UK. The chemistry that we will use focusses on creating highly energy efficient and low-cost ways of making these materials without producing large amounts of waste. We are committed to only developing future manufacturing routes that are benign to the environment in which we all live. In addition, natural material sources often have properties that are superior to those created using artificial means. We plan to exploit these advantages of natural resources in order to produce both replacements for current products and new products with improved performance. This will make our synthetic routes both environmentally responsible and economically advantageous. The UK has an opportunity to take an international lead in this area due to the accumulation of expertise within this country.The overall goal of this project is to develop sustainable manufacturing routes that will stimulate new UK businesses and environmentally responsible means of making common, high value materials. We will bring together scientific experts in designing processes, manufacturing plastics, growing raw biomass resources and developing new chemistries. The flexibility of resources is vital to the success of this endeavour, as no single plant biomass can be used for manufacturing on a year-round basis. Together with experienced leaders of responsible manufacturing industries, we will develop new ways of making everyday materials in a sustainable and economically beneficial way.The result of this research will be a fundamental philosophical shift to our material, chemical, and energy economy. The technologies proposed in this work will help break our dependence on rapidly depleting fossil resources and enable us to become both sustainable and self-sufficient. This will result in greater security, less pollution, and a much more reliable and responsible UK economy.