RENEWABLE CHEMICALS FROM SUSTAINABLE FEEDSTOCKS VIA HIGH-THOROUGHPUT METHODS

由于化石储量减少、石油价格上涨、供应安全和环境问题，全球转向使用生物量作为燃料和化学品的来源。制造业显然正在接受这一变化，并明确表示其目标是开发可持续和高效的产品制造路线，从而减少对化石原料的依赖和对环境的影响。对学者来说，这是一个巨大的机会，可以产生新的科学进步，因为他们知道他们的应用将得到强大的工业支持。除了出于科学好奇心，我们科学家还需要认识到我们的社会责任，与制造业合作，为更美好的社会和更可持续的未来做出贡献。近年来，在开发可再生化学品路线方面取得了进展，但在这些路线经济地提供可再生化学品的效率和可行性方面仍然存在重大问题。非常重要的是，生物精炼技术的许多最新进展都是基于与食品或饲料竞争的原料，如淀粉或植物油。这些技术的大规模应用可能对全世界的粮食安全造成灾难性后果。因此，至关重要的是，新的生物精炼技术是基于不与粮食生产竞争的生物质来源。该提案的总体目标是开发下一代结构化聚合物材料，该材料将能够从废弃生物质中有效地生产平台化学品和生物表面活性剂，并将最先进的生物质活化和分离技术整合到一锅法中。该项目是建立在约克和利物浦的合作伙伴在绿色化学、生物质活化、催化和材料科学方面的专业知识以及他们与工业界的密切合作的基础上。将利用高通量材料发现和表征方面的最先进设施，并将使用生物质活化方面的先进技术，如超临界CO2（scCO2）萃取，以及高达100 L规模的微波热解和水解反应器。

There has been a global shift towards the use of biomass as a source of fuels and chemicals necessitated by decreasing fossil reserves, increasing oil prices, security of supply and environmental issues. It has also become clear that the manufacturing industry is embracing this change and has clearly stated its aims to develop sustainable and efficient routes to manufacturing products and hence reducing their dependence on fossil feedstocks and environmental impact. To academics, this represents a huge opportunity to generate new scientific advances in the knowledge that their application will have strong industrial support. In addition to be motivated by scientific curiosity, we scientists need to acknowledge our social responsibility to partner with the manufacturing industry to contribute to a better society and more sustainable future. Advances in the development of routes to renewable chemicals have been observed in recent years, however there are still major issues remaining regarding the efficiency and viability of these routes to deliver renewable chemicals economically. Very importantly, many recent advances in biorefinary technologies have been based on feedstocks that compete with food or feed such as starch or vegetable oils. Large-scale implementation of these technologies can have disastrous consequences for food security worldwide. Therefore, it is paramount that new biorefinary technologies are based upon sources of biomass that do not compete with food production. The overarching aim of this proposal is to develop the next generation of structured polymeric materials that will enable to efficiently produce platform chemicals and bio-surfactants from waste biomass, integrating state of the art technologies for biomass activation and separation in one-pot processes. This project is built upon the expertise in green chemistry, biomass activation, catalysis and materials science from the partners in York and Liverpool and their strong engagement with industry. State of the art facilities in high-throughput materials discovery and characterisation will be utilized, and advanced techniques in biomass activation, such as supercritical CO2 (scCO2) extraction, and microwave pyrolysis and hydrolysis reactors up to scales of 100L will be used.