From atoms to plant: co-production of green transport fuel and levoglucosan from waste biomass

将生物质废物转化为生物产品将同时提供一条废物处理途径，以及一种生产有用的、经济上有吸引力的产品的过程。在所有来自生物质废物的产品中，液态碳氢化合物运输燃料有望实现英国2020年可再生能源目标，即10%的运输燃料来自可再生来源。它们将有助于应对气候变化和不断增长的燃料需求的挑战。然而，目前的废物转化为液体的技术面临着生产成本高和技术不确定性等主要问题。为了解决这些问题，我们将在这个项目中开发一项突破性的技术。这项新技术将联合生产液体运输生物燃料和一种增值生物化学品。通过这样做，与传统的液体生物燃料工厂相比，预计将获得更高的经济效益。该联合生产系统还将有助于降低生物燃料的高含氧量，这是导致所生产燃料的稳定性差、不混溶和低热值的主要来源。该项目将在该项目内设计和评估综合生产系统，参与人员包括三所大学(贝尔法斯特女王大学贝尔法斯特分校、阿斯顿大学-非盟分校和北中国电力大学-北京电力大学)、三名学者、一名PDRA和两名博士(一名由昆士兰州立大学资助，另一名由东北电力大学资助)。该项目也是高度工业化的，由两家英国公司直接参与：Hirwaun Energy Ltd和Green Lizard Technologies Ltd，Hirwaun Energy Ltd将提供一个用于结果验证的中试规模生物质热解反应器，Green Lizard Technologies Ltd将提供技术放大建议。通过这项创新技术的开发，通过将英国每年超过1600万吨的木质纤维素生物质转化为先进燃料以及增值的联合产品，将实现对国家的重大影响，以实现英国2020年的可再生能源目标。这也将对英国减少二氧化碳排放和增加可再生材料使用的目标产生积极影响。

Converting biomass waste to bio-products will simultaneously provide a route to waste-disposal, and a process for the production of useful, economically attractive products. Within all the products derived from biomass waste, liquid hydrocarbon transport fuels are promising for the UK to meet its 2020 renewable energy target of providing 10% of its transport fuel from renewable sources. They will help to tackle the challenges of climate change and the ever-increasing fuel demand.The current waste-to-liquid technologies, however, are facing main problems of high production cost and technical uncertainty. To address these problems, we will develop a breakthrough technology in this project. This novel technology will co-produce liquid transport bio-fuel and one value-added bio-chemical. By doing this, high economic profits will be expected when comparing with conventional liquid bio-fuel plants. The co-production system will additionally benefit to the reduction of the biofuel's high oxygen content, which is known as the main source that leads to poor stability, immiscibility and low calorific value of the produced fuel.The integrated production system will be designed and evaluated within this project, with the involvement of three universities (Queen's University Belfast-QUB, Aston University-AU, and North China Electric Power University-NCEPU), three academics, one PDRA, and two PhDs (one is funded by QUB, the other is funded by NCEPU). The project is also highly industrial geared by directly involvement of two UK-based companies: Hirwaun Energy Ltd, who will provide a pilot scale biomass pyrolysis reactor for results validation, and Green Lizard Technologies Ltd, who will provide suggestions on the technology scale-up.Through the development of this innovative technology, high national impact will be realised to achieve the UK's 2020 Renewable Energy targets through the conversion of over 16 million tonnes per year of the UK's lignocellulosic biomass into advanced fuel together with value-added co-products. It will also have a positive impact on the UK's target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions and increasing the use of renewable materials.