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废物处理途径和生产有用的、经济上有吸引力的产品的过程。在所有来自生物质废弃物的产品中，液态碳氢化合物运输燃料有望使英国实现其2020年可再生能源目标，即从可再生能源中提供10%的运输燃料。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的主要问题。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。该新技术将共同生产液体运输生物燃料和一种增值生物化工产品。通过这样做，与传统的液体生物燃料工厂相比，有望获得较高的经济效益。联合生产系统还将有利于降低生物燃料的高氧含量，而高氧含量是导致所生产燃料稳定性差、不混溶和热值低的主要原因。综合生产系统将在本项目中进行设计和评估，参与人员包括三所大学（贝尔法斯特女王大学-昆士兰大学，阿斯顿大学-非盟和华北电力大学-西北工业大学），三位学者，一位PDRA和两位博士（一位由昆士兰工业大学资助，另一位由西北工业大学资助）。该项目还由两家英国公司直接参与，高度工业化：hirwun能源有限公司将提供中试规模的生物质热解反应器以进行结果验证，而Green Lizard科技有限公司将为技术扩大提供建议。通过这项创新技术的发展，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副产品，将实现英国2020年可再生能源目标的高国家影响力。它还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.