Advanced catalytic materials for waste conversion to biofuel and biomass-derived green chemicals

该项目旨在开发“城市生物质”的新材料和工艺，将这种富含生物质的循环原料转化为生物燃料和增值产品，解决温室气体减排和废物处理的挑战。工业合作伙伴Enerkem目前正在埃德蒙顿建设其第一家废物转化为生物燃料的全面商业工厂，其研发活动主要集中在气化，合成气制甲醇合成，甲醇羰基化到甲基乙酸，使用甲基碘作为促进剂，以及乙酸甲酯氢解生产生物乙醇。与Enerkem的商业努力相关，将开展两个主要子项目，旨在显著改进工艺：(1)生物二甲醚（DME）的无碘羰基化将允许排除有毒和腐蚀性的碘化物；将为此目的开发双功能金属-固体酸催化剂，通过将活性位点DFT建模、催化剂合成、表征和在流动微反应器以及更大规模的固定床流动反应器中的温度程序化反应中进行测试相结合；(2)建立用于生物燃料生产的稳定重整催化剂的构效关系，研究重整催化剂的表征与设计、催化干重整、催化蒸汽辅助干重整和非催化炭重整，包括基于模型的反应机理评价和工艺集成研究。这些成果将有助于相关生物质产业的技术和经济成功，以及可再生能源、废物转化和多相催化领域的知识进步。

The project aims at the development of novel materials and processes for "urban biomass", a synonym of municipal waste, by converting such recurrent biomass-rich feedstock to biofuel and value-added products, addressing the challenges of GHG reduction and of waste disposal. The industrial partner, Enerkem, is currently constructing its first waste-to-biofuels full-scale commercial plant in Edmonton, and its R&D activities are largely focused on gasification, syngas-to-methanol synthesis, catalytic carbonylation of methanol to methylacetate using methyl-iodide as promoter, and the hydrogenolysis of the methyl acetate to produce bio-ethanol. In connection with Enerkem's commercial effort two main subprojects are to be pursued aiming at significant process enhancements: (1) Iodine-free carbonylation of bio-dimethyl ether, DME, will allow excluding toxic and corrosive iodides; bifunctional metal-solid acid catalysts will be developed for this purpose via combination of active site DFT modeling, catalyst synthesis, characterization and testing in temperature-programmed reactions in a flow microreactor, as well as in a larger scale fixed-bed flow reactor; (2) Establishing structure-activity relationship of a stable reforming catalyst for biofuel production and will address reforming catalyst characterization and design, catalytic dry reforming, catalytic steam-aided dry reforming and non-catalytic char reforming, including model-based evaluation of the reaction mechanisms and process integration studies. The deliverables will contribute both to the technological and economic success of the related biomass-based industries, as well as to the knowledge advancement in the fields of renewable energy, waste conversion, and heterogeneous catalysis.