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

该项目旨在为城市废物的同义词“城市生物质”开发新材料和新工艺，将这种经常性的富含生物质的原料转化为生物燃料和增值产品，应对减少温室气体和废物处置的挑战。工业合作伙伴Enerkem目前正在埃德蒙顿建设其第一个废物转生物燃料的全面商业工厂，其研发活动主要集中在气化、合成气合成甲醇、使用甲基碘作为促进剂将甲醇催化羰基化为乙酸甲酯以及将乙酸甲酯氢解生产生物乙醇。与Enerkem的商业努力相关的两个主要子项目旨在显著增强工艺：（1）生物二甲醚（DME）的无碘羰基化将允许排除有毒和腐蚀性碘化物;为此目的，将通过活性位点DFT建模，催化剂合成，在流动微反应器中以及在较大规模的固定床流动反应器中的程序升温反应中的表征和测试;（2）设立架构─用于生物燃料生产的稳定重整催化剂的活性关系，并将解决重整催化剂表征和设计，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。交付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.