SBIR Phase I: Selective Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of Wood Biomass to Market Driven High Value Phenolic Chemicals

SBIR 第一阶段：木材生物质选择性催化加氢脱氧 (HDO) 生产市场驱动的高价值酚类化学品

• 批准号: 1415378
• 负责人: Basudeb Saha
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Spero Energy, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1415378&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Selective; Catalytic; Hydrodeoxygenation

The broader impact/ commercial potential of this project is the development of a catalytic process for the selective production of high value specialty chemicals from lignin. 70 million tons lignin waste, generated by paper and pulp industries and biorefineries annually. While lignin is a rich source of aromatic building block chemicals that can lessen our dependence on petroleum, its selective deconstruction into aromatic chemicals without affecting the value of carbohydrate is a big challenge. The proposed technology provides a unique solution to this challenge in which lignin constituent of wood biomass and municipal wood chips is selectively converted into two high value specialty phenolic compounds in one-step with the simultaneous production of reactive cellulose and xylose. The markets for the lignin derived phenols and their secondary products (isoeugenol, vanillin, dimethoxylphenol) are over $1.1 billion dollars per year of available market. Currently these chemicals are manufactured from high cost clove-oil and petroleum feedstock. If techno-economic analysis for large scale production is favorable, this one-step technology will greatly benefit the paper and pulp industries and biorefineries by generating value from lignin. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will evaluate and establish the commercial feasibility and economic viability of this unique technology by demonstrating a more accurate economic analysis, process design and separation methods, and validating the products specifications for the target application. The current biorefinery processes make full use of the carbohydrate fractions of wood for the production of cellulosic ethanol and fermentable sugars. However, because of lack of effective technology for breaking the recalcitrant lignin, this fraction accounting for an average 25-30 wt% of the plant mass is largely underutilized. This one-step catalytic technology adds unique value by producing high value chemicals, increasing the overall carbon efficiency, while simultaneously delignifying biomass without the need for excess water.

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发从木质素选择性生产高价值特种化学品的催化工艺。造纸和纸浆工业以及生物精炼厂每年产生 7000 万吨木质素废物。虽然木质素是芳香族化学物质的丰富来源，可以减少我们对石油的依赖，但在不影响碳水化合物价值的情况下将其选择性解构为芳香族化学物质是一个巨大的挑战。 所提出的技术为这一挑战提供了一种独特的解决方案，其中木材生物质和市政木片的木质素成分被选择性地一步转化为两种高价值的特种酚类化合物，同时生产活性纤维素和木糖。木质素衍生酚及其副产品（异丁香酚、香草醛、二甲氧基苯酚）的市场每年超过 11 亿美元。目前，这些化学品是用高成本的丁香油和石油原料制造的。如果大规模生产的技术经济分析是有利的，那么这一一步技术将通过从木质素中产生价值而使造纸和纸浆工业以及生物精炼厂受益匪浅。该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将通过展示更准确的经济分析、工艺设计和分离方法，并验证目标应用的产品规格，评估和确定这一独特技术的商业可行性和经济可行性。目前的生物精炼工艺充分利用木材的碳水化合物部分来生产纤维素乙醇和可发酵糖。然而，由于缺乏有效的技术来分解顽固木质素，这部分平均占植物质量 25-30 wt% 的部分在很大程度上没有得到充分利用。这种一步式催化技术通过生产高价值化学品、提高整体碳效率，同时在无需过量水的情况下对生物质进行脱木质素，从而增加了独特的价值。