From Wastewater to Gasoline - Aqueous Biorefining of Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)-Enriched Biosolids

从废水到汽油 - 富含聚羟基丁酸酯 (PHB) 的生物固体的水相生物精炼

• 批准号: 1804513
• 负责人: Timothy Strathmann
• 金额: $ 33.04万
• 依托单位: Colorado School of Mines
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1804513&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Wastewater; Gasoline; Aqueous; Biorefining; Polyhydroxybutyrate

Increasing population and rising living standards are driving the demand for more clean water and inexpensive energy, materials, and food. At the same time, this demand produces growing volumes of solid and liquid wastes that public utilities must manage. Current approaches to wastewater treatment expend large amounts of energy to remove organic carbon, nutrients, and pathogens from the water. However, these same "waste" constituents can potentially be recovered as energy or other valuable products during the wastewater treatment process. Recent research demonstrates that wastewater treatment can be accomplished using microorganisms that funnel waste organic carbon into their cells to form polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) granules. The PHBs can then be separated from the resulting waste and converted to high-value products such as renewable gasoline, industrial chemicals, and bioplastics. Through integration of biological and catalytic technologies, the wastewater treatment processe can be reinvented as a "bio-refinery" that yields clean water as just one product of many. This re-invention of water infrastructure will also allow the diffusion of sustainable waste treatment and resource management concepts to a broader audience of students at all levels. Ultimately, such research and educational efforts are needed to support the Nation's shift towards more sustainable infrastructure.Motivated by developments in nascent biorefinery technologies, this project aims to realize and optimize the conversion of waste organic carbon streams to valuable industrial chemicals and gasoline-grade hydrocarbon fuels through the processing of PHB-enriched biomass. Experiments will be conducted to: (1) develop effective strategies for separating PHB from microbial biomass and promoting PHB depolymerization in an aqueous environment; (2) identify reaction conditions and catalysts for optimal dehydration and decarboxylation of the resultant PHB-derived monomers; and (3) demonstrate integrated conversion of waste organic carbon to gasoline-grade fuels and establish a techno-economic analysis (TEA) framework for the system. PHB separation from biomass and subsequent depolymerization will focus on aqueous-only strategies to minimize chemical inputs and byproduct wastes. Catalyst development will focus on low-cost solid acid catalysts (SACs) such as zeolites. The most promising catalysts will be evaluated in continuous flow reactors, and both preventative and regenerative strategies for maintaining catalyst activity will be tested. This research will support a path forward towards increased valorization of organic carbon-rich waste streams in municipal, agricultural, and industrial sectors, potentially flipping the energy balance and cost model for wastewater utilities. In addition, this project supports the career development of graduate and undergraduate student participants, and educational and outreach activities designed for K-12 students and teachers will support the diffusion of sustainable waste treatment and renewable energy production methods to a larger audience.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

人口的增加和生活水平的提高正在推动对更多清洁水和廉价能源，材料和食物的需求。同时，这一需求会产生公用事业必须管理的大量固体和液体废物。当前的废水处理方法消除了大量能量，以去除水中的有机碳，养分和病原体。但是，在废水处理过程中，这些相同的“废物”成分可能有可能作为能量或其他有价值的产品回收。最近的研究表明，可以使用微生物来完成废水处理，这些微生物将浪费有机碳漏斗到其细胞中以形成多羟基丁酸（PHB）颗粒。然后可以将PHB与所得废物分离，并转化为高价值产品，例如可再生汽油，工业化学品和生物塑料。通过整合生物学和催化技术，废水处理过程可以被重新发明为“生物预处理”，它仅作为许多人的一种产生清洁的水。对水基础设施的这种重新发明还将允许将可持续的废物处理和资源管理概念扩散到各个级别的学生。最终，需要进行这种研究和教育工作来支持美国向更可持续的基础设施转移。通过新生生物融资技术的发展激发该项目，该项目旨在实现并优化浪费有机碳流到有价值的工业化学品和汽油级化学品和汽油级含碳碳碳燃料的转化。实验将进行：（1）制定将PHB与微生物生物量分离并在水性环境中促进PHB解聚化的有效策略； （2）确定结果条件和催化剂，用于最佳的脱水和脱羧的pHB衍生单体； （3）展示了将废物有机碳转换为汽油级燃料的综合转换，并为系统建立了技术经济分析（TEA）框架。 PHB与生物量的分离和随后的解聚将集中于仅水性水性策略，以最大程度地减少化学输入和副产品废物。催化剂的发育将集中在低成本固体酸催化剂（SAC）上，例如沸石。最有希望的催化剂将在连续的流动反应堆中进行评估，并将测试维持催化剂活性的预防和再生策略。这项研究将支持在市政，农业和工业部门增强有机碳废物流的增值的前进道路，这可能会改变废水公用事业的能源平衡和成本模型。此外，该项目支持毕业生和本科生参与者的职业发展，专为K-12学生和老师设计的教育和外展活动将支持可持续废物处理和可再生能源生产方法的扩散到更大的受众群体。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过对基础的智力进行了评估，以评估依据，并具有评估的评估。

项目成果

Hydrothermal catalytic conversion of oleic acid to heptadecane over Ni/ZrO2

• DOI: 10.1016/j.hazadv.2023.100273
• 发表时间: 2023-03
• 期刊: Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances
• 作者: L. Cronmiller;James M. Crawford;Jing Zhang;Derek R. Vardon;T. Strathmann

Vapor-phase conversion of aqueous 3-hydroxybutyric acid and crotonic acid to propylene over solid acid catalysts

固体酸催化剂上水性 3-羟基丁酸和巴豆酸气相转化为丙烯

• DOI: 10.1039/d1cy01152a
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Catalysis Science & Technology
• 影响因子: 5
• 作者: Leow, Shijie;Koehler, Andrew J.;Cronmiller, Lauren E.;Huo, Xiangchen;Lahti, Gabriella D.;Li, Yalin;Hafenstine, Glenn R.;Vardon, Derek R.;Strathmann, Timothy J.
• 通讯作者: Strathmann, Timothy J.

Kinetics and Mechanism for Hydrothermal Conversion of Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) for Wastewater Valorization

聚羟基丁酸酯（PHB）水热转化废水增值的动力学和机理

• DOI: 10.1039/c9gc02507c
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Green chemistry
• 影响因子: 9.8
• 作者: Li, Y.;Strathmann, T.J.
• 通讯作者: Strathmann, T.J.