PFI-RP: Developing Bio-based Ingredients for Plastics from Agricultural Waste

PFI-RP：利用农业废弃物开发生物基塑料成分

• 批准号: 1919267
• 负责人: Bala Subramaniam
• 金额: $ 54.99万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1919267&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; RP; Developing; Bio; based

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation-Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project will be to transform plastics manufacturing by using lignin, a naturally occurring material, as a renewable feedstock. Plastics are a major component of many consumer products such as bottles, synthetic fibers, building materials, etc., and are currently made from petroleum resources. In recent years, many attempts have been made to produce ingredients for plastics from agricultural resources as a more sustainable feedstock. One technological challenge is the ability to handle the diversity of plant sources (grasses vs. hardwoods) as feedstocks to make consistent and compatible ingredients currently used in plastics. This work develops a technology to make plastic precursors from lignin derived from various sources, such as cellulosic ethanol plants or the pulp and paper industry. The proposed technology breaks down the lignin into smaller chemicals that are readily transformed into substances that can be used to make plastics. By demonstrating a modular technology concept, scale-up to industrial production rates is achieved by simply increasing the number of modules. The commercialization of this technology has the ability to capture a significant fraction of the related global phenolic resins market, expected to reach nearly $16 billion by 2025. Such value-added products will significantly enhance the economic viability of biorefineries. The proposed project will address the major challenge of developing practically viable technologies to make value added products from lignin for profitable biorefineries. Specific objectives are to demonstrate a scalable technology for converting lignin from various sources (alkaline, organosolv and milled lignin) to bio-based prepolymers suitable for making resins and plastics. This is achieved by selective ozonolysis of the lignin solution (in acetic acid) in a spray reactor to partially break up the lignin into low molecular weight aromatics which are then grafted on to the macromolecular lignin structure by acidification with sulfuric acid in a stirred reactor. This technology converts 95% of the lignin to prepolymers which are separated by filtration from the solvent which is recycled. These two steps occur sequentially at mild operating conditions (ambient temperature and pressure) that favor process economics. Process optimization to form prepolymers with desired properties will be guided by benchmarking with conventional phenol-formaldehyde and bakelite-type resins. Process scalability will be demonstrated by operating multiple spray reactors in parallel followed by acidification of the combined ozonolysis product to generate prepolymers with identical properties and in sufficient quantities for product testing.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.

该创新研究伙伴关系 (PFI-RP) 项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是通过使用木质素（一种天然材料）作为可再生原料来改变塑料制造。 塑料是瓶子、合成纤维、建筑材料等许多消费品的主要组成部分，目前由石油资源制成。近年来，人们进行了许多尝试，从农业资源中生产塑料原料，作为更可持续的原料。一项技术挑战是能够处理植物来源（草与硬木）的多样性作为原料，以制造目前用于塑料的一致且兼容的成分。这项工作开发了一种利用各种来源（例如纤维素乙醇工厂或纸浆和造纸工业）的木质素制造塑料前体的技术。拟议的技术将木质素分解成更小的化学物质，这些化学物质很容易转化为可用于制造塑料的物质。通过展示模块化技术概念，只需增加模块数量即可实现工业生产率的扩大。 该技术的商业化能够占据全球相关酚醛树脂市场的很大一部分，预计到 2025 年将达到近 160 亿美元。此类增值产品将显着提高生物炼制厂的经济可行性。 拟议的项目将解决开发切实可行的技术的主要挑战，以利用木质素生产增值产品，为有利可图的生物精炼厂提供服务。具体目标是展示一种可扩展的技术，将各种来源的木质素（碱性、有机溶剂和研磨木质素）转化为适合制造树脂和塑料的生物基预聚物。 这是通过在喷雾反应器中对木质素溶液（在乙酸中）进行选择性臭氧分解以将木质素部分分解成低分子量芳族化合物来实现的，然后通过在搅拌反应器中用硫酸酸化将其接枝到大分子木质素结构上。 该技术将 95% 的木质素转化为预聚物，通过过滤将其与回收的溶剂分离。 这两个步骤在有利于工艺经济性的温和操作条件（环境温度和压力）下顺序发生。 形成具有所需性能的预聚物的工艺优化将通过传统酚醛和电木型树脂的基准来指导。 通过并行操作多个喷雾反应器，然后对组合的臭氧分解产物进行酸化，以生成具有相同性能且数量足以进行产品测试的预聚物，将证明工艺可扩展性。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Correlation between Lignin–Carbohydrate Complex Content in Grass Lignins and Phenolic Aldehyde Production by Rapid Spray Ozonolysis

草木质素中木质素-碳水化合物复合物含量与快速喷雾臭氧分解酚醛生产之间的相关性

• DOI: 10.1021/acsengineeringau.2c00041
• 发表时间: 2022-12-19
• 期刊: ACS Engineering Au
• 作者: Steffan Green;T. Binder;Erik Hagberg;B. Subramaniam
• 通讯作者: B. Subramaniam