Projects / Programmes
Process development for biomass-derived furfural upgrade to added-value chemicals
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 2.02.00 |
Engineering sciences and technologies |
Chemical engineering |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| T350 |
Technological sciences |
Chemical technology and engineering |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 2.04 |
Engineering and Technology |
Chemical engineering
|
Biomass, hemicellulose, furfural, catalysis, model, optimisation.
Researchers (1)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
34522 |
PhD Miha Grilc |
Chemical engineering |
Head |
2018 - 2020 |
397 |
Organisations (1)
| no. |
Code |
Research organisation |
City |
Registration number |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
0104 |
National Institute of Chemistry |
Ljubljana |
5051592000 |
21,007 |
Abstract
Proposed project covers the topic of biomass-derived furfural utilization and conversion into the chemicals with higher-added value. Furfural is an important platform chemical that is exclusively produced by hydrolysis of hemicellulose from wood, while the annual production exceeds 300 kilotons. In majority of cases, researchers only focus on the limited number of furfural’s reaction steps towards a target compound and by testing only a narrow range of process conditions and catalysts’ characteristics. This reflects in fragmented conclusions about the reaction mechanisms and subsequently misleading kinetic parameters that are only valid in a very narrow range of process conditions. This issue is closely related to a low number of performed experiments in a time-consuming batch regime per scientific publication and subsequently a low number of evaluated reaction conditions. The listed drawbacks and obstacles will be comprehensively addressed and resolved in the proposed project. Proposed project offers an in-depth study of furfural upgrade via catalytic hydrotreatment, by using fully automatized high throughput system of six parallel high-pressure stirred reactors. Fast, parallel conduction of experiments (few hundreds for the given project) will allow thorough screening of catalysts and process conditions. Experiments will be investigated independently in catalysts’ absence to determine the kinetics of eventual homogeneous reactions, followed by screening of solvents, catalyst supports, monometallic and finally bimetallic supported catalysts. Catalysts will be thoroughly characterised prior to and after the experiment to estimate the extent of eventual deactivation. Based on the experimental results and identified intermediates or products, the reaction pathway network with all elementary chemical transformation will be proposed and a microkinetic model will be developed accordingly. Parameters obtained by the regression analysis to fit the experimental data will further explain the influence of operating parameters on the reaction kinetics, rate-determining steps and process bottlenecks. To assist the understanding of the reaction mechanism, first-principle calculations will reveal the energy barriers and help estimating the activation energies in case they could not be determined experimentally. Kinetic parameters obtained by the regression analysis that will well describe the behaviour of the system will be further used in a predictive model. Predictive model will be used to predict the yields of any component at given process conditions. Multi-objective optimisation will allow the optimisation for not only the highest yield of individual target components or group of components, but also upgrading the model to allow the economical optimisation of the process. Process parameters optimized by the model will be experimentally validated to evaluate the predicting reliability of the model. According to the expressed demands of Slovenian industry, particularly pentanediols (monomers for polyester), edible γ-lactone flavours and fragrances or branched hydrocarbons are the most desired furfural derivatives.
Significance for science
The proposed project is relevant to the development of science, and particularly, chemical engineering scientific field through tackling new systematic approach for the process development for biomass-derived furfural upgrade to added-value chemicals. The added value of the proposed research lies in a comprehensive description for a wide spectrum of possible chemical transformations during the hydrotreatment of the bio-based chemical. Furfural, which will be the main studied component, is a representative of important biomass-derived building blocks for added-value chemicals production, especially the derivatives of furan. Furfural as a building block material is obtained from renewable lignocellulose biomass and is primarily used as a solvent for a broad range of applications, as a natural fungicide, insecticide, etc.
Recent investigations towards furfural upgrade to added-value products incorporate attempts of production of biofuel or fuel additives, bio-based platform chemicals, bio-based monomers and bio-based solvents. For that reason, the furfural production, and its subsequent upgrade to higher added-value products are gaining more and more attention by the scientific community.
Furfural hydrotreatment has been studied so far only per-partes for a limited number of experiments and components followed, with a narrow focus just towards one aimed product and by varying only a narrow set of process conditions or catalyst characteristics. In this project, catalysts screening will take place in a new high-throughput reactor set-up, allowing rapid experimental and analytic screening of catalysts and process conditions. Few hundreds of experiments are expected to be performed on the same system to allow representative comparison of wide spectra of materials and process parameters. The conversion of furfural into added-value chemicals will be further studied by the mathematical modelling, assisted by DFT calculations, to better understand the influence of process parameters, rate limiting steps and bottlenecks of the process. Thus, many aspects of discovery are foreseen as the results, which can be easily disseminated in international journals of high ranking.
There is an ongoing challenge to develop economically efficient and environmentally friendly technologies to transform lignocellulosic biomass into fuels (Biomass-To-Fuels, BTF technology) and chemicals. Results of the project are also expected to contribute to the science and its promotion, as technology of converting biomass into fuels and added value chemicals with hydrotreatment is a hot topic, which can be confirmed by the bibliographic record of PI's recent works on this topic (more than 260 pure citations for publications published between 2014–2018).
Significance for the country
The proposed project is relevant to the development of science, and particularly, chemical engineering scientific field through tackling new systematic approach for the process development for biomass-derived furfural upgrade to added-value chemicals. The added value of the proposed research lies in a comprehensive description for a wide spectrum of possible chemical transformations during the hydrotreatment of the bio-based chemical. Furfural, which will be the main studied component, is a representative of important biomass-derived building blocks for added-value chemicals production, especially the derivatives of furan. Furfural as a building block material is obtained from renewable lignocellulose biomass and is primarily used as a solvent for a broad range of applications, as a natural fungicide, insecticide, etc.
Recent investigations towards furfural upgrade to added-value products incorporate attempts of production of biofuel or fuel additives, bio-based platform chemicals, bio-based monomers and bio-based solvents. For that reason, the furfural production, and its subsequent upgrade to higher added-value products are gaining more and more attention by the scientific community.
Furfural hydrotreatment has been studied so far only per-partes for a limited number of experiments and components followed, with a narrow focus just towards one aimed product and by varying only a narrow set of process conditions or catalyst characteristics. In this project, catalysts screening will take place in a new high-throughput reactor set-up, allowing rapid experimental and analytic screening of catalysts and process conditions. Few hundreds of experiments are expected to be performed on the same system to allow representative comparison of wide spectra of materials and process parameters. The conversion of furfural into added-value chemicals will be further studied by the mathematical modelling, assisted by DFT calculations, to better understand the influence of process parameters, rate limiting steps and bottlenecks of the process. Thus, many aspects of discovery are foreseen as the results, which can be easily disseminated in international journals of high ranking.
There is an ongoing challenge to develop economically efficient and environmentally friendly technologies to transform lignocellulosic biomass into fuels (Biomass-To-Fuels, BTF technology) and chemicals. Results of the project are also expected to contribute to the science and its promotion, as technology of converting biomass into fuels and added value chemicals with hydrotreatment is a hot topic, which can be confirmed by the bibliographic record of PI's recent works on this topic (more than 260 pure citations for publications published between 2014–2018).
Most important scientific results
Interim report,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Final report
