{"id":51190,"date":"2018-03-22T06:42:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T05:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiomassmagazine.com%2Farticles%2F15155%2Fbetter-solvents-improve-production-of-biofuels-bioproducts"},"modified":"2018-03-20T10:26:20","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T09:26:20","slug":"better-solvents-better-biomass-conversion-for-biofuels-and-bioproducts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/better-solvents-better-biomass-conversion-for-biofuels-and-bioproducts\/","title":{"rendered":"Better solvents = better biomass conversion for biofuels and bioproducts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Behind a successful conversion of biomass to a better biofuel or a new green chemical, there is a carefully chosen solvent. The right solvent not only dissolves biomass but also drives the efficiency of the entire conversion process, resulting in higher yields and a lower bottom line.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) at the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, the central role of solvents in converting non-food biomass to biofuels and bioproducts means they\u2019re ripe for optimization. Better use of solvents could improve the economics of biorefineries, push a range of new and more sustainable biofuels and bioproducts to market, and provide new sources of revenue for farmers.<\/p>\n

But the organic solvents used in biomass conversion are both critical to the process and a little mysterious. That is, scientists do not fundamentally understand \u201csolvent effects\u201d \u2013 or the role that solvents can play in changing reaction rates, reaction pathways, product distributions, or yields.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen solvent effects in reactions for many years,\u201d says Max Mellmer, a research investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb and a former UW\u2013Madison graduate student in the of lab of chemical and biological engineering professor James Dumesic. \u201cBut we don\u2019t understand, catalytically, how they work.\u201d<\/p>\n

While researchers of all stripes have traditionally chosen different solvents based on their known properties, Mellmer and his collaborators are pushing for a broader understanding, one that would allow researchers to not only better understand solvent effects but also use that knowledge to optimize biomass conversion reactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to design a system where we could study and predict solvent effects at a fundamental level and try to understand their role in catalytic processes,\u201d says Mellmer. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to move toward more rational solvent selection for reactions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a paper recently published in Nature Catalysis, Mellmer and his GLBRC colleagues break down solvent effects, finding a new way to measure and analyze how a solvent alters the stability of two different points of a chemical reaction, the initial state and the transition state. The method, which relies on experimentation and computation, is the first to provide a window into the fundamental properties of solvent effects.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s system for predicting solvent effects has immediate practical applications. The researchers used their understanding of solvent effects to achieve high yields of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), a chemical that can be used to make transportation fuels and bio-based plastics, while limiting HMF\u2019s subsequent conversion to other chemicals.\u00ad<\/p>\n

This \u201cselective production\u201d of a platform chemical is important, as HMF and a number of other chemicals are of high interest to the chemicals industry. Lowering the production cost of chemicals from biomass could mean the chance to replace petroleum-derived chemicals and products with more sustainable, biomass-derived equivalents. In fact, a recent study from Dumesic\u2019s lab describes using HMF as an intermediary to furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a bio-based plastic precursor with the potential to dramatically improve the economics of making plastic from biomass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese findings are fundamental to achieving economically competitive biofuels and bioproducts,\u201d says Dumesic. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to realize a future in which our fuels and products are bio-based, we have to optimize every step of our conversion processes and develop new and inexpensive ways of making high-value products from biomass.\u00ad\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behind a successful conversion of biomass to a better biofuel or a new green chemical, there is a carefully chosen solvent. The right solvent not only dissolves biomass but also drives the efficiency of the entire conversion process, resulting in higher yields and a lower bottom line. For researchers at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5818,5831,14307],"supplier":[6407,333],"class_list":["post-51190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biofuel","tag-biorefinery","tag-economics","supplier-glbrc","supplier-university-of-wisconsin-madison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51190"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=51190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}