| Investigators | Charles Cai |
| Project Sponsor | University of Tennessee |
| Project Period | July 2016 - June 2019 |
Abstract
Lignocellulosic biomass at $60 per dry ton is competitive in energy cost with petroleum at $20 per barrel. However, the recalcitrance of biomass to high yield breakdown for biological or thermochemical conversion into fuels is by far the primary cost barrier that is mitigated by effective pretreatment strategies.
CE-CERT research groups have investigated the feasibility of a novel biomass pretreatment method called CELF or Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation as a future technology platform for the economic production of renewable liquid fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass. CELF has demonstrated exceptional performance in pretreating raw lignocellulosic biomass to produce platform fuel precursors and lignin at high yields that are suitable for further conversion into renewable liquid fuels and chemicals. The proposed work involves: Investigation of the chemical and physical changes that occur to biomass during CELF pretreatment; optimization of CELF pretreatment based on reaction parameters such as solids loading, particle size, solvent concentration, catalyst type, and reaction temperature etc. to minimize the production cost of fuel precursors; integration of CELF with various downstream chemical and/or biological strategies for conversion of fuel precursors and lignins to produce commercially-relevant end-products at high yields; development of effective solvent recovery, detoxification, lignin extraction, and continuous operation strategies to improve commercial feasibility; creation of a computer model based on critical experimental data to determine the mass, energy, and economics of a hypothetical biorefinery plant based on the CELF process.