| Investigators | Charles Cai |
| Project Sponsor | University of Tennessee & National Institute for Food and Agriculture |
| Project Period | November 1, 2017 through current |
Abstract
To develop industrially relevant high value co-products using a new method for refining and fractionating the lignin stream produced by breakthrough Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF) process developed by project partners at UC Riverside (UCR).1,2 Through development of a tailored lignin fractionation technique, we will be able to provide fractional cuts of CELF lignin with narrow molecular weight (MW) range for their subsequent conversion or incorporation into separate renewable co-products such as monophenols and non-diisocyanate based polyurethane (PU). CELF is an advanced front-end biomass pretreatment and fractionation method that exceeds performance of other organosolv-based processes to enable high yield recovery of C5 and C6 sugars or furfurals for their subsequent high yield conversion to liquid fuels such as gasoline-range oxygenates methylfuran (MF) and dimethylfuran (DMF), C5-C6 higher alcohols and ethers (HAEs), or cellulosic ethanol. Efficient solubilization of biomass lignin by CELF will be paired with a new streamlined lignin fractionating method to generate multiple highly pure fractional cuts of processed lignin with narrow molecular weight (MW) ranges each tailored for subsequent conversion to: 1) low MW components to cyclohexylalcohols, and 2) higher MW components to next generation PU. Through this proposed method, total lignin utilization will be maximized by conversion to value-added products that range in value from $600-$2000/ton to capture value for integrated liquid fuels production from the biomass carbohydrates. In addition to economic benefits, conversion of lignin into aromatic solvents and carbonaceous solids has environmental benefits of total life cycle green-house gas (GHG) reduction, as the carbon in the lignin-derived aromatic solvents would displace conventional petroleum sources and become incorporated into end products such as plastics and other carbon-rich materials that would not be combusted back into the atmosphere.