The irruption of polymers from renewable resources on the scene of macromolecular science and technology

From monomers to polymers from renewable resources: Recent advances

With increased availability and decreased cost, ethanol is potentially a promising platform molecule for the production of a variety of value-added chemicals. In this review, we provide a detailed summary of recent advances in catalytic conversion of ethanol to a wide range of chemicals and fuels. We particularly focus on catalyst advances and fundamental understanding of reaction mechanisms involved in ethanol steam reforming (ESR) to produce hydrogen, ethanol conversion to hydrocarbons ranging from light olefins to longer chain alkenes/alkanes and aromatics, and ethanol conversion to other oxygenates including 1-butanol, acetaldehyde, acetone, diethyl ether, and ethyl acetate.

Recent Advances in Catalytic Conversion of Ethanol to Chemicals

Biomass is currently the most widespread form of renewable energy and its exploitation is further increasing due to the concerns over the devastative impacts of fossil fuel consumption, i.e., climate change, global warming and their negative impacts on human health. In line with that, the present articles reviews the different sources of biomass available, along with their chemical composition and properties. Subsequently, different conversion technologies (i.e., thermo-chemical, biochemical, and physico-chemical conversions) and their corresponding products are reviewed and discussed. In the continuation, the global status of biomass vs. the other renewable energies is scrutinized. Moreover, biomass-derived energy production was analyzed from economic and environmental perspectives. Finally, the challenges faced to further expand the share of biomass-derived energy carriers in the global energy market are presented.

A review on biomass: importance, chemistry, classification, and conversion

Increasing demand for renewable feedstock-based chemicals is driving the interest of both academic and industrial research to substitute petrochemicals with renewable chemicals from biomass-derived resources. The search towards novel platform chemicals is challenging and rewarding, but the main research activities are concentrated on finding efficient pathways to produce familiar drop-in chemicals and polymer building blocks. A diversity of industrially important monomers like alkenes, conjugated dienes, unsaturated carboxylic acids and aromatic compounds are thus targeted from renewable feedstock. In this context, on-purpose production of 1,3-butadiene from biomass-derived feedstock is an interesting example as its production is under pressure by uncertainty of the conventional fossil feedstock. Ethanol, obtained via fermentation or (biomass-generated) syngas, can be converted to butadiene, although there is no large commercial activity today. Though practised on a large scale in the beginning of the 20th century, there is a growing worldwide renewed interest in the butadiene-from-ethanol route. An alternative route to produce butadiene from biomass is through direct carbohydrate and gas fermentation or indirectly via the dehydration of butanediols. This review starts with a brief discussion on the different feedstock possibilities to produce butadiene, followed by a comprehensive summary of the current state of knowledge regarding advances and achievements in the field of the chemocatalytic conversion of ethanol and butanediols to butadiene, including thermodynamics and kinetic aspects of the reactions with discussions on the reaction pathways and the type of catalysts developed.

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Review of old chemistry and new catalytic advances in the on-purpose synthesis of butadiene

Biorefinery: Conversion of Woody Biomass to Chemicals, Energy and Materials

Butadiene Production from Ethanol

Pretreatment technologies for biological and chemical conversion of woody biomass

A recombinant strain of Escherichia coli FBWHR was used for ethanol fermentation from hot-water sugar maple wood extract hydrolyzate in batch experiments. Kinetic studies of cell growth, sugar utilization and ethanol production were investigated at different initial total sugar concentrations of wood extract hydrolyzate. The highest ethanol concentration of 24.05 g/L was obtained using an initial total sugar concentration of 70.30 g/L. Unstructured models were developed to describe cell growth, sugar utilization and ethanol production and validated by comparing the predictions of model and experimental data. The results from this study could be expected to provide insights into the process performance, optimize the process and aid in the design of processes for large-scale production of ethanol fermentation from woody biomass.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/7/12/8411/pdf

Yang Wang

Papers

Biorefinery: Conversion of Woody Biomass to Chemicals, Energy and Materials

Butadiene Production from Ethanol

Pretreatment technologies for biological and chemical conversion of woody biomass

Kinetic Modeling of Ethanol Batch Fermentation by Escherichia Coli FBWHR Using Hot-Water Sugar Maple Wood Extract Hydrolyzate as Substrate

Ethanol Fermentation by Escherichia Coli FBWHR Using Hot-Water Sugar Maple Wood Exact Hydrolyzate as Substrate: A Batch Fermentation and Kinetic Study