Session Chair:
- Hemant Pendse, University of Maine
- Kevin Joback, Molecular Knowledge Systems
Session Description:
Focus on sustainable processing involves use of new renewable feedstocks (for example cellulosic biomass) for production of fuels, chemicals and advanced materials. Development of cost competitive processing technologies suitable for different types of feedstocks, on different production scales, remains to be a challenge, requiring integration of efficient reaction sequences and innovative applications of separation equipment. This session will focus on pilot scale demonstrations involving analysis of feedstock flexibility, lowering of carbon footprint, and attention to ‘green’ manufacturing, that reduces pollution and waste by recycling and reusing what was considered waste.
Schedule:
| PRESENTATION | SPEAKER |
| Harnessing Anaerobic Fermentation Using GMOs Without a Green Price Premium - The Bio-Succinic Acid Story | Rajesh Dasari, Myriant Corporation |
| Plantrose™ Process – Harnessing Supercritical Water to Achieve Cost Competitive Sugars | Dan Floyd, Renmatix |
|
Hemant Pendse, University of Maine |
Harnessing Anaerobic Fermentation Using GMOs Without a Green Price Premium - The Bio-Succinic Acid Story
The production of renewable bio-chemicals at commercial scale has greatly advanced in past decades. Hundreds of organizations are pursuing the replacement of petro-based chemicals with bio-derived products and many others are emerging. The primary drivers for this are an economical and ecological perspective due to the increasing crude oil prices and global environmental concerns, respectively. Myriant has successfully developed and commercialized a viable bio-succinic acid process technology for a sustainable production to serve the market across a variety of applications. This presentation aims to show Myriant’s successful approach and accomplishments emerging as a leader in the commercial production of specialty chemicals.
Plantrose™ Process – Harnessing Supercritical Water to Achieve Cost Competitive Sugars
Defining and scaling a chemical process from the ground up requires deployment of several piloting, modeling and analytical skillsets. In the case of biobased materials, many of these are essential due to the added complexity given with the variety of potential feedstocks and their compositions. In this review, the scale up and commercialization efforts of Renmatix’ Plantrose process will be covered. Key areas discussed will include process and techno-economic modeling, piloting and typical failure modes, importance of customer sampling and customer relationships as the biobased materials businesses are established.
Wood to Jet Fuel Conversion Technology
Thermal deoxygenation (TDO) is a reaction scheme which converts neutralized biomass hydrolyzates that contain mixtures of levulinic and formic acid salts, to hydrocarbon oils in single-reactor. TDO is a UMaine-patented technology that combines ketonization, condensation and dehydration reactions in an inert environment to efficiently remove oxygen from the acids and produce a complex mixture of petroleum-soluble hydrocarbons (synthetic crude oil), water, non-condensable gases and chars. The synthetic crude oils typically have less than 4 wt. % oxygen, phase separate from water and have energy density above 40 MJ/kg which make them comparable to petroleum crude. A multi-disciplinary team is evaluating regional sustainability of this energy pathway in the light of specific opportunities that would allow adaptation or repurposing of existing wood processing infrastructure (Kraft pulp mills, in particular).