General introduction biomass projects

Nowadays, bulk chemicals, such as ethylene glycol (EG), are mostly derived from fossil fuel sources. In 2014, the production of EG reached 25 million tons. Ethylene glycol finds its use in a wide variety of applications; but most importantly, it is one of the components in PET-bottles and used as antifreeze[1]. With the aim of investigating novel pathways of EG production from renewable resources, it was recently shown that ethylene glycol could be produced from micro crystalline cellulose via a bi-catalytic hydrogenolysis process with high yield and selectivity[2]. Cellulose is the major constituent of lignocellulosic biomass. However, the direct hydrogenolysis of biomass is hampered by the presence of impurities, such as lignin and ashes[3-5]. Therefore, a pretreatment step of the raw biomass is necessary to obtain clean cellulose, free from contaminants.

Project 1: Dilute acid biomass pre-treatment (reserved)

For more info contact Thimo te Molder (t.d.j.temolder(at)utwente.nl) or drop by the office (ME-240)

 

Project 2: Correlating biomass and pulp properties by extensive characterization

For more info contact Thimo te Molder (t.d.j.temolder(at)utwente.nl) or drop by the office (ME-240)