Progress 01/01/18 to 12/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences reached by our effort during this grant periodinclude bio-based industries seeking to develop new products from the lignocellulosic feedstock, scientific communities through presentations at professional meetings and conferences, publications in scientific journals, and general public events. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Throughout the grant, we provided research training for the post docs, graduate and undergraduate students who participated on this project. The training included one-on-one meeting on a weekly basis, regular presentations to internal and external audiences as well as research training in the lab. For the latter, the post docs, graduate and undergraduate students were provided the opportunity to advance their professional skills by learning from the project investigators and their lab members, identify the various barriers in product development and commercialization, and develop solutions that take into consideration the economical and environmental aspect of the system. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Two journal articles have been published and those address methods to improve lignin self-assembly in a polymer matrix. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The project fractionated enough hybrid poplar to produce 50 kg lignin per batch in 3 different runs. The pulps were subsequently used for ethanol, butanol production verification via established fermentation routes and some cellulose pulps have been utilized to test lignin derived polymer reinforcing effects. Lignins of ~50 kg scale demonstrated >90% purity. These lignins when used in formulating an acrylonitrile-butadiene-lignin polymer via reactive extrusion of isolated ultra-pure lignin with a high acrylonitrile content to deliver performance enhanced product (>30 MPa tensile strength) that is processable to make extruded parts. The compositions show improved stiffness after incorporation of pulp as reinforcing phase. Close loop processing estimation (based on reported experimental conversion of cellulose to butanol) shows <10% loss of solvent during recovery step. However, residual furfurals from fractionation compensates some solvent loss. Nonetheless, 5:1 or higher solvent to dry poplar biomass is needed for feasible fractionation. The project team members participating in LCA-related aspects of the project have conducted a more thorough technical assessment of the organosolv fractionation and fuel production processes. Full cradle-to-grave processes were also developed for the ABL resin siding and two competing products (i.e., fiber-cement siding and polypropylene siding). During lignin production butanol (which is assumed to be 80% recycled and 20% virgin) accounts for between 45% to 61% of impacts in human health, cost, cumulative energy demand, climate change (kg CO2 eq.) and water use categories while heat from natural gas accounts for 5% to 36% of the impacts, and electricity use account for 6% to 45% of impacts. ABS resin production accounts for 29% to 70% of the impacts in each category and organosolv lignin production accounts for 10% to 19% of the impacts in each category. ABL resin production accounts for 65% to 83% of the impacts in each category, electricity consumption accounts for 5% to 19% of the impacts, and cellulose fiber accounts for 4% to 14% of the impacts.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Kanbargi, N., Hoskins, D., Gupta, S., Yu, Z., Shin, Y., Qiao, Y., Merkel, D.R., Bowland, C.C., Labb�, N., Simmons, K.L. and Naskar, A.K., 2023. A renewable lignin-based thermoplastic adhesive for steel joining. European Polymer Journal, 189, p.111981.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Rajan K, Keonhee K, Elder T, Naskar AK, Labbe N.* Ionic-liquid assisted fabrication of hybrid poplar thin films with tunable hydrophobicity, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, 10, 8835-8845 (2022).
|
Progress 01/01/21 to 12/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted our ooutreach effort. Limited target audiences reached by our effort during this reporting period, including bio-based industries seeking to develop newproducts from the lignocellulosic feedstock, and the scientific community, including undergraduate and graduate studentsinterested in the processing and valorization of lower-valued biorefinery co-product streams. The additional scientificcommunity includes selective members from the participating academic organizations and their collaborators: Universityof Tennesse-Center for Renewable Carbon (UT-CRC); Wisconsin Institute of Sustainable Technology at the University ofWisconsin Stevens Point, WI; the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at the University of Minnesota Duluth; andOak Ridge National Laboratory (collaborating team). Additionally, our industrial partners Attis Innovation, LLC, and Long Trail Sustainability (LTS) are reaching out to their customers forunderstanding the specification of the products to be designed. The communication listed here remained virtual during thisperiod and it was mostly due to the ongoing pandemic situation. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Post-graduate fellows working on this project are being trained to generate and gather data needed for complete mass balance, ABL and butanol production, and TEA and LCA activities. Two of the post-graduates have gained partial access (partial due to the ongoing pandemic) to state-of-the-art technology and tools needed for lignin processing at ORNL. Our monthly meeting with industrial partners continues to offer great opportunities for the post docs and students to become more familiar with biorefining processes, proposed integrated operations, and product specifications for construction industries. Additionally, all PI and CoPIs have significantly benefitted from each other knowledge and expertise through monthly teleconferences. These interactions are educating the graduate and post-graduate students about project management protocols. In addition, UWSP recruited undergraduate students for the saccharification and biofuel production tasks. The student were trained in various techniques of enzymatic hydrolysis and butanol fermentation. They have learned how to model an economic engineering process toward sustainable biofuel production from hybrid poplar biomass. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?One journal article has been publishedand it addresses methods to improve ABL properties. [Kanbargi N, et al. Synthesis of High Performance Lignin-based Inverse Thermoplastic Vulcanizates with Tailored Morphology and Properties. ACS AppliedPolymer Materials (2021)]. We have prepared an LCA report that will be published and in this reporting period we have worked on two other manuscripts that will be finalized in 2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are setting up a butanol fermentation process to convert the AST pulp into butanol, acetone and ethanol using Clostridium acetobutylcium ATCC-824, such that the fermentation outputs can be used to replenish the AST fractionation process. This is another strategy to reduce the input costs.Regarding the processing and extrusion of ABL products, we aim to increase the lignin content to ensure the product remains enriched with renewables. The current ABL formulation contains 50 wt% lignin. In the final report, we will include, excerpts from an International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-compliantand finalizedLCA document.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Life cycle analysis (LCA): Shelly Severinghaus (Long Trail Sustainability) and Matthew Aro (Natural Resources Research Institute) led the LCA work for this project, including collecting life cycle inventory data from subject matter experts, published literature, operation of American Science and Technology's pilot-scale Organosolv fractionation plant (Wausau, WI), and biomass fermentation and fuel production processing laboratory facilities at UW-Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI). In this project, a butanol-Organosolv biorefinery uses a novel technology to fractionate lignocellulosic biomass and produce biofuels. The lignin is derived from plantation-grown hybrid poplar biomass. At a high level, this method takes hybrid poplar trees and makes bio-based acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) siding materials for building construction (termed ABL siding). One aspect of the project is to understand the potential environmental impacts of the new process and products, as well as to compare them to conventional alternatives via life cycle assessments at each level of production. The LCA system boundary includes material and fuel consumption for hybrid poplar feedstock production; materials, water, transportation, and energy consumption for Organosolv processing' and materials, water, transportation, and energy consumption for siding production. Primary data for the lignin process were provided by Attis Innovations (formerly Advanced Lignin Biocomposites LLC), while the primary data for the ABL resin and ABL siding processes were provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Secondary/background data were retrieved from the DATASMART LCI database (LTS 2020), peer-reviewed publications, and subject matter experts. This study utilized the LTS Method to translate the LCI data into environmental impacts, which combines the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint (H) v1.04 method which contains three endpoint categories (Human Health, Ecosystems, Resources) with Cumulative Energy Demand, Climate Change and Water Use midpoint categories. The analyses identified the environmental hot spots within each system, which are the processes that contributed disproportionately to the overall life cycle impacts of the system. In the organosolv process producing lignin, butanol accounted for the largest portion of the impacts, followed by heat from natural gas and electricity across all impact categories. Recommendations from this study include investigating ways to reduce electricity usage during ABL siding and ABL resin manufacturing, along with the installation of renewable energy systems and/or use of renewable energy for their production. In addition, researching and utilizing environmentally friendly options for nitrile rubber so long as performance and costs are not comprised may further reduce the environmental impacts. It is recommended that this study be further refined once the ABL siding is at production scale. Further use of LCA will allow potential manufacturers to evaluate the impacts of the recommendations, and other process changes that may have environmental benefits. In order to provide data that enabledfinalizing the LCA report, we verified we verified that the succeedingindividual steps and outcomes are similar to that reported in the previous year. Biomass fractionation, lignin isolation and ABL production: Debarked poplar wood was used as starting material for lignin production. Scaled up lignin samples were produced by AST from 500 kg pilot experiments. Samples were analyzed for mono- and oligosaccharides, hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, n-butanol, water and ethanol extractives, acid insoluble lignin and acid soluble lignin. It was found that hemicellulose derivatives (monosaccharides, furfural) are distributed over all fractions. The pulp derived from pilot experiments had slightly lower quality (lower cellulose content) compared to the pulp from benchtop experiments.As a part of our efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs, the AST process was optimized to reduce the water usage during lignin isolation and purification. We determined that flash washing did not affect the AST lignin's quality when compared to hand washing and reduced water usage by 95%.For ABL product development using the AST lignin, we optimized an extrusion process that delivers improved ABLproperties. Product analysis and enzymatic hydrolysis of pulp: Analysis of the following samples derived from and related to butanol-organosolv processing of hybrid poplar biomass was completed: aqueous and butanol streams, starting hybrid poplar biomass, spent pulp, and insoluble residue after pulp enzymatic hydrolysis. All acquired data were transferred to Attis Innovations, LLC. Analytical findings are used to improve processing and to achieve the desired quality of targeted products - lignin, cellulosic pulp, and cellulose and hemicelluloses derived sugars. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the pulp was optimized by increasing the solid load and recycling the wastewater back to the enzymatic hydrolysis reactor. This experiment was conducted to minimize the wastewater treatment for the entire process. Butanol production:Butanol was produced from the enzymatically hydrolyzed hybrid poplar pulp via an Acetone, Butanol,and Ethanol (ABE) fermentation process with acetone and ethanol as by-products. The yield of ABE approached 93% of the theoretical maximum. This is attributed to two main factors: first was the nature of recovered/washed pulp materials. The pulp used for enzymatic hydrolysis was free or low of any volatile substances and other fractional lignin contaminants that are known to affect both the enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Secondly, we selected a robust industrial bacterial strain which has been used in South Africa for several years for butanol fermentation. Our results are very encouraging and confirm the suitability of the hybrid poplar pulp for butanol production.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Kanbargi N, Goswami M, Collins L, Kearney LT, Bowland C, Kim K, Rajan K, Labbe N, Naskar AK. Synthesis of High-Performance Lignin-based Inverse Thermoplastic Vulcanizates with Tailored Morphology and Properties. ACS Applied Polymer Materials 3, 2911?2920 (2021) [Featured as the COVER of the issue].
|
Progress 01/01/20 to 12/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by our effort during this reporting period include bio-basedindustries seeking to develop new products from the lignocellulosic feedstock, and the scientific community, includingundergraduate and graduate students interested in the processing and valorization of lower-valued biorefinery co-productstreams. The additional scientific community includes selective members from the participating academic organizations and their collaborators: University ofTennesse-Center for Renewable Carbon (UT-CRC); Wisconsin Institute of Sustainable Technology at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, WI; the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at theUniversity of Minnesota Duluth; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (collaborating team). Additionally, our industrial partners American Science and Technology, Inc. (AST), AttisInnovation, LLC (Attis), and Long Trail Sustainability (LTS) are reaching out to their customers for understanding thespecification of the products to be designed. The communication listed here remained virtual during this period and it was mostly due to the ongoing pandemic situation. Changes/Problems:The scaled-up butanol fermentation of AST pulp was delayed due to closures of laboratories and other collaborating partners. We are waiting to gain access to the laboratories to perform the fermentation and extrusion of ABL. Collectively, as a team, we have experienced a delay due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Four post-graduate students working on this project are being trained to generate and gather data needed for complete mass balance, ABL and butanol production, and TEA and LCA activities. Two of the post-graduates have gained partial access (partial due to the ongoing pandemic) to state-of-the-art technology and tools needed for lignin processing at ORNL. Our monthly meeting with industrial partners continues to offer great opportunities for the post docs and students to become more familiar with biorefining processes, proposed integrated operations, and product specifications for construction industries. Additionally, all PI and CoPIs have significantly benefitted from each other knowledge and expertise through monthly teleconferences. These interactions are educating the graduate and post-graduate students about project management protocols. In addition, UWSP recruited undergraduate students for the saccharification and biofuel production tasks. The student trained in various techniques of enzymatic hydrolysis and butanol fermentation. They have learned how to model an economic engineering process toward sustainable biofuel production from hybrid poplar biomass. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?One journal article is now in press and it addresses methods to improve ABL properties. [Kanbargi N, et al. Synthesis of High-Performance Lignin-based Inverse Thermoplastic Vulcanizates with Tailored Morphology and Properties. ACS Applied Polymer Materials (in press)] What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are setting up a butanol fermentation process to convert the AST pulp into butanol, acetone and ethanol usingClostridium acetobutylciumATCC-824, such that the fermentation outputs can be used to replenish the AST fractionation process. This is another strategy to reduce the input costs. Regarding the processing and extrusion of ABL products, we aim to increase the lignin content to ensure the product remains enriched with renewables. The current ABL formulation contains 50 wt% lignin. In the next reporting period, we will collect updated life cycle inventory data as necessary, update the LCA model, complete LCA model sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, draft an International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-compliant report and submit it to an external critical review panel for feedback, and finalize the LCA results for publication.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Biomass fractionation, lignin isolation and ABL production: Debarked wood was used as starting material for lignin production. Two sets of samples were produced by AST: (1) fractions from benchtop experiments and (2) fractions from 500 kg pilot experiments. Samples were analyzed for mono- and oligosaccharides, hydroxymethylfurfural, furfural, n-butanol, water and ethanol extractives, acid insoluble lignin and acid soluble lignins.It was found that hemicellulose derivatives (monosaccharides, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural) are distributed over all fractions. The pulp derived from pilot experiments had slightly lower quality (lower cellulose content) comparedto the pulp from benchtop experiments. As a part of our efforts to reduce the manufacturing costs, the AST process was optimized to reduce the water usage during lignin isolation and purification. We determined that flash washing did not affect the AST lignin's quality when compared to previous year's technique of hand washing with copious amounts of water.For product development using the AST lignin, we optimized an extrusion process to improve its properties. Product analysis and enzymatic hydrolysis of pulp: Analysis of the following samples derived from and related to processing of Hybrid Poplar biomass was completed: aqueous and butanol samples from Hybrid Poplar biomass processing, starting Hybrid Poplar biomass, spent pulp, and insoluble residue after pulp enzymatic hydrolysis. All acquired data were transferred to Attis Innovations, LLC. Analytical findings are used to improve processing and to achieve the desired quality of targeted products - lignin, cellulosic pulp, and cellulose and hemicelluloses derived sugars. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the pulp wasoptimized by increasing the solid load and recycling the wastewater back to the enzymatic hydrolysis reactor. This expriment was conducted to minimize the wastewater treatment for the entire process. Butanol production:Butanol was produced via fermentation with acetone and ethanol as by-products in an Acetone, Butanol, and Ethanol (ABE) fermentation process. The yield reached industrial standard. This is attributed to two main factors: the first factor was related to the nature of recovered/washed pulp materials. The pulp used for the enzymatic hydrolysis was free or low of any volatile substances and other fractional lignin contaminants that are known to affect both the enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. The other factor was the selection of a robust industrial strain which has been used for several years for butanol fermentation in South Africa. The yield of ABE is approaching 93% of the theoretical yield of ABE. These results are very encouraging and confirm the suitability of the pulp for butanol production as biofuel. Life cycle analysis (LCA):Shelly Severinghaus (Long Trail Sustainability) and Matthew Aro (Natural Resources Research Institute) are leading the LCA-related aspects of the project, including collecting life cycle inventory data from subject matter experts, published literature, operation of American Science and Technology's pilot-scale organosolv fractionation plant (Wausau, WI), and biomass fermentation and fuel production processing laboratory facilities at UW-Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI). The LCA models were updated to include full cradle-to-grave processes. This Year 3 work focused on better understanding the environmental impacts of the organosolv fractionation process, organosolv lignin isolation, ABL resin production, ABL resin siding production, and competing siding products (i.e., fiber-cement siding and polypropylene siding) processes using more accurate, updated life cycle inventory data provided by the project team and literature. Transportation, use-phase, and disposal processes were also developed for all siding products. This study utilized the LTS 2019 Method to translate the life cycle inventory data into environmental impacts, which combines the ReCiPe Endpoint (H) v1.03 method (which contains three endpoint categories (Human Health, Ecosystems, Resources)) with Cumulative Energy Demand, IPCC Climate Change (100-year time horizon) and Water Use midpoint categories. Updated LCA impact assessment results are described below. Lignin production:The contribution analysis for organosolv lignin production shows that the butanol (which is assumed to be 80% recycled and 20% virgin) accounts for between 45% to 61% of impacts in each category (i.e., human health, ecosystems, resources, cumulative energy demands, climate change, and water use), heat from natural gas accounts for 5% to 36% of the impacts, and electricity use accounts for 6% to 45% of impacts. Butanol production:The contribution analysis for butanol production suggests that the utilization of pulp (from the organosolv process) accounts for 50% to 90% of the impacts in each category, except water use where it accounts for approximately 95% of the impacts. Heat from natural gas accounts for approximately 45% to 50% of the impacts, except water use where it accounts for approximately 5% of the impacts. The consumption of bark byproduct (from the debarked hybrid poplar wood feedstock) accounts for less than 1% of the impacts in each impact category. ABL resin and siding productions:The contribution analysis for the ABL resin production process shows that the nitrile rubber production accounts for 29% to 70% of the impacts in each category and organosolv lignin production accounts for 10% to 19% of the impacts in each category.The contribution analysis for the ABL siding production suggestsABL resin production accounts for 65% to 83% of the impacts in each category, electricity consumption accounts for 5% to 19% of the impacts, and cellulose fiber accounts for 4% to 14% of the impacts. ABL siding life cycle:The contribution analysis for the ABL siding life cycle shows thatthe production, installation, and use of the ABL siding through its assumed 50-year service life accounts for 67% to 99% of the impacts in each category, while the transportation of the siding and screw/nails to the landfill at the end of the siding service life accounted for less than 10% of the impacts in each category. The disposal of the ABL siding and screw/nails in the landfill at the end of the siding service life accounted for approximately 32% of the impacts in the human health category. A comparative analysis of ABL siding, fiber cement siding, and polypropylene siding life cycles, from cradle-to-grave, suggests that the ABL siding life cycle has significantly fewer impacts than the fiber cement and polypropylene siding life cycles in each impact category.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Kanbargi N, Goswami M, Collins L, Kearney LT, Bowland C, Kim K, Rajan K, Labbe N, Naskar AK. Synthesis of High-Performance Lignin-based Inverse Thermoplastic Vulcanizates with Tailored Morphology and Properties. ACS Applied Polymer Materials (in press).
|
Progress 01/01/19 to 12/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by our effort during this reporting period include biomass grower/producer, bio-based industries seeking to develop new products from the lignocellulosic feedstock, and the scientific community, including undergraduate and graduate students interested in the processing and valorization of lower-valued biorefinery co-product streams. The additional scientific community includes selective members from the academic organizations: University of Tennesse-Center for Renewable Carbon (UT-CRC); Wisconsin Institute of Sustainable Technology at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, WI; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Additionally, our industrial partners?American Science and Technology, Inc. (AST), Attis Innovation, LLC (Attis), and Long Trail Sustainability (LTS)?are reaching out to their customers for understanding the specification of the products to be designed. UT-CRC team introduced the project to various industrial partners who visited the University of Tennessee during the reporting period, these visitors/collaborators include: Trinity Green Technologies, Green Point Research, Eastman Chemical Company, Volkswagen, and Bridgestone. NRRI team, through online and in-person presentations, reached the state of Minnesota lawmakers and officials, foresters, and academic researchers in the Upper Midwest and Germany, and Bioeconomy industry economic development professionals. NRRI leveraged Minnesota and regional connections through the Bioeconomy Coalition of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment's Climate Smart Municipalities exchange program between Minnesota and North Rhein Westphalia Germany. NRRI further leveraged a relationship with the USDA-NIFA funded hybrid poplar breeding and outreach program to reach a broad audience through University Extension programs. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two post-graduate students working on this project are being trained to generate and gather data needed for TEA and LCA activities. One of the post-graduates has gained access to state-of-the-art technology and tools needed for lignin processing at ORNL. Our monthly meeting with industrial partners offered great opportunities for the students to become more familiar with biorefining processes, proposed integrated operations, and product specifications for construction industries. Additionally, all PI and CoPIs have significantly benefitted from each other knowledge and expertise through one face-to-face meeting and monthly teleconferences. These interactions are educating the graduate and post-graduate students about project management protocols. In addition, UWSP recruited nine undergraduate students (0.05 FTE each) for the saccharification and biofuel production tasks. The student trained in various techniques of enzymatic hydrolysis and butanol fermentation. They have learned how to model an economic engineering process toward sustainable biofuel production from hybrid poplar biomass. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?One article was published in I&EC Research, 2019, 58, 44, 20300-20308, DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b04071 We have presented our results in several conferences, as listed below. Additionally, the team is working on other manuscripts for journal publication. E. Singsaas (2019) "From Woody Biomass to Cellulosic Ethanol" Presentation in Rural Economic Value Generation and R&D. 24 September 2019, Saerbeck, Germany C Kennedy (2019) "Attis Innovations: A Leader in Bioproducts Manufacturing" Presentation to the Hybrid Poplar Research Team meeting. 21 November 2019, Online Webinar Presentation. Nihal Kanbargi, "High-performance nanocomposites of lignin-based thermoplastics", In ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (Vol. 257). 1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA: AMER CHEMICAL SOC. March 2019. Techno-Econimic bio-butanol production from organsolv-pulp. Discussion at the Student Conference Night of Networking, 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting AIChE, November 10-15, 2019, Hyatt Regency, Orlando. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The impact of the biomass quality (such as the presence of bark and need for water pretreatment) will continue to be assessed in Year 3 for organosolv fractionation and evaluation of the lignin quality. AST will continue providing its pilot plant to demonstrate the scalability of the fractionation process. We will fractionate hybrid poplar using AST organosolv process at 20 kg and 500 kg scale to demonstrate the production and recovery of lignin with high yield (>80 % of total lignin content) and purity (>90 %) from butanol organosolv black liquor. All samples will be sent to the collaborating partners for further tests, analyses, and implementations. The carbohydrates streams will be converted into butanol for verification of fuel production at lab-scale. The fermentation of sugar to yield butanol will be verified with a commercial strain in collaboration with Green Biologics to achieve the target. TEA and LCA will be refined using the pilot-scale data for hybrid poplar fractionation and lignin isolation. Regarding the processing of ABL products, we aim to increase the lignin content to ensure the product remains enriched with renewables. The current ABL formulation contains 50 wt% lignin. Furthermore, steps will be taken to isolate the lignin using technology developed by ALB, LLC ("Attis") that employs an advanced solvent recovery process to more efficiently separate and isolate the lignin from the solvent. Attis will also evaluate the efficacy of ABL conversion in situ after lignin recovery. The goal will be to provide 75 kg of lignin or up to 150 kg of fully compounded ABL material for testing and evaluation. Assuming success with in situ production of ABL, Attis will further optimize the production of ABL in situ with the goal to continuously produce ABL compounds at a 1 kg/hour rate.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Numerous samples were successfully analyzed and the data was transferred to collaborators conducting the experiments. It was found that cellulose content in debarked wood was slightly higher than in wood with bark. The desired conditions for hot water extraction were found; they allow for the most effective extraction of hemicelluloses from starting wood material. The quality of the spent pulp obtained from debarked wood increased comparing to the pulp obtained from wood with bark. Based on the above observation, AST conducted a study using both barked and debarked hardwood biomass (surrogate material that was available). Both lab and pilot-scale data suggest that bark does not have a statistically significant effect on sugar production. About 84-88% of the solid biomass got fractionated and it yielded 46-51% sugar from the fed biomass. The team successfully demonstrated that the cellulose pulp could be converted into butanol using the acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation approach. Attis Innovation (formerly Advanced Lignin Biocomposites LLC) and AST successfully conducted pilot-scale butanol fractionation of hybrid poplar and produced a large amount of lignin (50kg) for the team to evaluate various ABL formulations. The lignin remains more compatible with acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber with higher polarity. Based on this, a series of 50:50 (acrylonitrile-butadiene: lignin) compositions were prepared and tested in the laboratory of ORNL. It was found that the lignin functionalities are key to the reactive extrusion of ABL. Large scale experiments allowed the collection of data for the TEA and LCA activities performed by the team. The project team members participating in LCA-related aspects of the project have conducted a more thorough technical assessment of the hybrid poplar seedling growth, hybrid poplar tree growth and harvesting, organosolv fractionation, and ABL resin production processes. This year 2 screeningLCA focused on better understanding the environmental impacts of debarking and the fuel production process, as well as of the organosolv lignin and ABL resin production processes using a more accurate, updated life cycle inventory data provided by the project team. The LCA system boundary included material and fuel consumption for hybrid poplar feedstock production, and material, water, transportation, and energy consumption for organosolv processing. Because this screening LCA study was cradle-to-gate, distribution transportation, use phase activities, and disposal was excluded. Preliminary data was collected for the hybrid poplar production and organosolv fractionation processes. This study utilized the LTS Method to translate the life cycle inventory data into environmental impacts, which combines the ReCiPe Endpoint (H) v1.13 method (which contains three endpoint categories (Human Health, Ecosystems, Resources)) with Cumulative Energy Demand, IPCC Climate Change (100-year time horizon) and Water Consumption midpoint categories. These results suggest that debarking the hybrid poplar trees may be one of the "hot spots" contributing to the overall environmental load of the hybrid poplar feedstock. At the same time,the use of butanol may be one of the "hot spots" contributing to the overall environmental load of the organosolv lignin manufacturing process. While the project team has yet to compare the potential environmental impacts of the finished product and co-product (i.e., lignin bioplastics and butanol biofuel, respectively), the results to date identify potential opportunities to reduce the overall environmental load.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Ghosh A., K. Kim, K. Rajan, C. C. Bowland, R. N. Gurram, R. W. Montgomery, A. Manesh, N. Labb�, A. K. Naskar. Butanol-based organosolv lignin and reactive modification of poly(ethylene-glycidyl methacrylate), I&EC Research, 2019, 58, 44, 20300-20308, DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b04071
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Malek Alkasrawi and Nasib Qureshi. Techno-Econimic bio-butanol production from organsolv-pulp. Manuscript. Submission to Bioresources Technology.
|
Progress 01/01/18 to 12/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by our effort during this reporting period include biomass grower/producer, bio-based industries seeking to develop new products from lignocellulosic feedstock, and the scientific community including undergraduate and graduate students interested in the processing and valorization of lower-valued biorefinery co-product streams. The additional scientific community includes selective members from the academic organizations: University of Tennesse-Center for Renewable Carbon (UT-CRC); Wisconsin Institute of Sustainable Technology at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, WI; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Other pulp and paper industries showed an interest in the project. The interest is based on the utilization of the fiber (not suitable for paper making) as an ingredient to make composite materials from the lignin-based plastic that is being developed in this project. Additionally, our industrial partners--American Science and Technology, Inc. (AST), Attis Innovation, LLC (Attis), and Long Trail Sustainability (LTS)--are reaching out to their customers for understanding the specification of the products to be designed. UT-CRC presented the project's early outcome to an audience attending "Frontiers in Biorefining" conference, St Simons Island, GA. NRRI reached international scientific audiences through presentations in Denmark and Germany. In-person meetings with multinational polymers companies attracted interest and investment in further exploratory research. A coordinated out-research program with the NRRI's hybrid poplar breeding program is under development. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Four post-graduate students and 1 graduate student who are working on this project are being trained to generate and gather data needed for TEA and LCA activities. One of the post-graduates has gained access to state-of-the-art technology and tools needed for lignin processing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Our monthly meeting with industrial partners offered great opportunities for the students to become more familiar with biorefining processes, proposed integrated operations, and product specification for construction industries. Additionally, all PI and CoPIs have significantly benefitted from each other knowledge and expertise through one face-to-face meeting and monthly teleconferences. These interactions are educating the graduate and post-graduate students about project management protocols. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have presented our results in several conferences as listed below. Additionally, the team is working on a manuscript for journal publication. Singsaas E., Alkasrawi M., and Winsness D. "Bio-plastics from lignin is a key enabler of a biorefinery implementation", 26th European Biomass Conference and Exposition, Copenhagen, Denmark. May 15, 2018. Singsaas E. "Optimization of a Lignocellulose Biorefinery in North America", International Scientific Conference on Sustainability and Innovation, Leverkusen, Germany7 December 2018 Ghosh A., Kim K., Labbé N., Naskar A. K. Reactive thermal extrusion of organosolv lignin into thermoplastic materials. Frontiers in Biorefining, Chemicals, and Products from Renewable Carbon, St Simons Island, GA, November 5-8, 2018. Severinghaus, S. "LCA for Emerging Technologies at Early Stages," LCA XVIII, Fort Collins, CO, September 25, 2018. Alkasrawi M. Poster presentation at IBBC 2018: Integrating Alternative Jet Fuel Production into Kraft Pulp Mill Infrastructures Manesh A., Gurram R., Thut J, "Alternative Pulping Process for Paper and High Valure Biochemical Production", PEERS-TAPPI conference, Portland OR, Oct 28-31,2018, Gurram R., Manesh A., "Organosolv Based Pulping and Lignocellulosic Biomass Fractionation" International Biomass Conference, April 16-18, 2018, Atlanta, GA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The impact of the biomass quality (such as the presence of bark and need for water pretreatment) will be assessed in Year 2 for organosolv fractionation and evaluation of the lignin quality. AST will continue providing its pilot plant to demonstrate the scalability of the fractionation process. AST will use its small 40 gallon biorefinery pilot plant as well as its 2000 gallon pilot plant to conduct tests and provide required data to the project team. We will fractionate hybrid poplar using AST organosolv process at 20 kg and 500 kg scale to demonstrate the production and recovery of lignin with high yield (>70 %) and purity (>90 %) from butanol organosolv black liquor. All samples will be sent to the collaborating partners for further tests, analyses, and implementations. The carbohydrates streams will be converted into butanol for verification of fuel production at lab-scale. Fermentation of sugar to yield butanol will be verified with a commercial strain in collaboration with Green Biologics to achieve the target. TEA and LCA will be refined using the pilot-scale data for hybrid poplar fractionation and lignin isolation. Regarding the processing of ABL products, we aim to increase the lignin content to ensure the product remains enriched with renewables. The current ABL formulation contains 50 wt% lignin. Furthermore, steps will be taken to insolate the lignin using technology developed by ALB, LLC ("Attis") that employs an advanced solvent recovery process to more efficiently separate and isolate the lignin from the solvent. Attis will also evaluate the efficacy of ABL conversion in situ after lignin recovery. The goal will be to provide 75 kg of lignin or up to 150 kg of fully compounded ABL material for testing and evaluation. Assuming success with in situ production of ABL, Attis will further optimize the production of ABL in situ with the goal of continuously producing ABL compounds at a 1 kg/hour rate. During the first year of this project, to set up the baseline for hybrid poplar, AST performed 11 batch reactions in the lab at no costs to the project. These tests were established from the expectations from various types of feedstock (such as with bark and without bark), and various pretreatment processes (such as with and without initial hot water extraction of hemicellulose). Also, in the second year, per project's team recommendation, AST expects to perform four 40 gallons (small pilot plant) fractionation experiments. This will allow AST to provide the project team with enough products from each combination to enable other team members to perform more realistic tests.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Our partner AST's patented technologies were successfully demonstrated at laboratory and pilot scale for hybrid poplar biomass (harvested and preprocessed by our partner Natural Resources Research Institute) and produced high-purity lignin (>90%), cellulose (> 60%), and xylose that are important to make the process cost-competitive for a viable production of biofuels. A total of 11 batch reactions were performed in the lab, 2 to set the initial process, 5 to optimize the process, 2 tests to review the impact of bark on feedstock, and 2 tests to establish a baseline for the impact of initial extraction of hemicellulose prior to fractionation process. The overall yields for the base process were about 69% pulp and 22% of lignin. Applying the same conditions on raw materials with bark not removed, increased pulp yield and decreased lignin yield (that means probably more lignin was trapped inside the pulp). When the impact of preprocessing to valorize the C5 sugars fraction was evaluated prior to fractionation: lignin yield dropped, but the pulp yield stayed the same. To provide a reasonable amount of lignin from the base process, AST performed two small pilot plant tests. Inthe end, significant amounts of lignins were delivered to the team for analysis and lab-scale ABL production. The mechanical properties of the resulting ABL polymers were >30 MPa tensile failure stress with an ultimate elongation at break of ~1000%. Electron microscopic imaging revealed good chemical compatibility between lignin and NBR in ABL resin. The ABL resin was thermally recyclable as revealed by the melt-rheological studies. The LCA template was updated with data generated by the team. This Year 1 Screening LCA focused on better understanding the environmental impacts of the hybrid poplar production and organosolv lignin production processes using more accurate, updated life cycle inventory data provided by the project team. A first stage TEA was initiated, and a template for data gathering was shared with the team for a continuous revision of the TEA. In the proprietary organosolv lignin production process, butanol use (80% recycled, 20% virgin) accounts for the largest portion of the impacts in each impact category (except Water Consumption), ranging from 42% to 58%. Heat from natural gas also accounts for 27% to 37% of the total impacts in each impact category (except Water Consumption), while electricity accounts for 8% to 12%. Water, transport of raw materials and water-soluble minerals account for less than 2% of the impacts in each impact category.
Publications
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