Biorefineries Featuring Carbon Dioxide Capturing and Utilization

Global warming on earth is a fact, and the extensive emissions of carbon dioxide are an important contributor to this worldwide problem. Mitigation of the carbon dioxide emissions is therefore urgently required. This will not only be the responsibility of the energy business; also the chemical industry may help to realize this goal. For instance, working more energy and feedstock efficient is one way. Another challenge is to integrate renewable feedstock and energy resources into their current businesses. This project investigates the potential role of a biorefinery in this context. Biorefineries use renewable feedstock, preferably lignocellulosic (waste)biomass, with the intention to produce novel and drop-in bio-derived chemicals. More specifically here, chemicals will be selected which may help the capture and utilization of carbon dioxide. On the one hand, the project aims at the synthesis of renewable and functional amines, that are useful in the carbon dioxide absorption, and for which new catalytic concepts will be introduced and investigated to lower the energy requirements of such chemical absorption technology. On the other hand, the project aims at rejuvenation of the captured carbon dioxide into high market value chemicals, which help to overcoming the costs of carbon dioxide capture and utilization.

Keywords:Biorefinery, Heterogeneous catalysis, Biomass conversion, CO2 capture, Biobased chemicals

Disciplines:Biocatalysis