Utilisation of Biomass for Sustainable Fuels & Chemicals (UBIOCHEM)


Working Group 1: Primary conversion of (ligno)cellulose

Coordinator: Prof. Vasile I. Parvulescu

Investigating Subjects:

1. The evaluation of the chemical composition of various biomass rich in lignocellulosic materials ex: biomass of energy plants (i.e. mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris L.), silvergrass (Miscanthus giganteus), weeds (Polygonacea), sida ciliaris (Malvaceae), cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum L.). (Aurore Richel) (G. Juodeikiene).

2. Hydrolysis of renewable lignocellulosic biomass

a. Pretreatments of the lignocellulosic materials by mechanical methods, acid or alkaline methods (formic/acid mixture, soaking in aqueous ammonia, .), thermal pretreatments (Steam explosion) followed by hydrolysis of the pretreated materials by acidic/enzymatic conditions: pectinases, cellulases and hemicellulases (Aurore Richel) (G. Juodeikiene), Trichoderma enzymes (Dr. Astrid Mach-Aigner)

b. Hydrothermal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass in the presence of various catalysts able to promote the hydrolysis process in the autoclave reactor (Kostas S. Triantafyllidis) (Vasile I. Parvulescu)

c. Fractionation/conversion of lignocellulose via ionic liquid technologies (Jyri-Pekka Mikkola) (Gabriele Centi)

d. Deconstruction of cellulose and hemicellulose, based on the use of solid acid in combination with ultrasounds or in combination with ionic liquids (Gabriele Centi) (Vasile I. Parvulescu)

e. Homogeneous catalysis (Pher Andersson)

f. Enzymatic catalysis (Vincent G.H. Eijsink) ( Sergio Riva)

3. Thermochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (Kostas S. Triantafyllidis)

4. Pyrolysis of biomass (Kostas S. Triantafyllidis) (Anastasia Zabaniotou) (Jyri-Pekka Mikkola)

5. Pyrolysis of biomass (Kostas S. Triantafyllidis)

6. The investigation of the effect of the compositions of various enzyme preparations (i.e. hemicellulases, cellulases, amylases, glucoamylases) on cellulosic biomass saccharification efficiency. (G. Juodeikiene)

7. The genetic engineering (in particular for Trichoderma strains) to improve/alter their native hydrolase production (Astrid Mach-Aigner)

8. The investigation of new heterogeneous catalysts preparation for Primary conversion of (ligno)cellulose (Gabriele Centi) (Vasile I. Parvulescu)

9. Pilot plant experiments for pyrolysis of biomass (Kostas S. Triantafyllidis) (Anastasia Zabaniotou)

10. Supercritical conditions to convert recalcitrance renewable in presence of acid catalysis (Nadine Essayem)

Working group composition

Working Group 2: Conversion of biomass into fuels

Team 1 leader: Prof. Jyri-Pekka Mikkola

Expertise: methodologically oriented within the fields of industrial chemistry, technical bioengineering, sustainable development and chemical reaction engineering.

Research: Aqueous Phase Reforming of biofeedstocks to a) hydrogen and b) alkenes, pyrolysis of lignocellulosics to fuels & chemicals, utilization of carbon dioxide and bio-alcohols to chemicals and fuels, nextGen synthetic ('bio')diesel from lignocellulosics & algaes, biogas purification/upgrading technologies, bioethanol from lignocellulosics, biobutanol from biomass via heterogeneous catalysis.

Team 2 leader: Prof. Markku Hurme

Expertise: new process development and process development and design methodologies.

Research: New lignocellulosic biorefinery routes and their efficiency evaluation, biorefinery process design and flowsheeting (simulation), cost and profitability evaluation of biorefineries, safety and health evaluation of biorefineries, integration biorefineries and biorefinery products to petrochemical industry, new fermentation concepts for ethanol, new separation processes for bio butanol, jractionation of carbohydrates by industrial scale chromatography.

Team 3 leader: Dr. Kostas S. Triantafyllidis

Expertise: thermochemical conversion and catalytic pyrolysis

Research: Catalytic production of 'green' gasoline from upgraded bio-oil produced in catalytic pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass, catalytic production of 'green' fuels and petrochemicals utilizing waxes derived from lignocellulosic biomass.

Team 4 leaders: Prof Sven Järås & Ass. Prof. Magali Boutonnet

Expertise: Water-gas shift reaction, Poisoning of SCR-catalyst during the combustion of biomass, Fisher-Tropsch fuels from black liquors, Ethanol production from wastes, biodiesel and gasoline from waxes produced by Fischer Tropsch process, after treatment and fuel upgrading system for DME-fuelled diesel engines; catalytic diesel reforming process for heavy-duty truck APU systems, energy efficient reduction of exhausts from vehicles, tar analyses, gasification of biomass with dolomites catalysts, tar decomposition with iron catalysts, pressurized gasification of biomass, green methane, gasification of biomass, a novel method of catalyst preparation based on microemulsion.

Research: Preparation of fuel from waste products, production of ethanol from synthesis gas (CO+H2) and methane, partial oxidation of methane to CO and H2 and Gas to Liquid processes, process development of co-production of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Diesel and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) from biomass-derived syngas.

Team 5 leader: Prof. Simon Woodward

Expertise: preparation and use of transition and main group metal complexes for the synthesis of organic compounds.

Research: aiming of attaining high activity, recoverable, reusable catalysts for basic processes (metathesis, hydrogenation) that are active on very crude mixtures that are directly derived from low energy, minimal processing, of biofeedstocks.

Team 6 leader: Prof. Mikael Bols

Expertise: Carbohydrate chemistry, synthesis, kinetics.

Research: development of new biofuels in particular 'furanics' obtainable from carbohydrate biomass, modification of cellulose and carbohydrate biomass for rapid degradation.

Team 7 leader: Prof. Jan Mosio-Mosiewski

Expertise: methods of cultivation of oily crops that are oriented on the needs of technical engineering of biofuels; sustainable development of catalytic processes aiming towards the decrease of adverse reaction on environment and cost reduction of biofuels production.

Research: application of mutation methods of oily crops for improvement of chemical constitution of obtained oils as the sources of new materials for biodiesel production, new heterogeneous catalysts for esterification of fatty acids and transesterification of fats for the process of methyl ester production as a biodiesel, highly efficient methods of secretion of active biological substances from vegetable oils of different origin, utilization of characteristic qualities of particular groups of oily raw materials for production of defined biofuels with defined (by norms) qualities.

Working Group 3: Conversion of biomass into materials

Two main objectives fit with this WG: either production of monomers from biomass such as diols or dicarboxylic acid, precursors of polyesters, polyamides, polyurethanes, or modifications of biopolymers for specific applications.

Working group composition

Working Group 4: Conversion of biomass into platform chemicals

Working group composition