Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HUGS (HUmins as Green and Sustainable precursors of eco-friendly building blocks and materials)

Teaser

The European Union is being challenged to reach its goals to replace a major part of its use of fossil feedstock for the production of transportation fuels and commodity polymers in the coming decades. The production of new versatile carbon-based building blocks from biomass...

Summary

The European Union is being challenged to reach its goals to replace a major part of its use of fossil feedstock for the production of transportation fuels and commodity polymers in the coming decades. The production of new versatile carbon-based building blocks from biomass resources can provide a unique alternative to avert a massive use of petroleum-based chemicals. Biomass from plant materials is the most important feedstock for food, feed and non-food applications. In the processing of plant materials e.g. maize, corn and sugarcane for starch and sugar and wood for paper, substantial amounts of potentially valuable by-products are produced. To keep the biorefinery operations sound from an environmental and an economical point of view, the pilot plant design, and by extension the future biorefinery development, needs to take into account the valorization of by-products.

The growing interest to develop sustainable biomass conversion processes at large scale has been exemplified by the SME Avantium, a CleanTech top 100 company. HUGS aims to provide an innovative, highly multidisciplinary and top educational program focusing on the valorisation of two key side products that are generated in large quantities in Avantium’s lignocellulosic biorefinery processes. To achieve this, an international network of excellence able to provide both scientific innovation and training in environmentally-sound alternatives is implemented. Three different innovative strategies have been identified from the processing of 2nd generation and waste feedstocks such as agricultural residues and waste paper streams to be employed in the framework of HUGS.

This multi-sectorial research work will contribute to breakthrough knowledge on the catalytic conversion and risk evaluation of side stream products and is necessary for a sustainable technological development of novel chemical building blocks, materials and fuels based on renewable resources. Furthermore, the project will provide a starting point to change the current perception of waste/side products as a PROBLEM into a more extended, advanced and almost unlimited RESOURCE of valuable products.

Work performed

At this midterm stage, the HUGS PhD-students have already progressed significantly. All PhD-students have been seconded at or visited Avantium and received input from both scientific and industrial supervisors throughout their PhD-trajectory. The students that have already been seconded at Avantium have received a first-hand industrial experience on the topic of humins valorization and applications. This is an important topic at the EU-level dealing with valorization of side stream products from industry and waste to valuables. All students have received safety instructions and training at the locations they have worked at. They have received (practical) training on homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, physical chemistry of polymers as well as oral speaking and scientific writing during two training schools in Cordoba and Nice.
The PhD-students have also participated in management-type meetings where all the staff was present to deliberate and evaluate the way the management of the project is going. Thus far the HUGS-project has had a very positive effect on the development of both their scientific and soft skills. Their short and long term goals have been formalized in their individual Career Development Plans. Besides these documents, input from the students is asked on a frequent basis to further improve their education.

On a scientific level, the project is progressing very well. Two peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts have already been published and five other manuscripts are being drafted or have been submitted for review.
There has been much focus on humin characterization using a whole array of physical-chemical analytical methods. These experiments gave us more insight into the properties of this material and the possible ways that humins can be exploited for applications. Humins were for instance demonstrated to be a good candidate to be used as resin for composites materials.
More knowledge was also gained on both decomposition reactions and further polymerization/cross-linking reactions of humins. Decomposition was carried out by means of thermal degradation, non- and catalytic hydrogenation, oxidation, and transfer hydrogenolysis. These experiments indicated that humins do not show much potential for decomposition into building blocks. The polymerization experiments however, were very promising as the formation of novel carbon based macroporous materials was witnessed.

Final results

The advent of new biorenewable chemical processes is creating a new scientific environment for applied research and innovation. The research setting of the program HUGS is offering the PhD candidates an excellent jump start for their careers in this new developing field. Because of the acquired interdisciplinary competencies and the scientific challenges of each PhD trajectory of the HUGS project, a successful HUGS project will equally open doors towards a further career in the scientific community as well as a further career in an industrial environment.

It is very likely that the project will result in patent applications (in addition to multiple scientific publications in highly ranked journals) which will help the fellows significantly with their career development. Importantly, the interaction between partners and ESR is also extended to other students (HUGS graduate school programs will be opened to any students) so that benefits can be expected not only for HUGS ESRs within the network but also students within Europe, hence, maximizing the efficiency of the interaction and networking. All HUGS students and their academic and industrial supervisors have attended multiple conferences and were all present at the International Symposium of Green Chemistry (ISGC) in La Rochelle (16-19 May 2017). This gives the industrial and scientific community a clear view of the results being generated within the consortium and the importance of side product valorization within the sustainable biomass industry.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.uco.es/hugs/.