Synthesis from biomass

TABLE 9.12 Idealized Gas Compositions from Bailie s Indirectly Heated, Steam Gasification Process Applied to Methanol Synthesis from Biomass"... 

A monomer of nyion-11, commercialized by ATO Chem, under the name of Riisan, U-aminoundecanoic add is prepared from castpr. oil. Hence its manufacture does not strictly form part of the field of petrochemicals. It is nevertheless discussed here to provide an example of synthesis from biomass, and for technico-economic comparisons with nylon-12, which has comparable properties, and whose monomer is of petrochemical origin., "... 

Chemicals have long been manufactured from biomass, especially wood (sHvichemicals), by many different fermentation and thermochemical methods. For example, continuous pyrolysis of wood was used by the Ford Motor Co. in 1929 for the manufacture of various chemicals (Table 20) (47). Wood alcohol (methanol) was manufactured on a large scale by destmctive distillation of wood for many years until the 1930s and early 1940s, when the economics became more favorable for methanol manufacture from fossil fuel-derived synthesis gas. 

In principle biomass is a useful fuel for fuel cells many of the technologies discussed above for using biomass as a fuel produce either methane or hydrogen directly and as highlighted below synthesis gas production from biomass for conversion to methanol is an attractive option. Cellulose-based material may be converted to a mixture of hydrogen (70% hydrogen content recovered), CO2 and methane by high-temperature treatment with a nickel catalyst. 

Werpy, T. Peterson, G. (eds) (2004) Top Value-Added Chemicals from Biomass, Vol. 1. Results of Screening of Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US, August 2004. 

Huber, G. W. Iborra, S. Corma, A., Synthesis of transportation fuels from biomass Chemistry catalysts, and engineering. Chemical Reviews 2006, 106, 4044-4098. 

When methanol is made from natural gas, the gas reacts with steam to produce synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This then reacts with a catalytic substance at high temperatures and pressures to produce methanol. The process is similar when methanol is produced by the gasification of biomass. The production of methanol from biomass or coal can cost almost twice as much as production from natural gas. 

Consecutively, the heavy paraffins are cracked into lighter hydrocarbon fractions by hydro-cracking. For example, for the Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) process, the liquid product stream is composed of 60% gasoil (diesel), 25% kerosene and 15% naphtha. The gaseous product mainly consists of LPG (a mixture of propane and butane) (Eilers et al., 1990). Figure 7.3 shows a simplified diagram comprising all process steps to produce synthetic hydrocarbons from biomass, natural gas and coal. 

This chapter surveys different process options to convert terpenes, plant oils, carbohydrates and lignocellulosic materials into valuable chemicals and polymers. Three different strategies of conversion processes integrated in a biorefinery scheme are proposed from biomass to bioproducts via degraded molecules , from platform molecules to bioproducts , and from biomass to bioproducts via new synthesis routes . Selected examples representative of the three options are given. Attention is focused on conversions based on one-pot reactions involving one or several catalytic steps that could be used to replace conventional synthetic routes developed for hydrocarbons. 

Recently, Corma and coworkers [8] published an exhaustive descriptive review on the synthesis routes of transportation fuels from biomass, and Ragauskas et al. [9] sketched their vision on the path forward for bio-fuels and biomaterials. Furthermore, a review by Lange et al. [10] appears in this book. 

Depending on the reason for converting the produced gas from biomass gasification into synthesis gas, for applications requiring different H2/CO ratios, the reformed gas may be ducted to the water-gas shift (WGS, Reaction 4) and preferential oxidation (PROX, Reaction 5) unit to obtain the H2 purity required for fuel cells, or directly to applications requiring a H2/CO ratio close to 2, i.e., the production of dimethyl ether (DME), methanol, Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) Diesel (Reaction 6) (Fig. 7.6). 

Catalytie synthesis from CO and Hj Natural gas Petroleum gas Distillation of liquid from eoal pyrolysis Catalytic synthesis from CO and Hj Distillation of liquid from wood pyrolysis Gaseous products from biomass gasification Synthetic gas from biomass and coal... 

Fig. 3.8 Green diesel and other products from biomass via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis...

The Vaxjo Vamamo Biomass Gasification Centre is part of the EU-fimded project CHRISGAS (Clean Hydrogen-Rich Synthesis GAS) with the aim of demonstrating the possibility of the production of dean synthesis gas from biomass gasification which can be processed into renewable fuels such as DME [237]. 

Top Value Added Chemicals From Biomass—Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas, eds. T. Werpy and G. Petersen, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, TN, August 2004, vol. 1 available at WWW.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/3 5 523. pdf. 

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