Project description
A biorefinery by-product gets circled back into the production of chemicals and fuels
Biomass includes lots of waste in addition to things purposefully grown to produce fuels and chemicals. The valorisation of this waste is a great way to support a circular economy, address growing energy challenges and mitigate global warming. This can be achieved in biorefineries, where formic acid is often one of the main by-products. Formic acid is gaining increasing attention as a sustainable hydrogen source and safe reagent for transformations of biomass-based feedstocks given its non-toxicity and biodegradability. The EU-funded BIOALL project is harnessing the benefits of formic acid to convert biomass and CO2 into high added-value chemicals and fuels.
Objective
BIOALL falls in the topics of fighting climate change, circular economy and clean energy through the development of efficient low-cost processes for the conversion of biomass and CO2 into high added-value chemicals and fuels. The scientific objectives of the projects aim at obtaining high added value chemicals from biomass. This will be done using a subproduct of biorefinery processes, formic acid, as hydrogen source to transform two key biomass derivative molecules, succinic acid and furfural into gamma-butyrolactone and furfuryl alcohol, that can be used as building block to produce chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. By doing so, we avoid the use of hydrogen from fossil fuels. Since, formic acid decomposition results also in CO2. we also aim at obtaining cost-effective catalysts for the so-called automethanation, a reaction in which by adding oxygen the yield to methane is enhanced and that can be used in any process to convert CO2. The study of the reactions mechanisms will be also pursued to optimize the processes and expand the knowledge in this area to be useful for related transformations. To achieve these ambitious objectives, BIOALL is composed of a solid multidisciplinary (materials science, catalysis, engineering, economics, management, environmental, social and cost life cycle assessment) and international (Spain, Germany, France, The UK, Chile, Colombia and China) consortium that holds all the scientific, economical and human resources for the successful project development. The intersectoral partnerships with 3 relevant actors in the field, will be key in assessing the objectives.
The project will bring together these complementary skills to develop synergies from which a significant added value is expected concerning the progress on the topic and to develop a fruitful long-term cooperation while training researchers and approaching research to the general public.
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Coordinator
28006 Madrid
Spain