Transforming complex matrices for the future chemical industry:
The use of new feedstocks derived from renewable or waste resources is essential for the future of the chemical industry. There is a need for a better understanding of these materials and their transformation from a chemical and engineering point of view. Funded by the European Innovation Council, the DREAM project aims to address the transformation of complex matrices in the chemical industry. It will use Kraft black liquor as a case study to develop new processes that combine reaction and separation in parallel and sequential mode to produce valuable products. Online monitoring coupled with the design of original modelling and simulations will be elaborated. Interdisciplinarity, as the core of the project, will be explored with approaches borrowed from philosophy and social science.
Objectives of the project:
The DREAM project focuses on the transformation of complex matrices for the chemical industry of the future. It will focus on Kraft black liquor as a case study. It proposes to design new intensified processes coupling reaction and separation in continuous mode to fractionate a complex matrix: deep-eutectic solvent (DES)-assisted extraction of lignin coupled with depolymerisation, CO2-assisted lignin segregation coupled with pyrolysis, and membrane filtration coupled with oxidative depolymerisation. Each fraction will then be valorised into products of interest through reactive distillation or catalytic upgrading. These processes will be monitored by original descriptors designed using data from on-line analysis. The modelling of each reaction and separation step will be carried out based on these descriptors, to give modules that will be assembled in a global simulation of the process. The interdisciplinary approach combining biomass chemistry, catalysis and chemical engineering will be enhanced through educational methods to overcome epistemological, cognitive and communication barriers between disciplines.
