Biobased raw materials

Bio-based raw materials

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Plants can be used as raw material source for chemical transformations

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Materials

Biotechnological & Chemical conversion

Biorefinery

Biomass

Fuels & Energy

Chemicals

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Biomass can be the starting material for polymer products, chemicals and fuels.

Typically, ingredients for plastics, fuel and other chemicals, are derived from an oil refinery. Similarly, these products can be obtained in ‘biorefineries’ via the conversion of renewable bio-based feedstocks.

Such feedstocks can include lignocellulosic biomass, sugars from edible polysaccharide sources, such as wheat, corn and sugarcane, agricultural waste, seaweed, amongst others

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Conversion of sugar from plants to valuable products

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Ethanol can be produced by fermentation of crops high in sugar (e.g. sugarcane, and sugar beet) by a series of hydrolysis/fermentation steps for starchy crops (e.g. corn, wheat, and cassava) and via cellulosic biomass (e.g. wood and forestry residues).

The general process from biomass to ethanol can be summarize as follows :

• Pretreatment: differs slightly depending on the starting source, but the goal is generally to extract the fermentable sugars.
• In the case of sugar cane, juice is extracted upon crushing the cane.
• In the case of corn, corn kernels are ground, mixed with water and cooked to break down starch into a liquid form. Then enzymes are added to convert the liquid starch into fermentable sugars in a process called saccharification.
• Fermentation: Yeast is added to ferment the sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide.
• Distillation: The mixture is distilled to separate ethanol from water and other by-products.

Conversion of sugar from plants to ethanol (drinking alcohol) as a commonly known such transformation practiced for 1000s of years

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Conversion of sugars from plants to FDCA, a valuable building block for materials

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Furan Dicarboxylic Acid

1. FDCA was listed already in 2004 by the US Department of Energy as the #2 in the top-12 priority chemicals for establishing the “green” chemistry industry of the future and has remained this prominent position over the years.2. FDCA has enormous market potential, however producing it in an economic manner has been challenging, which in turn has delayed its scale up and commercialization.

3. Avantium has developed an economically viable route to produce FDCA at large industrial scale, via the conversion of sugars from plants. The process involves the following steps.

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Different ways of utilizing renewables

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2. The principle: Both fossil and renewable raw materials consist mainly of carbon (C). Carbon occurs in several forms, called isotopes. Isotope C is radioactive and occurs naturally in all living organisms (plants, animals ...) in a fixed concentration of 1.2x10-12 %.. At this concentration, the (radio) activity level of C is 100%. Once an organism is no longer living, this concentration, and thus the activity rate, decays. The C-activity of an unknown substance can therefore determine how old the organism is. 3. The radioactive isotope C can be measured using analytical techniques such as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) or Saturated Absorption Cavity Ring-Down (SCAR) Spectroscopy

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Direct stepwise transformation to value added products

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C method to determine renewables content

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1. C method serves to quantify the Biogenic carbon fraction present in a material. Biogenic carbon is defined by the ASTM D6866-24 analytical standard as containing carbon (organic and inorganic) of renewable origin like agricultural, plant, animal, fungi, microorganisms, microorganisms, marine, or forestry materials.

Biomass balance in the means of increasing the share of renewable raw materials to be used in chemical industry

Chain of custody

‘Chain of custody’ models have been designed in various industrial settings to create transparency and trust throughout the value chain regarding properties of goods and materials that are otherwise hard to distinguish between samples. Such properties include origin, production practices, and raw material composition. Their common objective is to guarantee solid bookkeeping and to corroborate a link between in-going content (e.g. ‘sustainable’, ‘recycled’ or ‘organic’ by some definition) and the finally out-going product. They differ in the very nature of said link, whether it is physical or administrative, the set of rules for balancing, and the objective possibility to keep materials streams segregated or not. C method cannot be applied as the products’ C content does not necessarily reflect the attributed biomass content.

Check out this video from our partner BASF explaining the biomass balance approach!

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Using biobased raw materials does not lead to the property of biodegradability – Being biobased is a matter of where the raw material originates from, being biodegradable is a matter of the chemical structure

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Source of raw materials is independent of the property of biodegradability

Bio-PE

PCL

PLA

Polycaprolactone = 100% made from fossil resources but completely biodegradable

100% made from biobased raw materials but NOT biodegradable

Both biobased AND biodegradable

References

1. Bioplastics for a circular economy | Nature Reviews Materials 2. Bio-based products – European Biomass Industry Association 3. "Bio- and CO2-based Economy: feedstocks, processes and products" − Graphic – Update | Renewable Carbon Publications 4. Bioethanol production from renewable sources: Current perspectives and technological progress - ScienceDirect 5. Ethanol fermentation technologies from sugar and starch feedstocks - ScienceDirect 6. Bioethanol from Sugar and Starch | SpringerLink 7. Stages of Ethanol Production - U.S. GRAINS COUNCIL 8. Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass: Volume I--Results of Screening for Potential Candidates from Sugars and Synthesis Gas 9. Technology development for the production of biobased products from biorefinery carbohydrates—the US Department of Energy’s “Top 10” revisited - Green Chemistry (RSC Publishing) 10. The Road to Bring FDCA and PEF to the Market 11. ID-529_C14_EN.pdf 12. Chapter_1.pdf 13. Biogenic CO2 Coalition 14. Biogenic Carbon Testing, Beta Analytic ASTM D6866 Lab 15. Carbon-14 Testing for Natural Products 16. EllenMacArthur_White Paper_2019_englisch.pdf 17. ISEAL Guidance: Chain of custody models and definitions | ISEAL Alliance

Curious about the REBIOLUTION project?

The project aims to establish well-defined properties to enhance sustainability, utilizing non-toxic substances, reducing non-renewable resource consumption, and ensuring recyclability and biodegradability at the same time, both in home composting as well as in soil, freshwater and marine environments. ReBIOlution strives to enhance functionality while ensuring the safety of products and processes. The project is dedicated to eliminating barriers to market penetration by offering a drop-in replacement that facilitates a smooth transition for the downstream value chain. This approach avoids the need for additional investments in plastic processing lines and reduces extra costs for consumers.

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Stages of ethanol production

Corn Production

Grain Receiving

Miling

Slurry Tanks & Liquification

Molecular Sieve

Fermentation

Distillation

Storage & Global Transport

Sugar dehydration of plant-based sugars (high fructose syrup) in an alcohol, to make an alkoxymethyl furfural such as methoxymethyl furfural (MMF).

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Removal of product impurities via purification producing purified FDCA.

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Catalytic oxidation of an alkoxymethyl furfural (such as MMF) in acetic acid to make ‘crude’ furan dicarboxylic acid.

Step 2