Tamara Jankovic

Eco-efficient pre-treatment and downstream processing of bio-based chemicals

The aim of this project is to investigate and develop eco-efficient separation technologies (based on process intensification principles) for the pre-treatment and downstream processing of biofuels and bio-based chemicals.

In order to become economically viable, biorefineries need to drastically reduce the large costs of pre-treatment, separation and purification steps. Lignocellulosic biorefineries usually involve biomass pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation to ethanol, and ethanol recovery.

Pretreatment conditions have been optimized for ethanol production, with co-production of lignin. However, if pretreatment is performed without adding chemicals, by using hot water hydrolysis or stream explosion, it becomes feasible to recover and valorize pretreatment side-products such as acetic acid, formic acid, furfural, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, and levulinic acid.

Prior removal of these relatively valuable compounds should also simplify the enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation to ethanol, and ethanol recovery. This project aims to design a process that optimizes the sustainability of such a biorefinery by formulating models for all individual operations and combining them conceptually in an overall eco-efficient process that can reduce the processing costs by 20-50%.