Researchers probe new biofuel conversion processes
A group of researchers from the Bioprocessing Separations Consortium have been developing separation processes and technology needed for the conversion of biomass to biofuel.
The researchers from six national laboratories are part of the team that was established in 2016 by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
“There are different separation technologies used for different purposes, based on physical principles, chemical principles and electrochemical principles,” said US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory engineer Lauren Valentino.
“There’s only so much you can do with mechanical processes in the first step, so we turn to things like membrane, adsorbent and capacitive deionisation technologies, which can all be used to recapture chemicals of interest.”
“At some point there is a conversion step followed by a separations process,” Valentino said. “What comes out of these reactors is a complex mixture with many different components, and we have to be able to isolate and concentrate the products of interest in the system to catalytically upgrade them to produce the biofuels we’re after.”
Unlike the battery recycling technology, which targets positively charged ions, bioenergy production requires Valentino and her colleagues to search for negatively charged molecules.
“Essentially, our capacitive deionisation acts like a ‘claw’ that picks out the molecules we’re interested in.”
Once separated, these compounds are versatile and can be converted into hydrocarbon biofuels, such as renewable diesel or sustainable aviation fuel.
“We are just beginning to explore the different ways in which more efficient separations can make transportation more sustainable,” she said. “There’s still much we have left to discover.”
This research was performed in collaboration with NUMiX Materials and was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.
The researchers from six national laboratories are part of the team that was established in 2016 by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
“There are different separation technologies used for different purposes, based on physical principles, chemical principles and electrochemical principles,” said US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory engineer Lauren Valentino.
“There’s only so much you can do with mechanical processes in the first step, so we turn to things like membrane, adsorbent and capacitive deionisation technologies, which can all be used to recapture chemicals of interest.”
“At some point there is a conversion step followed by a separations process,” Valentino said. “What comes out of these reactors is a complex mixture with many different components, and we have to be able to isolate and concentrate the products of interest in the system to catalytically upgrade them to produce the biofuels we’re after.”
Unlike the battery recycling technology, which targets positively charged ions, bioenergy production requires Valentino and her colleagues to search for negatively charged molecules.
“Essentially, our capacitive deionisation acts like a ‘claw’ that picks out the molecules we’re interested in.”
Once separated, these compounds are versatile and can be converted into hydrocarbon biofuels, such as renewable diesel or sustainable aviation fuel.
“We are just beginning to explore the different ways in which more efficient separations can make transportation more sustainable,” she said. “There’s still much we have left to discover.”
This research was performed in collaboration with NUMiX Materials and was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.
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