Lignin conversion to fuels, chemicals and materials
View Patent ↗Disclosed herein are methods for the production of fuels, chemicals, or materials from biomass-derived lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose. Also provided are methods for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates from lignocellulosic biomass and the subsequent thermal and catalytic conversion of polyhydroxyalkanoates to hydrocarbons. In addition, methods for the production of ethanol from the fermentation of polysaccharides are described.
1. A method comprising:
treating a solid lignocellulosic biomass with an alkaline compound to produce a lignin liquor phase and a residual solid polysaccharide phase,
wherein the lignin liquor phase comprises lignin with aromatic components; and
a first culturing of the lignin liquor phase with a bacterium from the genus Pseudomonas that converts at least a portion of the aromatic components to produce a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA).
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, before the first culturing:
separating at least a portion of the lignin liquor phase from the residual solid polysaccharide phase, wherein:
the separated lignin liquor phase is substantially free of the residual solid polysaccharide phase, and
the separated residual solid polysaccharide phase is substantially free of the lignin liquor phase.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the separating is performed by filtration.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising incubating the separated residual solid polysaccharide phase with a cellulase enzyme to produce sugars.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising fermenting the sugars to a biofuel by a second culturing of the sugars with an organism.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising heating the PHA, wherein the heating depolymerizes at least a portion of the PHA to a hydroxyacid.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising converting at least a portion of the hydroxyacid to a hydrocarbon by treating at least a portion of the hydroxyacid with a bimetallic catalyst.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the bimetallic catalyst comprises a noble metal.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the noble metal comprises at least one of platinum or rhenium.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the converting is carried out in an aqueous solvent.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid lignocellulosic biomass comprises corn stover.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bacterium comprises a species of P. putida.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the bacterium comprises P. putida KT2440.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alkaline compound comprises sodium hydroxide.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the treating is performed using a redox catalyst.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the redox catalyst comprises anthraquinone.