Group says hydrocarbons from sawdust cellulose could provide an alternative to shale or crude oil.
Researchers at Belgium-based
KU Leuven’s Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis report they have successfully converted sawdust into building blocks for gasoline. Using a new chemical process, researchers say they have been able to convert the cellulose in sawdust into hydrocarbon chains, which are used as an additive in gasoline, or as a component in plastics. The researchers reported their findings in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.
Cellulose is the main substance in plant matter and is present in all nonedible plant parts of wood, straw, grass, cotton and paper.
“At the molecular level, cellulose contains strong carbon chains. We sought to conserve these chains, but drop the oxygen bonded to them, which is undesirable in high-grade gasoline. Our researcher Beau Op de Beeck developed a new method to derive these hydrocarbon chains from cellulose,” explains Professor Bert Sels.
“This is a new type of biorefining, and we currently have a patent pending for it,” says Dr. Bert Lagrain. “We have also built a chemical reactor in our lab: We feed sawdust collected from a sawmill into the reactor and add a catalyst – a substance that sets off and speeds the chemical reaction. With the right temperature and pressure, it takes about half a day to convert the cellulose in the wood shavings into saturated hydrocarbon chains, or alkanes.”
“Essentially, the method allows us to make a ‘petrochemical’ product using biomass – thus bridging the worlds of bioeconomics and petro chemistry,” Lagrain adds.
The result is an intermediary product that requires one last simple step to become fully distilled gasoline, explains Sels.
“Our product offers an intermediate solution for as long as our automobiles run on liquid gasoline. It can be used as a green additive – a replacement for a portion of traditionally refined gasoline,” he says.
But the possible applications go beyond gasoline: “The green hydrocarbon can also be used in the production of ethylene, propylene and benzene – the building blocks for plastic, rubber, insulation foam, nylon, coatings and so forth.”
“From an economic standpoint, cellulose has much potential,” says Sels. “Cellulose is available everywhere; it is essentially plant waste, meaning it does not compete with food crops in the way that first generation energy crops do. It also produces chains of five to six hydrocarbon atoms.”
He continues, “We are currently facing shortages in this because it is becoming quite difficult and more expensive to distil these specific hydrocarbon chains from crude oil or shale gas. In time, hydrocarbon derived from cellulose may provide an alternative. Our method could be especially useful in Europe, where we have little crude oil and cannot easily produce shale gas.”
