Renewable Thermoplastics from Thermochemical Biomass Conversion

Thermoplastics are pervasive in modern society, and biomass feedstocks offer a sustainable source for these materials. Catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass is an emerging technology for producing biofuels but accessing high-valued thermoplastic precursors from this process has remained a challenge. To enable this approach, the technical barrier to overcome is the economic isolation of sufficiently pure chemical precursors for materials synthesis. Achieving this goal will require process development that considers the high heterogeneity, increased oxygen content, and unique impurities in biomass conversion streams. Within this work, we will show how well-established separation unit operations can be applied to catalytic fast pyrolysis intermediate streams to access polycarbonate precursors. The impurities in chemical products will differ when using biomass as the feedstock versus using petroleum, and a bioderived catechol will be used as an example to discuss how these changes can impact downstream synthesis. Finally, novel thermoplastics that are synthetically challenging to access via petrochemical routes but are attractive from the catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass will be presented. This work shows that accessing thermoplastics from thermochemical conversion of biomass can be a viable strategy for creating sustainable materials.