RAPID

While tremendous progress has been achieved on creating routes for the production of chemicals and fuels from lignocellulosic biomass, many of these processes are not economic due to the number of process steps required and the requirement for significant inter-stage separations. This project is developing a modularized chemical process intensification technology for the production of bio-para-xylene (biopX) from glucose. This process has received significant attention as a route to meet the high growth rate of pX (CAGR = 7%) and at the same time as we are seeing declining petroleum-based pX production in North America due to the reduction of naphtha cracking. This approach also meets the rising consumer demand for sustainable feedstocks to manufacture materials. This project focuses on the significant reduction of biopX production costs (>20%) using a novel, biphasic, multifunctional, continuous flow microreactor to carry out a cascade of four reactions combined with reactive extraction and potential in-situ generated H2 – all in a single pot – followed by hydrophobicity-driven separation and a second multiphase microreactor. ‘Smart’ organic solvent selection as a common platform for all processes will also be explored to minimize separations. Fast and efficient microwave (MW)-based heating will also be implemented.