Abstract
Medium chain-length linear α-olefins (mcl-LAO) are versatile precursors to commodity products such as synthetic lubricants and biodegradable detergents, and have been traditionally produced from ethylene oligomerization and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Medium chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoic acid (mcl-PHA) can be produced by some microorganisms as an energy storage. In this study, Pseudomonas putida biomass that contained mcl-PHA was used in HTL at 300 °C for 30 min, and up to 65 mol% of mcl-PHA was converted into mcl-LAO. The yield and quality of the bio-oil co-produced in the HTL was remarkably improved with the biomass rich in mcl-PHA. Experiments with extracted mcl-PHA revealed the degradation mechanism of mcl-PHA in HTL. Overall, this work demonstrates a novel process to co-produce mcl-LAO and bio-oil from renewable biomass.
Highlights
Due to their terminal functionality, linear a-ole ns (LAO) are extremely versatile and valuable precursors to produce many commodity chemicals
Medium chain-length LAO are of particular interest because they can be used as “drop-in” fuels that are compatible with the existing engine systems and transportation infrastructure.[1] mcl-LAO are widely used as co-monomers (C5–C8) in polymer production, and to produce poly a-ole ns (PAO) as base stocks for synthetic lubricants for automotive and industrial applications
Petroleum derived feedstocks have been traditionally used for LAO production, mainly via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis or catalytic oligomerization of ethylene to produce a mixture of largely linear products of C4–C20+ with even carbon number chain length
Summary
Due to their terminal functionality, linear a-ole ns (LAO) are extremely versatile and valuable precursors to produce many commodity chemicals. HTL has been widely applied in microbial biomass conversion and upgrading.[4] Recently, chemical assisted liquefaction has been employed to produce value-added bio-derived products at high yields.[5,6] Here we developed a novel approach to produce renewable mcl-LAO based on the early studies that propylene can be produced from polyhydroxybutyric acid (PHB) as a thermal degradation product, where the hydroxybutyrate units undergo an intramolecular b-elimination to produce crotonic acid, which is converted into propylene via decarboxylation.[7] A recent research reported propylene production from cyanobacterial biomass rich in PHB via HTL,[8] consistent with these thermochemical reactions. The work described here demonstrates that renewable mcl-LAO can be co-produced with bio-oil in a non-catalytic HTL process from the bacterium Pseudomonas putida biomass rich in mcl-PHA
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