The recent demand for sustainable routes to fuels and chemicals has led to an increased amount of research in conversion of natural resources. A potential approach for conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals is to combine biochemical and chemical processes.  The overall project involves taking biomass, creating 2,3-butanediol, converting it to methyl ethyl ketone, converting that to butene and creating liquid fuels.  In this research, we studied the conversion of biomass to methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), where biomass-derived sugars are first converted to 2,3-butanediol (2,3-BD), which was then catalytically dehydrated to MEK. The fermentation process was performed using the bacteria Klebsiella oxytoca (K.O). 2,3-BD was then dehydrated to form MEK on a solid acid catalyst, a zeolite known as ZSM-5, and heat. The goal was to determine the reaction kinetics of 2,3-BD dehydration over ZSM-5, and to demonstrate the hybrid biochemical/thermochemical technology biochemicals.

Production of 2,3-butanediol from biomass using a hybrid biochemical/catalytic approach

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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