HDA is an effective process for converting lignocellulose to hydrocarbon fuel precursors in acetone in presence of lithium bromide and hydrochloric acid without any pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. The process integrates hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose to sugars, dehydration of the sugars to furans, and Aldol condensation between the furans and acetone to furan-acetone adducts into a single step. The resultant furan-acetone adducts, the precursors for liquid hydrocarbon, can be easily hydrodeoxygenated into drop-in fuels. Lignin in the feedstock is substantially depolymerized during the HDA process. The dissolved low-molecular fraction of the lignin can be converted into fuel-grade hydrocarbons jointly with the furan-based precursors above by hydrogenation. The HDA lignin is also an excellent feedstock for lignin co-products. In this study, fractionation and conversion of corn stove to drop-in fuel precursors and valuable lignin with HDA process were investigated. HDA process conditions were optimized. Process mass balance was established. Identification and quantification of liquid hydrocarbon precursors and characterization of HDA lignin were conducted using various analysis methods including GC-MS, HPLC, FT-IR, GPC, TGA and NMR.

Fractionation and conversion of corn stover for liquid hydrocarbon fuel and valuable lignin by HDA process

247th National Meeting (2014)

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