Biorefinery revolution with subcritical/supercritical fluid technologies

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24380177
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Boundary agriculture
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: SAKA Shiro 京都大学, エネルギー科学研究科, 教授 (50205697)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KAWAMOTO Haruo 京都大学, 大学院エネルギー科学研究科, 准教授 (80224864) ; MINAMI Eiji 京都大学, 大学院エネルギー科学研究科, 助教 (00649204) ; YAMAUCHI Kazuchika 京都大学, 大学院エネルギー科学研究科, 特定助教 (20467335)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 超（亜）臨界流体技術 / バイオリファイナリー / 木質バイオマス / 液体バイオ燃料 / バイオ化学物質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Woody biomass was treated in solvents such as water and phenol, under their subcritical/supercritical conditions. In subcritical phenol, lignin was efficiently decomposed and liquefied in phenol. The liquefied lignin-derived products were then clarified to be used as a raw material for phenolic resins. With a two-step subcritical water treatment, on the other hand, lignin and hemicelluloses were decomposed into lower molecular weight products such as oligosaccharides at 230℃/10MPa, while cellulose was decomposed in severer conditions, producing cello-oligosaccharides, glucose etc. at 270℃/10MPa. Furthermore, most of these products were found out to be fermented anaerobically into acetic acid. The obtained acetic acid was found out to be converted further into bioethanol by hydrogenolysis as biofuel, but also to acetic acid derivatives as useful biochemicals. Based on these lines of evidence, the potential of subcritical/supercritical fluid technologies was clarified for biorefinery.

Free Research Field

バイオマス化学