USDA NIFA awards grant for plastics development from lignin
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) coordinate and co-fund the Integrated Biorefinery Optimization (IBO) program. Last September, the Blog reported that the DOE had selected eight projects to negotiate for up to 15 M$ under this program (see “US DOE selects eight projects to optimize integrated biorefinery operations”, 22/9/2017). Now, the NIFA has just awarded a grant to the Center for Renewable Carbon at the University of Tennessee through the same program (see announcement).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) coordinate and co-fund the Integrated Biorefinery Optimization (IBO) program. Last September, the Blog reported that the DOE had selected eight projects to negotiate for up to 15 M$ under this program (see “US DOE selects eight projects to optimize integrated biorefinery operations”, 22/9/2017). Now, the NIFA has just awarded a grant to the Center for Renewable Carbon at the University of Tennessee through the same program (see announcement).
Figure 1. Center for Renewable Carbon at the
University of Tennessee
The details of the granted project are
summarized in the following table:
Objective
|
To
develop integrated pathways for the extraction of value-added polymeric
products from lignin waste/under-valued stream from biorefinery. A lignin
stream from an organosolv biorefining process will be converted into
acrylonitrile-butadiene-lignin (ABL) to directly replace petroleum based
plastics used in today's market.
|
Strategy
|
1. Cost-efficient
isolation of biomass constituents (lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose) via
organosolv fractionation to recover lignin with high yield (>70%) and high
purity (>90%).
2.
Development and commercialization of lignin bioplastics with engineered
properties and deployable cost for residential and commercial buildings'
siding applications.
3.
Assessment of the integrated biorefining process via techno-economic analysis
and cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA).
|
Partnership
|
- The
Center for Renewable Carbon at the University of Tennessee (UT-CRC).
- Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL).
- Natural
Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota (NRRI).
-
American Science and Technology Corporation (AST),
- University
of Wisconsin Stevens Point (UW-SP).
- Long
Trail Sustainability (LTS).
- Advanced
Lignin Biocomposites LLC (ALB-LLC).
|
Duration
|
From
1/1/2018 to 31/12/2018.
|
Grant
amount
|
2,994,429
$.
The
funding comes from NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI),
which addresses challenges in food and agricultural sciences through
research, extension and education.
|
