How to efficiently produce chemicals from biomass using catalysis?

On the occasion of the first officialWorld Creativity and Innovation Day那we asked Esben Taarning, R&D Director at Topsoe, about his innovative work within biochemicals and the future possibilities in this area.

你最近赢得了着名的荣辱Torkil Holm Awardfor your outstanding contribution tothe development of sustainable and catalytic methods for the valorization of biomass. Can you explain what your innovation within bio-based chemicals is all about?

在我的研究中，我一直试图了解如何有效地使用生物量作为生产日常产品，例如塑料瓶，今天主要来自化石燃料。manbet手机客户端登入挑战是找到一种适当的催化剂，可以有效地将糖转化为有用的产品。manbet手机客户端登入这是一个真正的侦探狩猎：我们不得不尝试用不同的催化性质和不同的过程类型尝试材料，并看到哪些更好地工作，并且随着奖项反映，我们已经成功了。

How is this innovative, though?

看看我们最近与布斯基斯的合作，用于生产MEG(monoethylene glycol), a key component of PET. In the process that we’re trying to commercialize, we take sugar and, chop it into smaller pieces that can be easily processed and turned into bio-plastics. We’re currently working on a demo plant to demonstrate that this is commercially feasible.

一旦成功展示，您就可以在化学品生产中设想完全新的价值链。农业部门将提供生物量的生物炼油厂，将其转化为糖。然后可以通过德拉斯克等公司通过Topsoe的技术转换。

生物量有可能成为用于生产某些化学品的油的有利原料，因为它具有可以重复使用或稍微改变的大量化学官能度，所以提供了正确的催化过程。与使用油相比，这可以减少所需的过程步骤的数量。然而，也明确表示，并非所有化学品都可以从生物量有效地进行，重要的是关注生物质可以竞争的那些化学品。

How can this help to solve some of the environmental challenges?

通过减少流程步骤和使用的数量a feedstock that is annually renewable, these new processes can lead to a smaller environmental footprint of the final product. Additionally, it could create great development opportunities for countries and areas that are not so rich in oil, for example Brazil, Thailand, or even Europe. And this is only the beginning! Maybe in the future we will be able to convert biomass into new and useful building blocks that are either nonexistent today or are simply too expensive to produce from oil? A lot can change thanks to sugar.

Why sugar?

糖构成所有生物质的75％，可以从许多不同的来源获得，例如甘蔗，甜菜，玉米，甚至木材和稻草可以加工成可转化为化学品的糖。世界上有丰富的糖，每年都会越来越高效。今天，每年使用约1.5亿吨糖，以生产汽油替代的乙醇。将来，可能没有如此巨大的液体燃料需要，所以也许它将在经济上和环境上更有义，可以使用它来更换用于化学品生产的油。

This is definitely a new area to us but we have to go into new areas and get our foot in the door in order to grow in the future. Besides, there are many similarities between what we do now as a business and what the process would look like with sugar so we can clearly use our expertise. We basically use our core competencies to develop in a new area.

What does this all mean to the business?

我们的技术将有助于生产来自生物量的几种不同的化学品。案件MEG那which is a well-established chemical product, we can predict the future growth, and the commodity nature of the market is similar to other areas we are active in. For other chemicals we are looking at, especially new chemicals which do not have a large established market, the situation is different and we need to talk with other companies about possible applications and market development.There is a lot more uncertainty, but also more possibilities since these new chemicals could have high value as well as useful but unexplored properties. And the possibilities are basically endless: for example, your screen cover protecting your phone can be made from bio-plastics, same with the soles of your shoes.

We see interest is in both extremes of the value chain, also among the end users. For example, the paper industry – as we use less and less paper, they look into new possibilities, for example converting wood into sugar, and so on. Many companies want to make their value chain greener.

我们仍然在整个过程中定义我们的角色。通常，我们希望使用催化剂将糖原料转化为化学物质的最佳解决方案。我们正在寻找原料的结束或价值链的化学品末端的合作伙伴，他们愿意将金钱和时间投入到未来的解决方案。我们需要了解挑战的熟练合作伙伴，并准备与我们面对他们。如果我们敢于尝试，这种利益可能很重要。

您如何在个人身上看到创新，它如何在Topsoe中工作？

对我来说，当你有一个潜力来解决真正的问题时，创新就开始了。当然，团队努力是必需的，我认为我们在Topsoe中非常擅长。集体，我们在公司中有这么多知识，并通过与同事和合作伙伴的日常合作，我们将该知识融入开发新的解决方案。我认为这是一个非常有趣和创造性的方式，每天都学到新的东西。