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The Wood-Based Biorefinery in a Petroleum Depleted World

by Chemistry, Energy, IR-ATR, NIR, NMR, PAT, Process NMR, TD-NMR

The Mid-Hudson Section of the American Chemical Society and Vassar College Announce

The Wood-Based Biorefinery in a Petroleum Depleted World

Dr. Arthur J. Stipanovic,

Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF)

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: Mudd Chemistry Building, Third Floor

Refreshments will be served at 6:30 pm

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Contact: Dr Joseph Tanski (jotanski@vassar.edu, 845-437-7503)

Abstract: The 21st century is envisioned to become the age of biology as renewable biomass resources replace petroleum in energy and industrial product applications. Motivated by concerns over national energy security, global CO2 reduction, a need for biodegradable products, and enhanced rural economic development, the engineering and construction of biorefineries for the manufacture of fuels, chemicals, polymeric materials and power from renewable resources is now a critical national priority. The context and intent of a biorefinery must be much more than simply replacing crude oil with renewable raw materials. A successful biorefinery must: 1) efficiently separate its raw material source into individual components, and, 2) be able to convert these components into marketplace products. The biorefinery must mirror the efficiency of today’s modern petrochemical refinery in using all components of its raw material source for the production of chemicals, fuels, and power.

Woody lignocellulosic biomass is a complex, composite material consisting of three polymers in close association: hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin plus small amounts of low molecular weight extractives and inorganics. In this presentation, a group of synergistic biomass feedstock and biorefining technologies under development at SUNY-ESF, in collaboration with many industrial and academic partners, will be discussed including: short-rotation fast growing willow production, biodelignification, hemicellulose extraction, polymer conversion to fermentable sugars, biodegradable thermoplastics and hemicellulose-based composites.

See the Stipanovic Website at SUNY_ESF for further details…..http://www.esf.edu/chemistry/faculty/stipanov.htm

Bio: Dr. Arthur J. Stipanovic is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in Syracuse , NY , and also serves as Director, Analytical and Technical Services. His research interests include biodegradable polymers from renewable resources, high-throughput analytical techniques for determining the composition of woody biomass and new processes for the wood-based biorefinery. Dr. Stipanovic received both his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from SUNY-ESF in polymer chemistry and much of his career was spent at the Texaco R&D labs in Beacon, NY, in new technology and lubricants research. He is a past Councilor and Executive Board member of the Mid-Hudson ACS section and, more recently, has served as Chair of the Syracuse section.

Directions: Vassar College is located off Raymond Avenue in Poughkeepsie , NY. Refer to the following link for driving directions and campus map: http://www.vassar.edu/directions/. Enter the Main Entrance of the campus on Raymond Avenue and go right towards the Mudd Chemistry Building. The Security Guard at the Main Entrance will direct you to parking.

Omega-3 Dietary Supplements – NMR Analysis

by Chemistry, NMR

Fish Oils – Flaxseed Oils

NMR is extensively utilized to analyze fish oils and edible oils high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Examples of 1H and 13C data and analysis are provided below:

13C NMR Analysis of Fish Oil Supplement

13C NMR of Flaxseed Oil Supplement

Wine Analysis by NMR

by Chemistry, NMR, Process NMR

Brief Overview of Wine Analysis by 1H and 13C NMR

Wine analysis by 1H or 13C NMR can be used to follow acid content during maturation. Lactic, succininc and acetic acid can be followed readily by both techniques and presence of sugar, glycerol, and methanol can be observed.

Chemometric approaches are starting bear fruit with respect to quantitative analysis:

NMR Without Solvents – Biodiesel Production Process – FAME, Glycerol, FFA, and Methanol

by Chemistry, Energy, NMR, Process NMR

1H and 13C NMR NMR is typically obtained using deuterated NMR solvents to lock the field during acquisition. In some cases the use of these solvents is problematic as it prevents observation of solublized phases present in the sample. As an example we show here the NMR data obtained on a biodiesel production process. One of the major issues with the FAME product is the presence of glycerol in the product. NMR analysis is usually performed by dissolving the FAME in CDCl3 in which glycerol is completely insoluble. Thus NMR analysis performed in this way does not allow analysis of residual glycerol content. However, if the FAME is run neat this issue does not arise.
Another analysis of enormous interest from the process control standpoint is the analysis of the glycerol/methanol phase. This phase contains considerable free fatty acids as well as the glycerol by product and excess methanol from the transesterification process. The three components are readily observed by 1H and 13C NMR, and 23Na can be used to observe NaOH content in the phase. Finally the shift and shape of the observed OH resonance can yield information on the pH of the glycerol phase. Typically this analysis is done in DMSO-d6

Below are some examples of NMR obtained without a deuterated solvent:

Difference in aliphatic carbon distribution between FAME phase and Free Fatty Acids (FFA)

found in the glycerol – methanol phase.

1H NMR of aliphatic component found in the FAME phase as well as the FFA in the glycerol phase.