Biodiesel from Fructose

A University of Wisconsin-Madison chemical and biological engineering Professor, James Dumesic, has published a report in the journal Science showing a better way to make a chemical intermediate called HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural) from fructose – fruit sugar. HMF can be converted into plastics, diesel-fuel additive, or even diesel fuel itself, but it has been seldom used because it is costly to make.

The new, patent-pending method for making HMF is a balancing act of chemistry, pressure, temperature and reactor design. After a catalyst converts fructose into HMF, the HMF moves to a solvent that carries it to a separate location, where the HMF is extracted. Although other researchers had previously converted fructose into HMF, Dumesic’s research group made a series of improvements that raised the HMF output, and also made the HMF easier to extract.

Once made, HMF is fairly easy to convert into plastics or diesel fuel. Although the biodiesel that has made headlines lately is made from a fat (even used cooking oil), not a sugar, both processes have similar environmental and economic benefits, Dumesic says. Instead of buying petroleum from abroad, the raw material would come from domestic agriculture. Expanding the source of raw material should also depress the price of petroleum.

The new process goes beyond making fuel from plants to make industrial chemicals from plants. “Trying to understand how to use catalytic processes to make chemicals and fuel from biomass is a growing area,” says Dumesic, who directed the HMF research. “Instead of using the ancient solar energy locked up in fossil fuels, we are trying to take advantage of the carbon dioxide and modern solar energy that crop plants pick up.” Dumesic’s research on environmentally friendly sources of common chemicals is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

Dumesic is also exploring methods to convert other sugars and even more complex carbohydrates into HMF and other chemical intermediates. “Solar energy and biology created the stored hydrocarbons in the fossil fuels we have used for so long. Our interest in biomass is driven by the belief that if we learn to use solar energy and biology in a different way, we can address problems related to price, supply, and the environmental impact of industrial activity.”

A previous post described Dumesic's work on a process that can produces carbon-neutral hydrogen, fuel gas, liquid fuels or value added chemicals from a wide range of oxygenated compounds, such as ethylene glycol, biomass-derived glycerol, sugars and sugar-alcohols. His earlier work on producing biodiesel was posted here.

If this process is as economic as indicated we may have a choice as to whether sugars are converted into ethanol or biodiesel.  Expanded biodiesel production could promote the use of diesel engines, which have a greater efficiency than gasoline engines, in light vehicles.  The combination of biodiesel, which has almost no sulfur content, and the new generation of quiet diesel engines should make diesel engines acceptable to everyone.

Resource: New process makes diesel fuel and industrial chemicals from simple sugar, Universtiy of Wisconsin headlines June 29, 2006

Comments

[Bde2200]

What is the source of the fructose?

[al fin]

Converting biomass to plastics and other solid matter is one method of sequestering CO2. While burning biomass (as biodiesel or bio-butanol etc) is carbon neutral, making biomass into useful semi-permanent solid material is even better. Of course, the logging industry has been doing that for a long time.

[Iglic]

I am all for it. Support the local farmer not the foreign sheik. Its good to see that the technology is become more and more mainstream.

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[Gear Box]

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