笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听Will Medlin, department chair of听chemical and biological engineering, received a four-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation award听to study new routes for converting biomass into renewable fuels and chemicals. The project, 鈥淐ollaborative Research: ECO-CBET: Coupled Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Processes for an Environmentally Sustainable Lignin-first Biorefinery," involves听a听collaborative team of scientists from CU Boulder,听the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the University of South Carolina听and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The researchers, who include听experts in biomass processing, novel catalysts, reaction modeling, machine learning听and life cycle assessment, will study how lignin, a natural听recalcitrant polymer, can be broken down into individual molecules听and how these molecules are converted by catalysts into stable fuels and materials precursors.
Medlin says the specific chemical route the team is studying involves a "so-called lignin first听strategy,"听听in which lignin, one of the most potentially valuable but least utilized components of biomass, is dissolved and processed to useful chemical compounds.
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