Industrial sugar, such as glucose, is a core building block for many bio-based products and is increasingly important in the transition towards a circular economy.
One research line of the PERFORM project is the electrochemical conversion of glucose to adipic acid. The glucose feedstock is obtained in a sustainable manner from non-edible biomass. This includes waste or residual materials, such as the branches and bark from forestry or corn stover and bagasse (sugar cane) from agriculture. These streams are types of lignocellulosic biomass.
Dawn Technology TM is Avantium proprietary process for the production of industrial sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. The Dawn Technology TM process involves two acidic hydrolysis steps and yields three main products:
- Mixed sugars from hemi-cellulose
- High purity glucose from cellulose
- Lignin
The Dawn pilot plant was opened in July 2018 and is located in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. The PERFORM consortium will develop novel electrochemical routes for the conversion of the Dawn glucose stream. To support this research, analytical methods for characterization of the feedstock and minor compounds in the streams are optimized and further developed. From Avantium’s experience, Dawn Technology TM yields purity glucose, which is expected to be suitable for electrochemical conversion. In the unlikely case that one of the electrochemical or polymerization steps show that upgrading is required, Avantium will investigate additional separation and purification of the feedstock.
