Manufacture of 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid from Furfural Produced from a Wet Waste Stream

The proposed program provides a new biomass conversion technology to produce FDCA, 2,5- furandicarboxylic acid, to replace hydrocarbon chemicals for production of plasticizers and polyester polymers. FDCA is currently produced from hexose carbohydrates, such as sucrose or high fructose corn syrup. Recent trends in petroleum pricing have reduced biomass raw material cost advantages for replacement of hydrocarbon chemicals, a key driving force for sustainable FDCA commercialization. The proposed technology will provide an alternative pathway to FDCA using low cost biomass obtained from a wet waste pulp mill hydrolysate stream. The new technology will use a slip stream of hydrolysate from a hardwood pulp mill currently being disposed of as a wet organic waste through a waste heat boiler. The production of high value chemicals, such as FDCA, from waste pulp hydrolysate will provide new technologies and products from pulp and paper manufacture to enhance industry profitability, employment and competiveness. The Phase I program successfully demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility of the new catalytic reactive distillation technology for FDCA from pulp waste hydrolysate. The Phase I program successfully demonstrated the production of FDCA by the CO2 carboxylation of furoic acid at greater than 90% selectivity, and a commercially scalable reaction system for performing the carboxylation reaction. The Phase I program also established the feasibility of producing the furoic acid intermediate from furfural derived from pulp mill waste hydrolysate. The new technology, based on a waste stream currently burned for fuel value, will provide a low cost manufacturing process to accelerate the commercialization of FDCA. In the Phase II program, research and development will be completed to support immediate commercialization of the new technology for FDCA production. The overall manufacturing process will be optimized to provide low cost, high quality FDCA product. Performance of FDCA-based non- phthalate plasticizers will be confirmed to meet commercial requirements. The program includes a subcontract to the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits:FDCA produced by the new technology will find immediate application for production of non- phthalate bio-plasticizers for PVC, and for the production of large volume polyester polymers for fibers, beverage bottles, and other products. The proposed technology will provide a new low cost raw material base for FDCA production, as well as utilizing carbon dioxide greenhouse gas for commodity chemical manufacture. The new technology will benefit the U.S. pulp and paper industry by providing new products from pulp and paper manufacture, to enhance industry profitability, and employment.