Case studies Chemical Engineering and Chemistry 2015-2021

12 B.4. THE STORY OF VERTORO: BIOMASS VALORIZATION FROM IDEA TO VALUE Context Concerns about climate change are driving the replacement of fossil feedstock with renewable feedstock for the manufacture of chemicals and fuels. The use of lignocellulosic biomass instead of petroleum oil will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the chemical industry. In the last decade, the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis (IMC) group has started a new research line in the field of carbohydrate and lignin conversion, which was initially strongly linked to the national SmartMix program CatchBio. The valorization of the lignin part of biomass is extremely challenging due to the recalcitrance of its polyphenolic network. Yet adding value to this fraction of plant-based biomass is crucial to rendering chemical conversion processes based on second-generation biomass profitable. Our research In 2010, the IMC group started a collaboration with the Combustion Technology group of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of TU/e within the framework of the PhD project of Michael Boot. Michael demonstrated the benefit of oxygenated aromatics for improving diesel engine efficiency and reducing soot emissions. This was the starting point for a fruitful collaboration aimed at overcoming the adage “one can make anything from lignin except money.” Amongst other things, the research led to novel catalytic solvolysis chemistry, enabling the complete solubilization of lignin into mainly aromatic monomers (see Figure 1). Based on these promising results, the group started a pilot programwithin Chemelot InSciTe, the technical validation institute of TU/e, Maastricht University, DSM and Brightlands Chemelot Campus. In the Lignin RICHES project (2015-2020), PhD student Panos Kouris optimized alcohol solvolysis