In Michigan, the Michigan Molecular Institute, Michigan Sugar Company and Micromidas have partnered in a 9-month, $150,000 SBIR research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to create ways to convert sugarbeet waste, or raffinate waste, into commodity chemicals.
“Sugarbeets are processed into sugar through a multi-step procedure,” said MMI Research Scientist Dr. Patrick Smith. “The beets are sliced, the sugar extracted and purified. A residue that’s left from this process that still contains substantial levels of sucrose and other sugars is called the raffinate stream. This is a low-value material that our process is able to convert to a considerably higher value chemical product.”
Possible target? Think Plant Bottles. As Smith explains, “A group of consumer companies that includes Coca-Cola, Ford Motor, Heinz, Nike and Proctor & Gamble have put together a consortium that funds biobased routes to poly(ethylene terephthalate), or PET.
That’s the plastic used for plastic soda, ketchup and water bottles, which this consortium has trade-named the ‘Plant Bottle.’ The real advantage is that it’s biobased, and our target is to match the petroleum costs. There’s a real desire for consumers to have biobased packaging materials like the Plant Bottle, and our work is shaping up to be a solid approach to help them get there.”
Smith said MMI received approximately $70,000 from the grant, administered by the Department of Energy under the Small Business Innovation Research program. If research continues to go as well as hoped, there’s a good chance the work will continuing through an SBIR Phase II grant, which is $1,000,000.
“About half of Phase I projects make it to Phase II,” he said. “So far in our research, even though we’re only a few months in, things are going very well. Phase II is looking more at optimization and scale-up of the process, with the target of building a pilot plant in Michigan.”
Source: www.biofuelsdigest.com