, involved collaborative research between 13 partners from
Europe and Latin America to develop biorefining
technologies for the production of advanced biofuels. It targeted levulinic acid
(a valuable platform chemical), from cellulose and hexose sugars, and of furfural
(a valuable solvent and fuel precursor), from hemicellulose-dervied pentose sugars such as xylose
. The process employed acid-hydrolysis, at elevated temperatures and pressures, to hydrolyse the polsyaccharides and produce the targeted molecules. The project also involved the development of a novel pre-treatment process, employing formic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The solid residues that were retained after hydrolysis were pyrolysed and gasified in order to produce energy.
primary scientific role in the project was in WP2 where he led efforts to generate algorithms for the rapid prediction of biomass composition based on the near infrared
spectra of samples. Particular focuses for model development in DIBANET
were the feedstocks Miscanthus
(highly suitable for European climates) and sugarcane bagasse
(a highly abundant fibrous residue in Brazil).
The development of the rapid biomass analysis models in DIBANET
resulted in Dan
Celignis in 2014.DIBANET Get more info...