IMX Talks - Value-added utilization of biomass and CO2 for sustainable aviation fuels and biomaterials

The conversion of low-carbon resources such as biomass and CO₂ into synthetic liquid fuels, value-added chemicals, and biomaterials is a crucial approach for global carbon emission reduction. In this context, this talk will focus on recent research advances on biomass and CO₂ conversion to sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), chemicals and bio-based materials. Considering the challenges associated with low-carbon resources, including dispersed distribution, significant fluctuations in raw material composition, and high conversion costs, a distributed-centralized system utilizing alcohols as key platform molecules has been proposed. Alcohol synthesis from biomass and CO₂ will be presented with the focus on catalysis for methanol (thermocatalysis) and ethanol synthesis (electrocatalysis) from CO₂. Conversion of alcohol to SAF will be introduced with discussions on the design of multifunctional catalysts for alcohol conversion, the dynamic evolution of catalytic sites, and the strategies for tuning product distributions. Additionally, a few examples of biobased materials, such as cellulose nanofiber-based biomaterials and bio-based nylon precursor and polyester precursor, will be presented.

Bio: Dr. Zhenglong Li is the “Qiushi” Chair Professor of Zhejiang University. He is the lead of the sustainable aviation fuels research of the State Key Laboratory of Bio-based Transportation Fuel Technology, director of the Biomass Value-Added Utilization Research Center, and the director of the Bio-based Chemicals Division in the Institute of Zhejiang University-Quzhou. His research is dedicated to the high-value utilization of biomass and carbon dioxide to synthesize sustainable aviation fuel, chemicals, and bio-based materials. He was the team lead in the biomass conversion area at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (United States) prior to joining Zhejiang University. He was the committee member for the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium under the United States Department of Energy (DOE). His group focus on in-depth understanding of the catalytic processes of biomass and carbon dioxide at the molecular level to guide catalyst design, process development, and industrial application, especially R&D of SAF, bio-based chemicals, key bio-based polymer building blocks. His research group has published many high-impact scientific papers in top journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Nat. Commun., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., ACS Catal., Appl. Catal. B., and others. In terms of technology commercialization, he has developed new core technologies such as bio-based alcohols conversion for sustainable aviation fuel and bio-based biodegradable materials.