Renewable Building Blocks from Wheat and Maize Straws (ReBuBloS)

This project seeks to further develop a novel straw biorefinery process that will target the development of a range of
products for applications such as platform chemicals for plastic manufacturing and high quality cellulosic fibres for value
added applications. This technology will bring triple line manufacturing benefits to the Chinese economy through reductions
in energy and the production of new conversion technologies. Straw is an underutilised co-product in China and the UK
with a great potential as a feedstock. However, using this feedstock is problematic and new technological approaches are
needed. The straw bio-refinery concept was first developed in Bangor in 1995 and the principle scientist is now based in
Beijing. This project will introduce new technologies such as novel enzymes and will use a novel fractionation process that
is based in Bangor. The project will enable Beijing and Bangor to work together and enhance and demonstrate the benefits
at a scale previously not achievable. Funding will enable the application of the technology to the manufacturing capacity of
China which will result significant economic and environmental benefits.

The proposed project targets 3 separate markets, A) Oligolignins as biobased-phenols, B) Cellulosic fibres, and c) Xylooligosaccharide
specialities. A) For this specific project target polymers for development are those used in coatings for the
wood and metal. The project will also address the possible substitution of Bis-phenol A (BPA) with safer chemical entities.
China is the biggest producer of BPA, which is used in the manufacture of epoxy and polycarbonates. BPA is oestrogenic
and its use is now restricted in the EU. Phenol is a major chemical intermediate whose worldwide production (2011)
approached 8.7 million. More than 80% of this was used in the plastics industry; 44% of the phenol was used in BPA
production. There is a major deficit in the supply of phenol estimated to be 0.5M tonnes in Europe and around 0.9 M/tons
worldwide. This has led to an increase of price from $400/tons in 2004 to $1,700/tons in 2012. The market is split into
segments with a number of producers, typical phenol production plants have capacity ranging from 200,000-600,000
tons/year. A relatively modest scale such as 1M tons of straw could provide 200,000 tons/year of biophenolics. b) High
quality cellulosic fibres are in demand in food packaging applications, where no contamination with ink is accepted. The EU
market for pulp-moulded packaging materials, that this project targets, is worth around £700M bn, (worldwide over £2.2bn),
growing at a rate of 6-9% p.annum. The area is dominated by a number of companies, for which the fibre supply is seen as
a commodity. c) The present project aims to produce furfural as bio-solvent, and xylo-oligosaccharides. The world market
of 300,000 tons per year of furfural is expected to grow at a substantial rate to 1M tons per year by 2020, fuelled by a need
for green solvents/chemicals. Recently furfural price has fallen to roughly USD 450/ton in the international market, mainly
obtained from US food corn sources. A 1M ton straw biorefinery would be able to produce 100,000 tons per year of furfural. Revenues of the projected biorefinery will be in the range of US$ 300M per year providing a return of investment in the 25-
35% range if the projected prices and costs and market penetration are secured.