Application of (R)-3-Hydroxyalkanoate Methyl Esters Derived from Microbial Polyhydroxyalkanoates as Novel Biofuels

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• 作者：Xiaojun Zhang^&#8224 ; ^‡ ; ; Rongcong Luo^&#8224 ; ^‡ ; ; Zhen Wang^‡ ; ; Yuan Deng^‡ ; ; Guo-Qiang Chen*^‡ ; ^
• 刊名：Biomacromolecules
• 出版年：2009
• 出版时间：April 13, 2009
• 年：2009
• 卷：10
• 期：4
• 页码：707-711
• 全文大小：179K
• 年卷期：v.10,no.4(April 13, 2009)
• ISSN：1526-4602

文摘

Microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) were proposed for the first time as a new type of biofuel. In this paper, poly-R-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) and medium chain length PHA (mcl PHA) were, respectively, esterified to become R-3-hydroxybutyrate methyl ester (3HBME) and medium chain length hydroxyalkanoate methyl ester (3HAME) via acid-catalyzed hydrolysis. The recovery percentages of 3HBME and 3HAME were 52 and 65%, respectively. The purities of 3HBME and 3HAME were 97 and 96%, respectively. Combustion heats of 3HBME, 3HAME, ethanol, n-propanol, n-butanol, 0^# diesel, 90^# gasoline, and 3HBME-based and 3HAME-based blended fuels were investigated and compared, respectively. It was found that 3HBME and 3HAME had combustion heats valuing 20 and 30 KJ/g, respectively. Ethanol has a combustion heat of 27 KJ/g, while addition of 10% 3HBME or 3HAME enhanced the combustion heat of ethanol to 30 and 35 KJ/g, respectively. The addition of 3HBME or 3HAME into n-propanol and n-butanol led to a slight reduction of their combustion heats. Combustion heats of blended fuels 3HBME/diesel or 3HBME/gasoline and of 3HAME/diesel or 3HAME/gasoline were lower than that of the pure diesel or gasoline. It was roughly estimated that the production cost of PHA-based biofuels should be around US$1200 per ton.