Xylophon – Development of a biotechnological platform for the utilization of xylan-enriched biomass waste streams for the production of sustainable lubricant additives

Challenges

Currently used lubricants are mainly produced petrochemically from fossil resources. In the German government's Biorefinery Roadmap, the utilization of biomass waste streams was identified as a crucial factor to increase the socio-economic sustainability.

Objectives

The Xylophon joint project is therefore developing a process for the production of biobased lubricant additives based on a xylan-rich waste stream from the pulp and paper industry. Xylans are a major component of lignocellulose and consist mainly of the C5 sugar xylose.

Project plan

In Xylophon microbial whole-cell catalysts (non-conventional oleaginous yeast and E. coli) are developed to provide isoprene, isobutene, oxygenated fatty acids, short-chain oxygenated fatty acids, and exopolysaccharides, utilizing the xylan containing waste stream as fermentation medium.

Isoprene and diisobutene are converted to tailor-made additives with the required chain length and sufficient desaturation by means of chemo-catalytic methods at Fraunhofer IGB, Straubing branch. Various technologies, such as Ziegler-Natta catalysis, radical oligomerization, Lewis- and Brønsted acid catalysis, and catalysis by ionic liquids under pressure are applied.

Impact

These lubricants and additives produced from currently not used waste streams and without additional exhausting of agricultural areas could be a valuable contribution to sustainable lubricant technologies.