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<title>PhysOrg Mobile: 'Mini-cellulose' molecule unlocks biofuel
chemistry</title>
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<p><strong>A team of chemical engineers at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst has discovered a small molecule that
behaves the same as cellulose when it is converted to biofuel.
Studying this 'mini-cellulose' molecule reveals for the first
time the chemical reactions that take place in wood and prairie
grasses during high-temperature conversion to biofuel. The new
technical discovery was reported in the January 2012 issue of
the journal <i>Energy & Environmental Science</i> and
highlighted in <i>Nature Chemistry</i>. </strong></p>
<p>The "mini-cellulose" molecule, called α-cyclodextrin, solves one
of the major roadblocks confronting high-temperature biofuels
processes such as pyrolysis or gasification. The complex chemical
reactions that take place as wood is rapidly heated and breaks
down to vapors are unknown. And current technology doesn't allow
the use of computer models to track the chemical reactions taking
place, because the molecules in wood are too large and the
reactions far too complicated. <br>
<br>
Paul Dauenhauer, assistant professor of chemical engineering and
leader of the UMass Amherst research team, says the breakthrough
achieved by studying the smaller surrogate molecule opens up the
possibility of using computer simulations to study biomass. He
says, "We calculated that it would take about 10,000 years to
simulate the <a class="textTag"
href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/chemical+reactions/" rel="tag">chemical
reactions</a> in real <a class="textTag"
href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/cellulose/" rel="tag">cellulose</a>.
The same biofuel reactions with 'mini-cellulose' can be done in a
month!" <br>
<br>
Already his team has used insight from studying the
"mini-cellulose" to make significant progress in understanding
wood chemistry, Dauenhauer says. Using the faster computer
simulations, they can track the conversion of wood all the way to
the chemical vapor products. These reactions include creating
furans, <a class="textTag"
href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/molecules/" rel="tag">molecules</a>
that are important for the production of biofuels. <br>
<br>
The discovered reactions occurring within wood will serve as the
basis for designing advanced biofuel reactors, Dauenhauer says.<br>
</p>
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[See the rest of the article at:]<br>
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