MSCA - Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) on “Sustainable catalytic production of bio-fuels and chemicals from C5 biomass fraction”

Research project description

The recent changes in the energy-consuming sectors and the depletion of fossil fuels are attracting significant attention towards the conversion of renewable resources into fuels, fine chemicals and solvents. In this regard, the catalytic exploitation of lignocellulosic biomasses results a key strategy for the sustainable energy transition. In particular, the polysaccharide fractions, namely cellulose and hemicellulose, can be potentially converted into several valuable alternative compounds to those nowadays synthesised from fossil resources. However, up to now, research and valorization efforts have mostly focused on the cellulosic fraction, being the most abundant in the lignocellulosic biomasses, whereas, on the other hand, the hemicellulosic one has been largely overlooked. For this reason, the aim of this project is the development of cascade catalytic processes for the synthesis of bio-fuels, such as alkyl levulinates, alkanes, etc. and green solvents, such as 2-methyltetrahydrofuran starting from hemicellulose and xylose, its most representative C5 sugar. The cascade processes will be structured in a series of consecutive reactions that will require the adoption of catalysts having different properties, thus each step will be optimized in terms of reaction conditions and the catalytic system will be properly chosen/synthesised. In some cases, the optimization will be performed by the support of multivariate approach based on the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Moreover, the reactions will be carried out under sustainable reaction conditions, adopting alternative and efficient heating systems (such as microwave reactor) and using safe reaction conditions, for example preferring for the hydrogenation step the adoption of hydrogen donor rather than molecular hydrogen. In conclusion, the objective of this project is the development of a sustainable biorefinery scheme starting from hemicellulose fraction, thus increasing the plethora of renewable compounds, in particular bio-fuels and green solvents, deriving from the lignocellulosic biomasses and significantly contributing to the sustainable energy transition.

Laboratory

The GreenCat Lab is an industrial chemistry research group with decades of expertise in the biomass valorization, characterization and exploitation in the perspective of biorefinery according to the Green Chemistry principles (https://ricerca.dcci.unipi.it/greencat.html). At GreenCat Lab we develop sustainable process for the synthesis of alternative compounds to those nowadays synthesised from fossil resources, mainly through catalytic reactions (hydrolysis, hydrogenation, esterification, etherification, condensation, etc.), thermochemical treatments (pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, etc.) and biocatalytic reactions (hydrolysis, fermentation, etc.). The research activity of GreenCat Lab is supported by the following equipment:

• Autoclaves to work at high pressures and temperatures;
• Microwave and ultrasound reactors;
• HPLC, GC-FID, GC-TCD, GC-MS, FT-IR, UV-Vis and BET instruments;
• Access to DCCI shared instruments (elemental analysis, DSC, NMR 500, ICP-OES; https://www.dcci.unipi.it/organizzazione.html)
• Access to UniPi Center for Instrument Sharing (https://cisup.unipi.it/).

Supervisors

Dr. Sara Fulignati (RTDa, Assistant Professor) - https://ricerca.dcci.unipi.it/fulignati-sara.html; https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57192814100

Prof. Claudia Antonetti (Associate Professor) - https://ricerca.dcci.unipi.it/antonetti-claudia.html; https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=24823768900

Eligibility criteria

Applicants must have a PhD degree at the time of the deadline for applications (11^th September 2024). Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered eligible to apply.

At the call deadline, the applicant must have a maximum of 8 years experience in research, from the date of the award of their PhD degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks will not count towards the above maximum, nor will years of experience in research in third countries, for nationals or long-term residents of EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries who wish to reintegrate to Europe.

Mobility Rule: The applicant may be of any nationality but must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy (for European Fellowships) or the host organisation for the outgoing phase (in case of Global Fellowship) for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before 11^th September 2024.

Application procedure

Expressions of interest must be sent by email to sara.fulignati@unipi.it and claudia.antonetti@unipi.it no later than 31 May 2024 and must consist of two pdf files:

1. Complete and updated CV, clearly demonstrating all 3 eligibility requirements.
2. Motivation letter, maximum one page.