Renewable Uses of Lignocellulosic Biomass and Produced Water: For Biomaterial and a Lithium Source

Herein, I present two main ideas that aim to utilize two different waste feedstocks, lignocellulosic biomass and produced water. While they are fundamentally different, they both offer an opportunity to take advantage of a waste product for environmentally relevant study.Aromatic molecules are essential to many mass-produced polymers, like polystyrene, epoxy resins, and poly(ethyleneterephthalate) (PET). The monomer precursors for these polymers are largely sourced from petroleum. Chemicals like benzene, toluene, and xylene are common products of refineries and critical to polymer synthesis. Herein, I present lignin, a component of lignocellulosic biomass, and a naturally occurring aromatic macromolecule as a viable feedstock for aromatic monomers. I will introduce novel renewable polyesters and bio-derived thermosets from the lignin-derived molecule isoeugenol. Thermal properties of these renewable polyesters are tunable to those of industrially relevant polyesters like PET. Further, a bio-derived epoxide was synthesized, and the polyester active esters were utilized to create crosslinked thermoset networks that give predictable thermal and mechanical properties. I will also discuss the potential use of produced water, a waste stream from the oil and gas industry, as a lithium source. With the need for energy storage rising, lithium is a resource that will continue to be in high demand. I will introduce two different membrane systems, and the synthesis of several ion selective ligands for each system. The incorporation of 12-crown-4 ether into the membrane framework was thought to selectively bind lithium, yet we saw reverse LiCl/NaCl permeability selectivity from the expected results. This gave insights into the fundamental relationship between Li+ and 12-crown-4 ether in aqueous environments. Building on that result, more ligands were synthesized to investigate both crown ether size and linker length on the ion transport properties of the membranes