Chris Saffron
Associate Professor | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Christopher Saffron’s research investigates the use of thermochemical technologies for converting plant biomass into fuel.
Biography
Christopher Saffron’s research program investigates the use of thermochemical, electrochemical, and catalytic technologies for converting plant biomass into liquid fuels, solid fuels, and higher value products. His students have developed electrocatalytic techniques for pyrolysis oil stabilization and upgrading to produce hydrocarbon fuels. Using electrocatalytic reduction, the energy upgrading of lignin-derived phenolics to form cyclohexanol and alkyl cyclohexanols is an active area of interest.
His group also examines the regional deployment of these deconstruction and conversion technologies in small-scale biomass upgrading depots to balance the competing forces of “economies of scale” and “economies of transportation.” Sustainability analyses, including life-cycle assessment and technoeconomic modeling, are performed to better design renewable energy systems and to inform public policy.
Saffron's research team works with numerous industrial partners, as well as state and federal agencies, to better understand the mechanisms controlling the productivity of these technologies, and to foster strategies that alleviate the risks associated with their eventual commercialization.
Industry Expertise (1)
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (1)
Biofuels
Education (2)
Michigan State University: Ph.D., Chemical Engineering and Materials Science 2005
Michigan State University: B.S., Chemical Engineering 1995
Links (3)
Event Appearances (1)
Economics of Biochar Production and Use
2021 | Great Lakes Biochar Network Webinar
Patents (2)
Electrochemical reductive carboxylation of unsaturated organic substrates in ionically conductive mediums
US11851778
The disclosure relates to methods for electrochemical reductive carboxylation of an unsaturated organic substrate to form a dicarboxylic organic product. The unsaturated organic substrate is electrochemically reduced with a carbon dioxide reactant in an ionically conductive, water-immiscible reactant medium to form the dicarboxylic organic product. The dicarboxylic organic product is recovered in an aqueous product medium. Example dicarboxylic organic products include phthalic acid, naphthalenedicarboxylic acid, furan-2, 5-dicarboxylic acid, thiophene-2, 5-dicarboxylic acid, pyrrole-2, 5-dicarboxylic acid, adipic acid, suberic acid, sebacic acid, and 1, 12-dodecanedioic acid.
Electrocatalytic synthesis of dihydrochalcones
US11773128
The disclosure relates to methods of forming a dihydrochalcone using electrocatalytic dehydrogenation. In particular, the disclosure relates to methods of forming a dihydrochalcone electrocatalytically hydrogenating (ECH) a reactant compound over a catalytic cathode in a reaction medium having a non-alkaline pH value, thereby forming a dihydrochalcone product; wherein the reactant compound has a structure according to Formula (I). The method can be used to prepare dihydrochalcone sweeteners, such as, for example, naringin dihydrochalcone and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone.
Journal Articles (5)
Chemical upcycling of high-density polyethylene into upcycled waxes as rheology modifiers and paper coating materials
Journal of Cleaner Production2024 Chemical upcycling of plastic waste from landfills to value-added products offers both economic and environmental benefits. Reported here is a simple method to convert high-density polyethylene (HDPE) into upcycled waxes in a very high yield (up to 93%). This selectivity is achieved by reducing the degradation temperature of HDPE via the addition of an inexpensive and reusable sodium chloride. These upcycled waxes had performance comparable to those of commercial rheology modifiers. In addition, kraft paper coated with these upcycled waxes exhibited excellent water- and oil resistance. A preliminary revenue analysis showed that this innovation allows plastic-to-wax to conversion with a three-fold revenue benefit over traditional ways of producing pyrolysis waxes from plastics.
Revolutionizing plastics chemical recycling with table salt
Advanced Sustainable Systems2024 Chemical recycling enables plastics to be a part of the circular economy as it can cope with contaminated as well as mixed plastics waste. Herein, two important discoveries are reported. One innovation is the use of table salt (NaCl) to facilitate the low temperature pyrolysis of polyolefins comprised of high‐density polyethylene (HDPE), low‐density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE), and polypropylene (PP) at the ratio of (4:2:2:3), respectively, thus enabling the efficient recycling of these mixed plastics. For comparative analysis, two different Pt catalysts as well as a control are investigated. Compared to the control, the use of table salt at 10 wt.% increased both the oil and gas contents by 80% and enabled 100% conversion to gas and oil without producing any undesirable wax.
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment and Technoeconomic Analysis of Biomass-Derived Shikimic Acid Production
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering2023 Shikimic acid (SA) is a critical starting material for production of the anti-influenza drug oseltamivir phosphate. In this study, microbial productions of SA from corn grain and corn stover are compared using life cycle assessment (LCA) and technoeconomic analysis (TEA). The life cycle impacts considered in the study include global warming potential, eutrophication potential, water usage, and land usage. Results of LCA depended on assumptions of allocation. As a waste product, stover contributed 15% more than grain to global warming, 86% less to eutrophication, 96% less to water usage, and 69% less to land usage. With allocation based on the economic value of the feedstocks, stover contributed 33% more than grain to global warming and had eutrophication, water usage, and land usage impacts that were over 2-fold higher than those of corn grain.
Potential of using microalgae to sequester carbon dioxide and processing to bioproducts
Green Chemistry2023 Algae are microscopic photosynthetic prokaryotic or eukaryotic organisms that can naturally grow in fresh or marine water in the presence of sunlight. Algae are capable of sequestering CO2 and utilize nutrients like nitrates, phosphates, and other micronutrients in water to increase their body mass. In the past few decades, algal biomass has been investigated by the scientific community because of its promising applications in producing renewable food, feed, fuels, and chemicals. Additionally, microalgae's ability to fix large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) has led researchers to investigate microalgae as an alternative way of combating climate change by sequestering flue gas containing CO2 emitted from industries such as coal power plants, cement, steel, and petroleum refineries.
Comparative life cycle assessment of corn stover conversion by decentralized biomass pyrolysis-electrocatalytic hydrogenation versus ethanol fermentation
Sustainable Energy & Fuels2023 Quantification of environmental impacts through life cycle assessment is essential when evaluating bioenergy systems as potential replacements for fossil-based energy systems. Bioenergy systems employing localized fast pyrolysis combined with electrocatalytic hydrogenation followed by centralized hydroprocessing (Py-ECH) can have higher carbon and energy efficiencies than traditional cellulosic biorefineries. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was performed to compare the performance of Py-ECH versus cellulosic fermentation in three environmental impact categories: climate change, water scarcity, and eutrophication. Liquid hydrocarbon production using Py-ECH was found to have much lower eutrophication potential and water scarcity footprint than cellulosic ethanol production.
