ALBERT

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shuping Zhang, Shuguang Zhu, Houlei Zhang, Xinzhi Liu, Huiyan Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Effect of combined pretreatment on the mechanism of pyrolysis behavior and pyrolysis products (bio-oil, non-condensable gas and char) of rice husk was investigated using thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor. A coupling method combining iso-conversional method and model-fitting method was used to obtain the pyrolysis kinetic parameter. Pyrolysis kinetics results indicated that activation energy (〈em〉E〈/em〉) gradually increased with the increase of conversion rate (〈em〉α〈/em〉), which was due to the differences in thermal stability of biomass components. Acid washing pretreatment slightly increased the average activation energy (〈em〉E〈/em〉〈sub〉a〈/sub〉), and then subsequent torrefaction process further increased it. The entire pyrolysis reaction process of all the rice husk samples can be described by the reaction-order model. In addition, a laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor was used to investigate the yields and detailed characteristics of pyrolysis products. The results suggested that phenols and sugars contents in bio-oil increased, while that of small-molecule components with high thermal instability decreased, which was favor for the storage and subsequent utilization of bio-oil. Rice husk char obtained from pyrolysis also has the potential for preparation of silica products. We concluded that combined pretreatment of washing and torrefaction significantly improved the thermochemical utilization potential of rice husk for fuels and chemicals by pyrolysis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302429-fx1.jpg" width="307" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yunna Wu, Yudong Yan, Shiman Wang, Fangtong Liu, Chuanbo Xu, Ting Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Location decision of agroforestry biomass cogeneration (AFBC) project belongs to macro site selection, which is an important task in the pre-project planning stage and directly affects the subsequent economic benefits of the project. However, there are few studies on the site selection of biomass cogeneration projects. And the existing research equates the site selection of biomass cogeneration projects with that of biomass power generation projects, without distinguishing between the two, which is unreasonable. Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes a location decision framework for the AFBC project based on multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) method. Firstly, a special evaluation criteria system is constructed for the location decision of the AFBC project, which includes three main criteria consisting of social needs, resource supply and economic factors, as well as 11 sub-criteria. Then, considering the strong independence of the criteria in the AFBC project location decision, the subjective and objective weights are determined by best-worst method (BWM) and entropy method respectively. And then multiplicative integration method is applied to calculate the comprehensive weights of the criteria to ensure the rationality. Afterwards, Multi-Attributive Border Approximation area Comparison (MABAC) method is used to rank alternative locations and select the optimal. Finally, a case from Hebei Province of China is illustrated to verify the feasibility and validity of this location decision framework in practical applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 129〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sara Rajabi Hamedani, Andrea Colantoni, Francesco Gallucci, Mariangela Salerno, Cristian Silvestri, Mauro Villarini〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Woody biomass has a considerable potential for energy purposes specially after densification processes which convert these materials into solid biofuels with higher energy density. This study focuses on the energy and environmental assessment of pellet production system from vine and olive grove woody biomass. The life cycle assessment (LCA) from grape and olive cultivation up to packed pellet production, ready for delivery to final users was conducted to quantify the eco-profile of agro-pellet production. The results of comparative analysis revealed that pellet production from both biomasses is dominated by cultivation phase. Vine pellet production was more dependent on chemical fertilizers specially potassium sulfate, but olive pellet production was more dependent on copper oxide pesticide. Primary energy use per MJ energy of vine pellet was greater than that of olive pellet (0.6 vs. 0.19). On the other hand, energy return ratio of olive pellet was three times of that of vine pellet (5.22 vs. 1.7). Nevertheless, olive pellet had higher environmental impacts in the forms of human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in input parameters of fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, diesel fuel, transport and pelletizing process on LCA results.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 129〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Paolo S. Calabrò, Filippo Fazzino, Adele Folino, Silvia Scibetta, Rossana Sidari〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Orange Peel Waste (OPW) is a widely produced residue whose management is complicated by its physical and chemical properties. Anaerobic digestion (AD), which is commonly used for the treatment and exploitation of many biodegradable wastes, is inefficient on OPW due to the presence of essential oils (mainly 〈span〉d〈/span〉-Limonene) as well as the low pH, which cause the process to be unstable. Here we explore the effect of alkaline pre-treatment of OPW and of the addition of granular activated carbon (GAC) and Zero Valent Iron (ZVI) in improving AD in two semi-continuous reactors at a laboratory scale. The addition and pre-treatment of ZVI/GAC were shown to help process stability up to a loading of 3 kgVS·m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉·d〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and to increase methane production even at a sub-optimal pH. The investigation of the bacterial community, by high-throughput sequencing, has also increased our insight on their involvement in AD in the presence of ZVI, including its biotic oxidation. In addition, direct interspecies electron transfer was shown to play a role in the reactor supplemented with ZVI.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 129〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sina Kazemifard, Hamed Nayebzadeh, Naser Saghatoleslami, Ebrahim Safakish〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Nowadays, use of microalgae as a cheap feedstock and heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production has gained considerable interest as they mitigate environmental problems induced by the conventional process of biodiesel production using homogeneous alkali catalysts. However, separation of heterogeneous catalysts from tissues and carcass of microalgae is an important task. For this reason, a magnetic Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉–Al〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 nanocatalyst promoted by potassium groups was synthesized using a modified impregnation method and was profoundly studied and compared with nanocatalysts without ferric oxide using X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy analyses. The results revealed that the magnetic nanocatalyst with a core-shell structure had suitable surface area, pore size, and particle size and also had no impurity on its structure. The nanocatalyst was used for biodiesel production from microalgae cultivated in a wastewater medium via in-situ transesterification reaction. The nanocatalyst converted 95.6% of microalgae lipids to esters at optimum conditions of 65 °C, 12 mL g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of methanol-to-dry biomass, 4 wt% of magnetic catalyst and 6 h of reaction time. The magnetic K/Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉–Al〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 core-shell nanocatalyst was reused for several times and presented high stability with less reduction in its activity until six runs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302879-fx1.jpg" width="477" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Brenda J. Alvarez-Chavez, Stéphane Godbout, Joahnn H. Palacios-Rios, Étienne Le Roux, Vijaya Raghavan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Pyrolysis converts lignocellulosic biomass into bio-oil, which result in at least four times with more energy density than raw biomass. Bio-oil could be exploited in heating, power generation or extraction of chemicals. However, quality of bio-oil is not adequate enough to be used in equipment for energy applications. Product yield and l composition of bio-oil have a close relationship with feedstock chemical composition, thus some pre-treatments are used to optimize bio-oil properties, such as chemical composition, heating value and ash content, achieving a better bio-oil quality before pyrolysis. This work reviews the key characteristics of lignocellulosic biomass and the role of chemical composition during pyrolysis reaction to expect a bio-oil with low oxygen content, low water content and low acidity. Therefore, physical, thermal, chemical and biological treatments prior to pyrolysis, are presented and discussed as a possible solution that leads to an improvement in bio-oil quality.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Matthias Stark, Fosca Conti, Abdessamad Saidi, Wilfried Zörner, Rick Greenough〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Within the present study a novel concept for the demand-oriented power generation of a solid-biomass fueled combined heat and power (CHP) plant is investigated. The integration of a novel steam storage system into the plants process enables a decoupling of the steam (boiler) and the power generation (steam turbine). By buffering the steam, the power output of the turbine can be adjusted without changing the rated thermal capacity of the plant. The storage system consist of combination of steam accumulator and concrete storage. An initial model based simulation study is performed to identify the fundamental behavior of this system, integrated in a biomass CHP plant. The operation principle has proved their technical feasibility and seems to be applicable at a commercial scale. According to the modelling results flexible short term power generation in a time range from 15 min to several hours is applicable. A load-range of almost the plant's rated capacity can be achieved. The properties of the proposed concept are competitive to available energy storage systems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Özlem Tuna, Esra Bilgin Simsek, Alper Sarıoğlan, Yeliz DurakÇetin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this study, high-temperature removal of hydrogen sulphide was investigated in a fixed bed reactor using zinc orthotitanate as adsorbent material. The effect of external mass transfer limitation was examined, where no effect on the desulphurization process was observed within the studied flow rate range. The relationship between the product layer diffusion resistance and the reaction temperature was also revealed for the temperature range 450–750 °C. Additionaly, the influence of the reaction atmosphere (reduction, oxidation and gasification) at 750 °C on the desulphurization rate was investigated. The physicochemical changes of the adsorbent during the reaction were interrelated with its desulphurization behaviour through the characterization methods, namely XRD, SEM/EDS and TEM. The study revealed that the product layer formation created a significant resistance and slowed down the desulphurization kinetics. Increasing the temperature within the thermodynamic boundaries was a way of recovering the kinetics. In both the gasification and the H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 atmosphere, reduction of zinc titanate occurred and this caused losses in desulphurization activity. Water vapor caused poisoning of the active sites and this led to a steady loss of desulphurization activity. The study showed that desulphurization performance of Zn〈sub〉2〈/sub〉TiO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 was less influenced by mass transfer limitations compared to its alternatives, which suggests that zinc titanate has great potential for industrial-scale hot desulphurization applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302752-fx1.jpg" width="243" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Maham Khan, Sher J. Khan, Shadi W. Hasan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Membrane biofouling, in terms of quorum sensing (QS), reduction with hollow cylindrical quorum quenching (QQ) beads in submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR(QQ)) and submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR(QQ)) was investigated. Results showed that the rate of pressure increase (i.e. 〈em〉dTMP dt〈/em〉〈sup〉〈em〉−1〈/em〉〈/sup〉) was 0.7 and 0.5 kPa d〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 in SMBR(QQ) and SMEBR(QQ), respectively. Furthermore, sludge physicochemical and biological characteristics were analyzed in terms of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), sludge volume index (SVI), time to filter (TTF), and mean sludge particle size (PSD). Results showed that the presence of electric field reduced SVI and TTF in the SMEBR(QQ) by 47 and 26%, respectively. Also, the concentration profiles of loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances (LB-EPS) and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) showed superiority in the performance of SMEBR(QQ) over SMBR(QQ). Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrient removals were higher in the SMEBR(QQ) reporting 97, 90 and 90% removal of COD, ammonium-N (NH〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-N) and phosphorus-P (PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3-〈/sup〉-P), respectively. The synergetic effects of QQ and electric field have shown significant improvements of conventional MBRs and could be further developed as an efficient wastewater treatment and water reuse.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lucie Drévillon, Mohamed Koubaa, Jean-Marc Nicaud, Eugène Vorobiev〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of different cell disruption techniques on oil extraction from 〈em〉Y. lipolytica〈/em〉 oleaginous yeast. The techniques tested were mechanical expression (ME), moderate pulsed electric field assisted mechanical expression (MPEF-ME), high pulsed electric fields (HPEF), high voltage electrical discharges (HVED), ultrasound (US), and high-pressure homogenization (HPH). The impact of each cell disruption technique on fatty acid composition was investigated. Results show that the most efficient technique for 〈em〉Y. lipolytica〈/em〉 disruption was HPH leading to the obtaining of 83.8 ± 4.8% oil extraction yield, compared to only 19.8 ± 0.5% for the control, without any pre-treatment. In terms of fatty acid composition, HVED induced significant changes in almost all the analyzed fatty acids, while US was the softest technique. HPH, ME, and MPEF-ME induced changes in the content of some fatty acids.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Natalie Martinkus, Greg Latta, Sanne A.M. Rijkhoff, Daniel Mueller, Season Hoard, Daisuke Sasatani, Francesca Pierobon, Michael Wolcott〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Facility siting has traditionally been performed using economic metrics alone to determine suitable locations for a new facility. In this era of climate change concerns and political discord, a more holistic approach to biorefinery siting may yield alternative locations that meet stakeholder goals for community acceptance and reduced environmental impacts. A multi-criteria decision support tool (DST) that incorporates economic, environmental, and social metrics concurrently is introduced to assess the repurpose potential of existing facilities as a wood-based biorefinery. Economic siting criteria are represented by biorefinery operational cost components that vary geospatially. The environmental criterion is the Global Warming Potential of the supply chain, as measured through greenhouse gases emitted from the feedstock procurement, preprocessing, and transport equipment. Social criteria are represented by 1) the number of regional jobs created through the installation of a biofuel supply chain, and 2) county-level social assets that may influence biorefinery project success. Weights and scale values are derived for each set of metrics. An overall facility score is produced by summing the three metric scores. Additionally, overall user-defined metric weights are used to adjust the importance of the three metrics, thus altering the overall facility scores. The DST is applied to a case study in Western Oregon and Western Washington to refine a list of candidate pulp mills down to a select few for further investigation. It was found that the mills scored differently when overall metric weights were adjusted. Therefore, different stakeholder preferences may yield a different priority list of facilities.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Joshua Peppers, Yin Li, Jian Xue, Xiguang Chen, Christopher Alaimo, Luann Wong, Thomas Young, Peter G. Green, Bryan Jenkins, Ruihong Zhang, Michael J. Kleeman〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A small-scale, transportable membrane upgrading system designed to purify biogas was tested at two food waste digesters and one dairy digester. The system had a rated capacity of 100 Nm〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 raw biogas making it suitable for the many small-scale biogas production facilities being developed across California. The membrane removed a majority of the carbon dioxide from the biogas with performance matching expected targets. The membrane system also removed trace levels of aldehydes, ketones, siloxanes, halocarbons, and sulfur-containing compounds from the biogas, mainly because the pre-cleaning steps removed these contaminants from the gas stream. The average composition of upgraded biomethane produced by the membrane system satisfied the trace contaminant requirements for pipeline injection in California. Residual air in the biogas was not removed efficiently by the membrane system which prevented methane concentrations from reaching levels sufficient to meet the heating value requirements for pipeline injection. Dedicated upgrading plants could carefully eliminate air leakage to address this issue, and/or mix propane into the biomethane to achieve the target heating value. An economic model developed for small scale biogas production facilities predicted that capital costs for a typical small-scale membrane separation plant exceed $2.46 million and projects only become financially viable over a 15 year return period when natural gas prices exceed $21.92 GJ〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. Current market prices for petroleum natural gas are far below this level, and so financial incentives will be required to make small-scale biogas projects using membrane separation technology viable in the near term.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Muhammad Usman Khan, Birgitte Kiaer Ahring〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Large-scale implementation of Biorefineries for the substitution of oil-based fuels with biofuels and bio-products will result in the production of large amounts of lignin.Furthermore,the paper and pulp industry produces lignin residues such as Kraft-lignin, which has limited use today. Lignin needs to be degraded before this high molecular weight molecule can be converted into valuable bio-products. Biodegradation of native lignin has been described for fungal strains such as white and brown rot fungi and for a variety of different bacterial genera. Anaerobic biodegradation of lignin is, however, far less understood today and most studies has been done using small molecular weight lignin degradation compounds, while little work has been done on the conversion of native lignin. In this paper we will discuss the influence of lignin modifications pertaining to its degradation during anaerobic digestion . Wet oxidation reactions using oxygen at a temperature of ca. 175 °C for 25 min was found to increase the degree of methoxylation of lignin with simultaneous increment in conversion during anaerobic conditions. Several studies have further found that de-methoxylation is the first step during anaerobic degradation of lignin followed by ring cleavage and fermentation into methane and carbon dioxide. As lignin is an important component of the materials that are fed to biogas plant, we have futher discussed the potential of these findings in this paper.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302740-fx1.jpg" width="386" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Eloísa Rochón, Florencia Cebreiros, Mario Daniel Ferrari, Claudia Lareo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Butanol and isopropanol are important commodity chemicals with a variety of applications. 〈em〉n〈/em〉-Butanol is considered an advanced biofuel, and isopropanol has good properties as a fuel additive. In this work, isopropanol and butanol (IB) production from sugarcane and a mixture of sugarcane-sweet sorghum industrial juices by 〈em〉Clostridium beijerinckii〈/em〉 DSM 6423 were studied. The addition of a buffer and mineral P2 stock solutions, a commercial vitamin complex instead of pure vitamins, and yeast extract was necessary to obtain high isopropanol and butanol concentrations. Fermentation was performed with the simultaneous extraction of solvents by gas stripping. Total sugar conversion, isopropanol and butanol concentrations of 10.9 and 7.8 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, and an IB yield and productivity of 0.27 g g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and 0.11 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 h〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 were achieved, respectively.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Méndez-Hernández Jazmín Edith, Loera Octavio, Méndez-Hernández Edna Madai, Herrera Esperanza, Soto-Cruz Nicolás Óscar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Currently, industry is migrating towards sustainable practises, where the wastes produced in one process are used as feedstock for other productive purposes. In the present study, we show that a by-product from the fabrication of second-generation bioethanol can be used to improve the production of biogas from corn stover. The washing water generated during the pretreatment stage of bioethanol production was recovered and reused as a co-substrate for the anaerobic digestion of corn stover. This water contained high concentrations of lignocellulolytic enzymes that once added to the digester improved the methane production kinetics. In comparison with digestion in the absence of these extra enzymes, the ultimate methane yield (〈em〉P〈/em〉) increased 42%, with a reduction in the lag-phase time (λ) of 67% and an increase in the methane production rate (〈em〉R〈/em〉〈sub〉〈em〉m〈/em〉〈/sub〉) of almost 30%. These results were compared with those obtained during the co-digestion of corn stover and cattle manure, which is a well-known strategy to improve methane yields from lignocellulosic residues. However, despite the fact that the use of cattle manure improved methane yields, the results obtained using the enzyme-rich washing water were significantly better. The present study describes a simple strategy for the revalorisation of a by-product from the production of second-generation bioethanol.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302715-fx1.jpg" width="467" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xi Liang, John E. Erickson, Maria L. Silveira, Lynn E. Sollenberger, Diane L. Rowland, Wilfred Vermerris〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Perennial bioenergy grasses can potentially replace fossil fuels and offset atmospheric CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 through soil C sequestration. However, limited information relevant to the impacts of bioenergy cropping on ecosystem services, especially above- and below-ground productivity and soil C sequestration is available for subtropical environments (e.g., southeastern USA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of perennial bioenergy cropping on C cycling and accumulation in the soil following four years of production in North Florida. Treatments consisted of six perennial grass species: giant reed, elephantgrass, energycane, sugarcane, sweetcane, and giant miscanthus. Elephantgrass, energycane, sweetcane, and sugarcane produced great shoot biomass (31–41 Mg ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) when harvested once per year. Giant reed's shoot biomass responded favorably to two harvests per year (27–43 Mg ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), whereas giant miscanthus did not perform well in any of the years (9–21 Mg ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). Additionally, giant reed, sweetcane, and giant miscanthus produced greater root biomass (9–11 Mg ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) compared with the other three species (2.5–3.2 Mg ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). Among the six grasses, sweetcane, energycane, and elephantgrass resulted in increases in soil C stocks (~15 Mg ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) relative to the initial level. Conversely, giant reed and giant miscanthus had no increase in soil C stock. Results suggested that interspecies differences observed in biomass yield among the six perennial bioenergy grasses could therefore affect soil C accumulation. High biomass yielding species such as sweetcane, energycane, and elephantgrass can effectively increase soil C within a few years following establishment in a subtropical environment.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Anupam Dutta〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The last decade has witnessed a significant growth in biodiesel production in order to mitigate the adverse impact of CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 emissions. Given that the EU biodiesel is mainly produced from rapeseed oil, higher carbon taxes are likely to raise the production of biodiesel which, in turn, increase the prices of this important edible oil. Nevertheless, the association between the EU emission trading scheme and the biodiesel market remains understudied. In this paper, we aim to fill this vacuum in the existing literature. Adopting a bivariate DCC-GARCH model, we show that risk significantly transmits from emission market to the EU rapeseed oil market suggesting that volatile carbon prices would cause uncertainties in the rapeseed oil price index. We also find that an increase in the emission prices tends to promote the biodiesel feedstock prices. Implications of the results are discussed as well.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Marcin Zieliński, Marta Kisielewska, Magda Dudek, Paulina Rusanowska, Anna Nowicka, Mirosław Krzemieniewski, Joanna Kazimierowicz, Marcin Dębowski〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The study was aimed to compare the methane potential from the silage of 〈em〉Sida hermaphrodita〈/em〉 mixed with cattle manure pretreated by microwave (MW) thermohydrolysis with liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment. It was illustrated that both pretreatment methods significantly improved degradation of the lignocellulosic structure and improved the methane production. The maximum methane production of MW pretreated biomass was 590 NL/kg VS at 150 °C and 15 min with an improvement of 39.1% to an untreated sample. In turn, LHW treatment provided the maximum methane production of 575 NL/kg VS with the same pretreatment conditions. The net energy output significantly higher than calculated for the control sample was achieved only for MW pretreatment at 150 °C and 15–30 min. In other variants, pretreatment step needed higher energy input than the net energy gain from methane production.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ashutosh Pandey, Sameer Srivastava, Sanjay Kumar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Combined process development for efficient recycling of nutrients using microalgae may deliver realistic answer to both environment management and energy generation. This study demonstrates the biomass and lipid yields of 〈em〉Scenedesmus〈/em〉 sp. ASK22 and simultaneous nutrient remediation of simulated dairy effluent (SDE). The Plackett-Burman method is employed to screen essential nutrients that effect the 〈em〉Scenedesmus〈/em〉 sp. ASK22 lipid production grown in SDE. Central composite design (CCD) is employed to evaluate the interactive effect and optimization of variable. The significant variables are observed to be NaNO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, EDTA, micronutrients and initial pH and these variables are screened on the basis of high confidence levels (p 〈 0.05). The optimum value of initial pH, NaNO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 (g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉), EDTA (mg L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) and micronutrients (ml L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) were found to be 7.18, 1.21, 0.848 and 0.969, respectively for maximum lipid accumulation. Biomass yield and nutrients sequestration rate is also improved by addition of nutrients at optimum level. The maximum biomass and lipid yield of 〈em〉Scenedesmus〈/em〉 sp. ASK22 in the optimized medium were 2.68 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and 1.05 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively resulting in an overall 2.19 and 2.8-fold increase compared to without nutrient added SDE. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrate and phosphate removal efficiency were also increased by 10.68%, 17.59% and 19.36%, respectively in optimized SDE. The C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:3 were the dominant fatty acids in lipid which indicates a great potential of 〈em〉Scenedesmus〈/em〉 sp. ASK22 biodiesel production and simultaneous nutrients sequestration process using nutrients added SDE.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302685-fx1.jpg" width="327" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 128〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jerome Amoah, Kazuma Ogura, Quentin Schmetz, Akihiko Kondo, Chiaki Ogino〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An efficient method to co-ferment xylose and glucose in ionic liquid was developed via effective simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of sugar cane bagasse. Fermentation of pure xylose to ethanol in ionic liquids by two engineered xylose-assimilating 〈em〉Saccharomyces cerevisiae〈/em〉 yeast strains, XR-XDH (Xylose Reductase-Xylitol Dehydrogenase pathway strain) and XI (Xylose isomerase pathway strain) resulted in lower conversion compared to ionic liquid-free medium. The ionic liquids however contributed to a higher saccharification efficiency of sugar cane bagasse. Among the five ionic liquids tested, 1-butyl-3-methylpyridinium chloride ([Bmpy][Cl]) yielded the highest saccharification efficiency resulting in 0.7 g/L xylose and 2.3 g/L glucose which are 5 and 2-folds, respectively, higher than the absence of ionic liquid. The high saccharification efficiency in [Bmpy][Cl] resulted in a more efficient assimilation of xylose from sugar cane bagasse in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process leading to 84.0% ethanol yield compared to 26.7% produced by the reference strain in the absence of ionic liquid. This efficient method for co-fermentation of xylose and glucose to ethanol will further enhance the effective utilization of biomass as a resource for bioethanol production.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A xylose-assimilating yeast capable of co-fermenting xylose and glucose in ionic liquid was developed to maximise bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302326-fx1.jpg" width="276" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Michela Langone, Roberta Ferrentino, Federico Freddi, Gianni Andreottola〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The present work aims to analyze the valorization of blood (Category 3 animal by-products). In this study, for the first time, blood serum water, obtained after a sterilization process and a solid/liquid separation unit, has been utilized as energy rich input material for anaerobic digestion. The performance of an up-flow anaerobic filter (UAF) for treating bovine blood serum water under mesophilic conditions was investigated. The reactor was loaded up to an organic loading rate of 2.5 kg m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 d〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of total COD, achieving total and soluble COD removal efficiencies of 90% and 92%, respectively. A maximum biogas yield of 0.56 m〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of removed total COD was measured.〈/p〉 〈p〉According to the modified Stover-Kincannon kinetic model, maximum removal rate constant, U〈sub〉max〈/sub〉, and saturation value constant, K〈sub〉B〈/sub〉, values were estimated as 18.8 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 d〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and 18.5 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 d〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 for blood serum water, respectively. As the model gave high correlation coefficients (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 = 97%), it could be used in both designing and predicting the behaviour of the UAF.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Flow sheet of the plant for the blood valorization process proposed in this work.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418302812-fx1.jpg" width="289" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: May 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mark H. Eisenbies, Timothy A. Volk, Obste Therasme, Karl Hallen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Bulk density is a key attribute of biomass feedstocks that affects both conversion processes and logistics. Reported bulk density for fresh willow chips ranges between 195 and 393 kg m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 and it is unknown if standardized methods using several kg of chips scale effectively to collection vehicles that contain several Mg. The objective of this study was to compare three bulk density methods for 53 commercially harvested willow loads and compare bulk density in three different collection wagons. An ISO standard ‘bucket’ method was compared to actual and effective bulk density measurements. Mean as-received bulk density using the standard ISO method was 262 kg m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 (σ = 25) and was not correlated with wagon load measurements of actual or effective bulk density. The actual bulk density in a small (10 m〈sup〉3〈/sup〉) collection vehicle was 302 kg m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 (σ = 32), which was significantly greater than the 214 kg m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 (σ = 28) that was measured in two larger (30 m〈sup〉3〈/sup〉) collection vehicles. In addition, actual bulk density in wagons was higher than the effective bulk density (247 kg m〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉 (σ = 24)) observed for the truck deliveries. Collection wagon geometry and design impacted these results, which may have implications for modeling these systems. The variation in bulk density values is important to understand and represent in modeling of harvesting and logistics systems in order to capture what is actually occurring in commercial scale operations.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: May 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): D.S. Shrestha, B.D. Staab, J.A. Duffield〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Food price and land use data over an extended time period have been examined to identify possible correlations between biofuel production and food price or land use changes. We compared the food price index before and after the biofuel boom in the 2000s to evaluate biofuel's impact on the inflation rate. We found that the U.S. food price inflation rate since 1973 could be divided into three distinct regions. The inflation rate was lowest at 2.6% during 1991–2016, which encompasses the biofuel boom. Among many factors, continuously rising food production per capita was identified as the likely cause of low food price inflation during this period. The US exports of corn have not declined since the 1990s and soybean exports are rising at a steady rate. Among several variables tested as a cause of food price index increase, crude oil price had the highest correlation. We also manually verified the automated land use classification of satellite image covering 664 km〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 in three selected areas in the US. We found that 10.90% of non-agricultural land was misclassified as agriculture, whereas only 2.23% of agricultural land was misclassified as non-agricultural. The automated classification showed an 8.53% increase in agricultural land from 2011 to 2015, while the manual classification showed only 0.31% (±1.92%) increase. This result was within the margin of error alluding to no significant land use change. We concluded that automated satellite image land use classification should be verified more rigorously to be used for land use change analysis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hui Xu, Ning Zhao, Huiyin Yao, Han Qin, Jie Zeng, Yulu Ran, Yunbo Yang, Dairong Qiao, Yi Cao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A cost-efficient system was developed for the production of single cell oil from lignocellulosic biomass. The pretreatment of corn stover by ammonium carbonate-steam explosion was performed. A maximum lignin removal rate of 47.26% was observed and confirmed by SEM, XRD and FTIR. In the process of enzymatic hydrolysis, higher initial enzyme loadings were used to reduce the reaction time to 24 h. Under these conditions, the sugar conversion, sugar conversion rate and sugar yield of the pretreated corn stover were 74.84%, 2.00 g L〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 h〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 and 479.4 g kg〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 corn stover, respectively. The biomass production, lipid concentration and lipid content of 〈em〉Cryptococcus podzolicus〈/em〉 SCTCC300292 were 10.56 g L〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉, 5.03 g L〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 and 47.60%, respectively, in the fermentation of enzymatic hydrolysate. An improved cycling process of enzymatic hydrolysis was employed to reduce the enzyme loading by 40%. The sugar conversion increased to 80.17% and the sugar yield to 513.45 g kg〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 corn stover with a higher sugar release rate of 2.14 g L〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 h〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉. Furthermore, the lipid yield reached 54.6 g kg〈sup〉-1〈/sup〉 corn stover for the whole biorefinery process. These results indicated that the process of ammonium carbonate-steam explosion pretreatment and recirculated enzymatic hydrolysis would be a highly efficient path for converting lignocellulosic feedstocks into lipids.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Nariê Rinke Dias de Souza, Juliana Aparecida Fracarolli, Tassia L. Junqueira, Mateus F. Chagas, Terezinha F. Cardoso, Marcos D.B. Watanabe, Otavio Cavalett, Solismar P. Venzke Filho, Bruce E. Dale, Antonio Bonomi, Luis Augusto Barbosa Cortez〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉New models for renewable energy production are needed to simultaneously decrease greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, use land more efficiently and replace large amounts of fossil fuel. Ethanol production and livestock feed integration as practiced in the United States (USA) is one model for ethanol production combined with animal feed production. Brazil, the second largest ethanol and beef cattle producer in the world, can adapt the USA model of corn ethanol and cattle integration considering its local characteristics. This paper evaluates the techno-economic and environmental feasibility of sugarcane ethanol and cattle integration, thereby avoiding pasture displacement into forests or other sensitive lands. Cattle can be fattened in feedlots using some sugarcane ethanol byproducts. Intensification of cattle production by integration with sugarcane production releases pasture area to produce more biofuels, without needing more land for cattle production. The release of pasture land to produce more sugarcane results in what we call “avoided ILUC”, the resultant reduced GHG emissions compared to conventional sugarcane ethanol, because no additional land is needed to accommodate an additional sugarcane ethanol production. Simulations were performed using the Virtual Sugarcane Biorefinery (VSB) model developed by the Brazilian Bioethanol Science and Technology Laboratory (CTBE). We calculated as economic parameters the internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV) and payback time. Climate impacts were assessed via Life Cycle Assessment. Sugarcane and cattle integration decreases overall climate impacts compared to non-integrated systems. Techno-economic feasibility is achieved by additional land rental revenues for released pasture area and by carbon credits.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: December 2018〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 119〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kodanda Phani Raj Dandamudi, Tapaswy Muppaneni, Jasmina S. Markovski, Peter Lammers, Shuguang Deng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is one of the promising and reliable thermochemical conversion processes capable of converting wet biomass feedstock into renewable bio-oils. In this study, microalga 〈em〉Kirchneriella〈/em〉 sp. was liquefied under hydrothermal conditions in a stainless-steel batch reactor. Various process parameters such as reaction temperature, pressure, biomass solid loading, and reaction duration were varied from 200 to 375 °C, 9–25 MPa, 10–20%, and 15–60 min, respectively. A one-factor-at-a-time approach was employed, and comprehensive experimental runs were further performed at 10% solid loading and a reaction time of 30 min. The maximum bio-crude yield (45.5%) was obtained at 300 °C, 9 MPa, with 10% solid loading and 30 min reaction duration. Fresh algal biomass, bio-oil and biochar samples were characterized by the ultimate and proximate analyses. The bio-oil and bio-char samples obtained at 300 °C, 9 MPa, with 10% solid loading and 30 min reaction duration have a higher heating value of 37.52 and 23.48 MJ kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively. The HTL aqueous phase was analyzed for potential co-products by spectrophotometric techniques and is rich in soluble carbohydrates, dissolved ammoniacal nitrogen and phosphates. The metal impurities in the algae, bio-oil, and biochar were identified by ICP-OES where algae and biochar contain a large proportion of phosphorous and magnesium.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mauro Giorcelli, Aamer Khan, Nicola M. Pugno, Carlo Rosso, Alberto Tagliaferro〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study reports about the use of Biochar derived from maple tree as a filler in Epoxy resin. Maple tree blocks were pyrolyzed in inert atmosphere at 600 °C and 1000 °C respectively and were characterized morphologically. The composite mechanical properties, i.e. stress-strain curves and related parameters (ultimate tensile strength, Young modulus, resilience, tensile toughness) were recorded as well as their friction coefficient. It is shown that at very low wt.% of the filler, the Young modulus is increased while at higher wt.% (2 wt% and above) the fragile behavior of the resin was converted in a ductile one, as elongation at break increased from 0.02 to 0.12. A huge impact of the filler is observed on tensile toughness as for the best sample is increased 11 times with respect with pure resin. A simple model able to describe the results and make predictions on other wt.% is presented as well.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Edgaras Linkevičius, Jens Schröder, Heinz Röhle〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Rapid development and cultivation of willow Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), driven by international companies, demand reliable, easily applicable and cheap, non-destructive biomass yield estimation methods that are not yet available in Lithuania. During the last years, knowledge transfer between research institutions and industry across Europe has therefore been an important and fostered topic in this area. This study focuses on non-destructive biomass estimation methods, developed by German research institutions, and evaluates them under Lithuanian growth conditions. The common allometric power equation (APE), quadratic mean diameter (QMD), and yield appraisal (YA) approaches were tested for estimation bias, precision and accuracy. In total, data from 39 commercial willow SRC were used for the analyses.〈/p〉 〈p〉According to the results, mean annual oven dried biomass increment was higher in German willow SRC compared to Lithuanian willow SRC. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the scaling coefficients of plot specific allometric power equations.〈/p〉 〈p〉The developed country-specific common APE were characterize by very high coefficients of determination (R2 〉0.96). Predictions of both common models were in line with predictions of plot-specific models and none of these models produced a higher bias or a significantly lower precision compared to plot-specific APE models.〈/p〉 〈p〉Compared with the other applied methods (QMD and YA), common APEs produced the most accurate estimations for Lithuanian and German willow SRC.〈/p〉 〈p〉Based on our findings we conclude that the transfer of non-destructive biomass estimation methods between Lithuania and Germany is scientifically sound and offers an important synergetic potential for local industries.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Michael E. Goerndt, Barry T. Wilson, Francisco X. Aguilar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Increasing interest in utilization of forest biomass for bioenergy has prompted extensive contemporary research regarding costs, supply and technology for efficiently producing electricity and other forms of renewable energy. One challenge facing both researchers and users is obtaining precise estimates of available forest biomass within plausible supply areas for individual power plants. Due to the wide distribution of power plants poised to co-fire with forest biomass, assessing its availability requires methods that can yield precise and low-bias estimates of aboveground forest biomass and other key attributes at varying spatial scales. Small area estimation (SAE) methods have high potential to accomplish this due to the availability of national forest inventory data, combined with satellite imagery and other forms of remotely-sensed auxiliary information. The study assessed several indirect, direct and composite estimators of four forest attributes: aboveground tree biomass, biomass of small-diameter trees, biomass of tops and limbs, and volume at the county-level and within the estimated supply areas around power plants across 20 states in the contiguous Northern U.S. Composite estimators using both k-nearest neighbors imputation and multiple linear regression provided superior estimates of indicators of forest biomass availability based on both precision and bias at the county-level at sampling intensities as low as 10–20%, compared to the other SAE methods examined. The composite estimator using k-nearest neighbors imputation was subsequently shown to produce precise estimates of forest biomass availability for selected power plant supply areas.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Roger Ibbett, Sanyasi Gaddipati, Gregory Tucker〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Fundamental studies of biomass hydrothermal deconstruction reactions have been carried out under realistic conditions using a novel high-pressure differential scanning calorimetry technique. Exotherms related to cellulose and hemicellulose degradation were identified as separate features, with maxima around 280 °C and 250 °C respectively in the dry state, where curve fitting using a non-isothermal kinetic model was used to postulate the existence of an equivalent lignin exotherm, with a maximum around 240 °C, masked by the carbohydrate features. A downward shift in the hemicellulose exotherm was observed on hydration, of around 25 °C, which may due to the promotion of preceding hydrolytic depolymerisation reactions, which may reduce the kinetic threshold for subsequent dehydration reactions. No corresponding hydration shift was observed for the cellulose exotherm, consistent with the inaccessibility of the crystalline structure of this biomass component. Differences in hydrated degradation exotherm profiles were observed between wheat-straw, 〈em〉Miscanthus〈/em〉 and willow biomass species, which in-part corresponded to differences in enzyme digestibility following hydrothermal treatment. The total willow exotherm exhibited lower enthalpy than straw, of 339 J/g and compared to 510 J/g, with both hemicellulose and cellulose exotherm maxima for willow at higher temperatures, at 233 °C and 291 °C, compared to 224 °C and 281 °C for straw, which was consistent with the greater intractability of this woody biomass. The results from the study will be valuable in defining process temperatures and hydration conditions for optimal biomass conversion for downstream thermal and biochemical processing, and also helping to understand phenotypical differences in plant species leading to differing conversion efficiencies.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303416-fx1.jpg" width="290" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Fernando Bonfiglio, Matías Cagno, Fabiana Rey, Marina Torres, Silvia Böthig, Pilar Menéndez, Solange I. Mussatto〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Switchgrass (〈em〉Panicum virgatum〈/em〉) is a perennial grass highly valued as an energy crop resource for the production of bioethanol due to its high carbohydrate content, fast growth, and ability to grow in lands that cannot support crop or food production. In the present study, this biomass was submitted to steam explosion pretreatment in a semi-continuous pre-pilot reactor with the aim of obtaining a pretreated solid with high digestibility for enzymatic hydrolysis. Different conditions of temperature (170–200 °C) and residence time (5–15 min), leading to different severity factors (2.76–4.12) were used for steam explosion pretreatment, which were combined through a 2〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 central composite design. The results revealed that both variables had great influence in the process, affecting both the biomass structure and the saccharification yield, as a consequence. However, in the range of values evaluated in this study, the effect of the temperature was more prominent than the effect of the residence time. The best saccharification yield (88.3%) was obtained when using the biomass pretreated at 200 °C for 10 min. Similar result was obtained using a commercial cellulose pulp as feedstock for enzymatic hydrolysis, confirming that the best conditions for switchgrass pretreatment in the pre-pilot scale were successfully established.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yi Huang, Ying-jie Zhao, Yan-hong Hao, Guo-qiang Wei, Jie Feng, Wen-ying Li, Qun Yi, Usama Mohamed, Mohamed Pourkashanian, William Nimmo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Gasification is one of the most promising technologies for conversion of biomass into power generation due to its tremendous potential for improving the efficiency of energy conversion and reducing the cost of electricity (COE). In this study, the techno-economic feasibility of distributed power plants via wheat/corn straw gasification in China was investigated, and an economic model was established using a basic discounted cash flow analysis to estimate economic performance of the power plants. The effects of key variables (such as scales, feedstock cost, electricity prices and run time etc.) on economic performance were analyzed, and the results showed that plant scale and straw cost are the most influential parameters on the plant economic performance. It is estimated that a plant with a capacity of 5 MWe can be the optimal option for agricultural straw gasification for distributed power generation, the COE is 0.402 CNY/kWh, and SO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉, NOx and dust emission are 2.5, 2.0 and 0.038 g/kWh, respectively. The net present value (NPV) and the annual average of return on investment (ROI) of the plant are 85.9 million CNY and 49.7%, respectively, with a high discount of 0.12 at a current feed-in tariff (0.75 CNY/kWh) for biomass to power in China, suggesting a good economic feasibility and market competitiveness. The deployment of agricultural residues resources gasification to distributed power generation displacing coal-fired power to supply electricity with rural area shows a significant potential in pollutants emission reduction and coal saving. Biomass gasification for distributed power generation serves as a sustainable technique for utilization of agricultural resources in practice, and would be widely applied in the near future supported by renewable energy strategies of Chinese government.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303398-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tania Sila Campioni, Leandro de Jesus Moreira, Evandro Moretto, Natalie Stephanie Sawada Nunes, Pedro de Oliva Neto〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Xylanase extract, produced by 〈em〉T. reesei〈/em〉 QM9414 in a culture with sugarcane straw (SS) as substrate, was studied in the biobleaching of Kraft pulp associated with chemical bleaching. The biobleaching parameters optimization showed that 30 U/g of xylanases, at pH 5, at 50 °C, during 30 min, are the best conditions to bleach the crude Kraft pulp (3% of consistency). lA decrease of 12.5% of Kappa number, as well as the release of 1 g/lL of sugar, and the presence of chromophores compounds (237 nm) are also observed. After this xylanase biobleaching the final chlorine dioxide consumption decrease in 10%, maintaining the same brightness as in the control on the subsequent chemical process. SEM shows the effect on the pulp surface. These results clearly demonstrated that the 〈em〉T. reesei〈/em〉 QM9414 xylanase is an eco-friendly and economical alternative for paper production.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): José Luiz Francisco Alves, Jean Constantino Gomes da Silva, Valdemar Francisco da Silva Filho, Ricardo Francisco Alves, Wendell Venicio de Araujo Galdino, Rennio Felix De Sena〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In the present study, the bioenergy potential of two invasive aquatic macrophytes, water hyacinth (〈em〉Eichhornia crassipes〈/em〉) and yellow velvetleaf (〈em〉Limnocharis flava〈/em〉), were investigated through thermochemical characterization, kinetic study and thermodynamic analysis. Thermochemical characterization indicated that the two study specimens have a good potential for use as abundant low-cost biomass to solid biofuel. Pyrolysis experiments were performed in a thermogravimetric analyzer under an inert environment at six low heating rates (5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 °C min〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉). The thermal degradation of two invasive aquatic macrophytes exhibited a similar behavior, which occurs in multi-step events. Non-isothermal experimental data were used to analyze kinetic parameters through isoconversional methods: Friedman (FR), Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO), Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), Starink (STK) and Vyazovkin (VYA). The KAS, STK and VYA methods showed a similar value of 〈em〉E〈/em〉〈sub〉〈em〉a〈/em〉〈/sub〉 for water hyacinth and yellow velvetleaf (〈em〉E〈/em〉〈sub〉〈em〉a〈/em〉(Stage1)〈/sub〉 = 92.58 and 160.66 kJ mol〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, 〈em〉E〈/em〉〈sub〉〈em〉a〈/em〉(Stage2)〈/sub〉 = 119.56 and 105.55 kJ mol〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, 〈em〉E〈/em〉〈sub〉〈em〉a〈/em〉(Stage3)〈/sub〉 = 229.07 and 160.99 kJ mol〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively) due to the approximation equations have the lowest relative errors. The endothermic and non-spontaneous process occurred for the invasive aquatic macrophytes due to the positive ΔH, positive ΔG, and negative ΔS values. This study provides useful data for future simulation, design, optimization and scale-up of reactors for pyrolysis processes of invasive aquatic macrophytes. Sustainable, abundant and low-cost invasive aquatic macrophytes have considerable bioenergy potential comparable to established bioenergy feedstock for bioenergy production, and at the same time, acting as a solution to the problems caused by these invasive plants.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 19 December 2018〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kevin S. Kung, Santosh Shanbhogue, Alexander H. Slocum, Ahmed F. Ghoniem〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A new, simplified biomass torrefaction reactor concept that operates under oxygen-lean conditions is proposed as a potential way to downscale torrefaction reactors for small- and medium-scale applications. To verify the feasibility of the concept, a multi-scale analysis was conducted to understand the design requirements, underlying chemistry, intra-particle effects, and overall reactor-scale heat transfer. We demonstrate that the heat transfer within the reactor and the appropriate reactor height is largely determined by gas-phase advection. Finally, by implementing a laboratory-scale reactor and operating it under diverse conditions, we show that such a design can indeed satisfy the requirements for torrefaction. This lays the basis for the second part of this two-part paper, where we develop a detailed mathematical model for this concept. In future studies, we will also systematically define and map the performance metrics and reaction conditions in order to understand the scaling laws for potential commercialization of this concept.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ramin Azargohar, Sonil Nanda, Ajay K. Dalai, Janusz A. Kozinski〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This research work was focused on the evaluation of chemical and physical properties for biochars obtained using hydro-thermal and steam gasification of biomass pellets produced from canola hull and canola meal. Van Krevelen plot showed the lignite-like characteristics for these biochars. For hydro-thermal gasification, X-ray diffraction, Raman, and thermogravimetric results showed incomplete depolymerization of cellulose structure of biomass at low temperatures. Thermogravimetric analysis and Raman analysis indicated complete destruction of cellulose structure and development of aromatic structure for temperatures ≥550 °C. For steam gasification, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy C1s scan results showed the aromatic/aliphatic carbon contents of biochars larger than 69% for all gasification operating conditions. Biochars prepared using steam gasifictaion showed more cracked surface and larger porous characteristics compared to biochars prepared using hydro-thermal gasification. The development of aromatic structures in biochars was found in the case of all levels of operating conditions during steam gasification, and at high temperatures in the case of hydro-thermal gasification. The biochars produced by gasification showed the same O/C atomic ratio, larger H/C atomic ratio, lower compact aromatic structure development, and relatively higher ash content compared to the conventional biochars produced by pyrolysis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Indu Ambat, Walter Z. Tang, Mika Sillanpää〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Algal biodiesel is one of the most promising renewable and eco-friendly source of energy for transportation, when algae is produced from wastewater. During the process, both goals of biodiesel production and wastewater treatment could be achieved simultaneously. However, the optimal condition for algae production remained unanswered. Algal biodiesel could be produced from various wastewater treatments. In this study the relationship between biomass production versus lipid productivity in various wastewater sources is statistically analyzed. Chemical oxidation demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 sequestration could be achieved during the production of different algal biomass in numerous type of wastewater effluent. The regression of different system models and interpretation of linear coefficients were represented in this statistically approached studies. Apart from that the paper also discuss the uncertainty of linear regressions using Monte Carlo method, influence of physical parameters on biomass production, energy potential and efficiency of nutrient removal using different phototrophic systems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 121〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Roudabeh Samiee-Zafarghandi, Alireza Hadi, Javad Karimi-Sabet〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this study, biomass conversion of 〈em〉chlorella sp.〈/em〉 microalgae was investigated in the catalytic supercritical water gasification (SCWG) process. The catalytic effect of five different graphene-supported metal nanoparticle catalysts (Ni/rGO, Cu/rGO, Co/rGO, Mn/rGO and Cr/rGO) were evaluated on the composition of syngas. The impact of main process factors including catalyst loading (40, 70, and 100wt%), and temperature (355–405 °C) was studied on the SCWG process over Ni/rGO catalyst as the most efficient catalyst among the selected metal nanoparticles. The findings showed that at the optimum Ni/rGO loading of 70wt% (at temperature of 380 °C), the hydrogen yield increased by a factor of 5.8 in comparison to absence of Ni/rGO catalyst. At the optimum temperature of 405 °C (Ni/rGO loading of 40wt%), hydrogen selectivity of 31.9% was obtained. The results revealed that increment of Ni/rGO catalyst loading extremely reduced the solid residue and tar formation, which is desired in the SCWG process. Moreover, Characterizations proved the stability of prepared catalysts at supercritical condition.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303301-fx1.jpg" width="317" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 19 December 2018〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kevin S. Kung, Ahmed F. Ghoniem〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In Part I of the study, we proposed a simplified biomass torrefaction moving bed reactor design capable of decentralized, small-scale, and mobile deployment operated under an oxygen-lean condition. We built and validated a laboratory-scale test reactor. In the present study, we develop a mathematical description of the reactor and show that it produces reasonable fit to our experimental data. Contrary to many existing biomass gasifier studies, we demonstrate that at the small test-reactor scale, heat loss mechanism through the side wall is significant and cannot be ignored in the modeling. We further demonstrated that at the small test-reactor scale, the rapid axial thermal conduction plays a role in the heat transfer within the moving bed. Furthermore, by interrogating the scaling behaviors of the reactor, we show that as we scale up our current laboratory-scale reactor, at the same torrefaction severity, the mass yield of the torrefied biomass is predicted to increase by 10–20%, due to the decrease in relative heat losses at a larger scale. This study, therefore, seeks to understand and quantify some of the limitations of testing a scaled-down reactor prototype. The understanding gained in this study can both inform scaling laws for at-scale reactor designs, as well as point out areas of future work in order to develop a higher-fidelity description.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hon-Choong Chin, Weng-Wai Choong, Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi, Abdul Hakim Mohammed〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉There is a considerable literature on the influence of farming characteristics on the farmers' intention to supply agricultural and forestry residues. However, the most of the studies focused on the direct causal-effect relationship between farming characteristic variables and the farmers’ intention to supply residues. Different considerations regarding the different farming characteristics segment remain unanswered. Moreover, farming characteristics with insignificant results can be misinterpreted as unimportant by policy makers and biofuel producers, and therefore they can misjudge the influence of the overall farming characteristics. Supported by an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study used the PLS-MGA to demonstrate the moderation effect of the four farming characteristics - dependency on the FFB collectors, landownership status, plantation size, and plantation experience - on smallholder planters' intentions to supply palm residues for biofuel production. The results show that smallholder planters from each farming characteristic group consider supplying palm residues differently, compared to the other groups of planters. Clarifying the different considerations accordingly can provide an insight into formulating an effective engagement strategy to foster the involvement of smallholder planters providing feedstock for biofuel production.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): D.J. Krol, M.B. Jones, M. Williams, Ó. Ní Choncubhair, G.J. Lanigan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Bioenergy crop production can enhance greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, whilst producing feedstocks for energy generation. However, the GHG balance of these ecosystems is intimately linked to crop selection, previous and current land management and the effects of land conversion. This study aims to quantify nitrous oxide (N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O) emissions from the early stage of land-use change (LUC) from perennial grassland to two perennial rhizomatous grasses in a temperate climate: 〈em〉Miscanthus〈/em〉 and reed canary grass (RCG) in the south of Ireland. Emissions of N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O were measured during the first two years of RCG and 〈em〉Miscanthus〈/em〉 establishment. 〈em〉Miscanthus〈/em〉 stands emitted 7.7 ± 1.6 and 2.3 ± 0.2 kg N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O-N ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 yr〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 in the first and the second year, respectively, while RCG produced 1.1 ± 0.2 kg N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O-N ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 yr〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 in the first year following LUC. Temporal fluxes of N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O were generally low, however peak emissions observed in the first year contributed approximately 83% of annual N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O in the 〈em〉Miscanthus〈/em〉 treatment. This peak occurred in wet (50 mm rainfall in the week preceding the peak) and warm (〉18.5 °C in the top 5 cm of soil) weather conditions and was significantly affected (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 = 0.77) by the soil moisture deficit. However large, annual N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O losses from 〈em〉Miscanthus〈/em〉 and RCG found in this study are well within the range of those from grassland soils in temperate climate, drawing conclusions that any short-term increases in N〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O production will soon be offset by the reduced future fertilisation, carbon sequestration and produced bioenergy feedstock.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303283-fx1.jpg" width="271" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jhansi L.K. Mamilla, Uroš Novak, Miha Grilc, Blaž Likozar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Deep eutectic solvents (DES), prepared from choline chloride (ChCl) compound as hydrogen bond acceptor and lactic acid (LA), oxalic acid (OA), potassium hydroxide or urea (UA) as the electrostatic attracting donors in different amount ratios, were synthetized, applied and studied for lignocellulosic biomass fractionation. The mixtures of ChCl with OA or KOH were found to dissolve beech wood polymers more effectively compared to ChCl with LA or UA. In addition to DES screening test experiments, the influences of the process performance parameters, like measurement reaction time (2–24 h), temperature (60–100 °C) and the chip to solution mass relationship (1:100–1:10), on particle size distribution, solid residue's properties, functional cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin contents, the concentration of sugars, polyphenolics and volatile chemical products in raw liquid extract, as well as kinetics were experimentally determined. The further spectroscopic, microscopic and chromatographic analysis of solubilisation demonstrated that ChCl with OA selectively isolated phenols, could potentially be scalable and could be utilized in lignin-first bio-refinery plant. Purified cellulose-rich material was obtained, according to attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), while polyphenols were above 15 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 (gallic acid equivalent, examined by Folin–Ciocalteu method), revealing predominant dissolution. Conversely, for ChCl with KOH, aromatics were below detection limit value, while polysaccharides dropped for a factor of 10, paralleled to sawdust's fresh sample. The DES recovery by centrifugation, anti-solvent-assisted phase separation and vacuum distillation operation was also performed. While promising, NADES must be additionally developed, especially considering recycling, stability and economics.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303362-fx1.jpg" width="348" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Alex M. Alves, Rafael B. de Moura, Ana K.F. Carvalho, Heizir F. de Castro, Grazielle S.S. Andrade〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The performance of 〈em〉Penicillium citrinum〈/em〉 whole cells in decreasing lipid and organic contents in dairy wastewater was investigated using sequential and simultaneous treatment processes (enzymatic hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion). Free and immobilized whole cells were used as catalysts for the treatment of dairy wastewater at pH 4.0, 7.0, and 8.0 (optimal pH for 〈em〉P. citrinum〈/em〉 whole cell activity) for 48 h. Percent hydrolysis was higher at pH 8.0. Free whole cells achieved a 1.3-fold higher percent hydrolysis (92.5%) than immobilized whole cells. Biodegradability tests were conducted using crude wastewater (E1), wastewater prehydrolyzed by whole cells (E2), and wastewater simultaneously submitted to whole-cell hydrolysis and biodigestion (E3). Low removal of organic matter was obtained in all tests (mean of 43%). E2 and E3 resulted in higher methane production rate than E1, which demonstrates the benefits of combining enzymatic hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion for wastewater treatment, whether sequentially or simultaneously.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Parthapratim Das, Romina B. Stoffel, Maria C. Area, Arthur J. Ragauskas〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Biological valorization of biomass most often depends on the efficient reduction of plant cell wall recalcitrance and conversion of lignin – the most recalcitrant constituent – to fuels, chemicals and/or value-added substances. Lignin conversion to fuels and value-added chemicals requires a sound understanding of the structure of lignin before and after different pretreatments. In the current work, an effort has been made to compare the structural differences in isolated pine lignin after one- (alkaline) and two-step (alkaline/dilute acid and alkaline/steam explosion) pretreatments. Our results indicate removal of the low molecular weight fraction of lignin after an initial alkaline pretreatment. A subsequent dilute acid pretreatment resulted in the loss of lignin inter-unit linkages such as β-O-4’ aryl ethers. However, with a steam explosion pretreatment, lignin exhibited a competing condensation process leading to increased condensed lignin structures.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Isolation and molecular level identification of structures of pine lignin.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303258-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Michael Ayiania, Felix Martin Carbajal-Gamarra, Tsai Garcia-Perez, Craig Frear, Waled Suliman, Manuel Garcia-Perez〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an important technology to produce biogas from dairy manure. Although the AD of dairy manure results in the harnessing of the energy contained in manure, most of the nutrients (phosphorous and nitrogen) remain in the liquid effluent, representing an important source of pollution. Additionally, the biogas produced contains H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S and CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉, limiting its practical use as fuel. In this paper, we report the production and use of a carbonaceous adsorbent from AD fibers for the removal of hydrogen sulfide (H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S) from biogas and phosphate (PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3−〈/sup〉) from aqueous liquid effluents. The adsorbents studied were produced 〈em〉via〈/em〉 slow pyrolysis between 350 and 800 °C followed by CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 activation. The elemental and proximate analyses, surface area and pore size distribution of each of the adsorbents studied are reported. Their adsorption capacities were assessed using H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S breakthrough and PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3−〈/sup〉 batch equilibrium tests. The sorption capacity varied between 21.9 and 51.2 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 for H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S and between 4.9 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 and 37.4 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 for PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3−〈/sup〉. Commercially available activated carbon studied adsorbed 23.1 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S and 15.7 mg g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3−〈/sup〉. The results show that the retention of H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S and PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3−〈/sup〉 compounds were governed by the ash content, surface area and pH. Adsorption mechanisms for H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S and PO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉〈sup〉3−〈/sup〉 sorption are proposed.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953418303246-fx1.jpg" width="313" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: January 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 120〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Soheil Hajirahimkhan, Paul J. Ragogna, Chunbao (Charles) Xu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Lignin, as the world's second most abundant renewable polymer, is an under-utilized sustainable resource. Most technical lignin, in particular kraft lignin (KL) – a byproduct from pulping process, is used as a fuel for recovery boilers. Thus, developing approaches to transform this under-utilized sustainable resource into a high-value bio-product, such as methacrylated lignin (ML) for UV-curable coatings, is of utmost importance to sustainability. In this work, methacrylated lignin (ML) was produced by methacrylation of KL, and the process was optimized using response surface methodology employing a central composite design (CCD). Three variables were examined and optimized via the CCD: reaction time, reaction temperature, and catalyst/lignin molar ratio, and their corresponding effects on the product yield were investigated. The mathematical model that was derived from the employed CCD was accurate in predicting the optimal reaction conditions. At the optimal reaction conditions (54 min, 54 °C and catalyst/lignin molar ratio of 0.225), the ML product yield of 146.5% was achieved. The ML materials were characterized using 〈sup〉1〈/sup〉H NMR and FTIR spectroscopies, as well as thermogravimetric analysis. A UV-curable coating system containing 30 wt% ML with a hexafunctional siloxane-based crosslinker and photoinitiator was shown to be promising.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 130〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ahmed M. Salem, Ilman Nuran Zaini, Manosh C. Paul, Weihong Yang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Gasification is one of the most important methods for converting biomass to syngas currently used in energy production. However, tar content in syngas limits its direct use and thus requires additional removal techniques. The modelling of tar formation, conversion and destruction along a gasifier could give a wider understanding of the process and subsequently help in tar elimination and reduction. However, tar complexity, which contains hundreds of species, makes the modelling process hard and computationally intensive, because the chemistry of the formation and the combustion of many species have not yet been fully studied. In this work, a detailed kinetic model for the evolution and formation of tar from downdraft gasifiers, for the first-time, was built. The model incorporates four main tar species (benzene, naphthalene, toluene, and phenol) with a total of eighteen different kinetic reactions implemented in the code for every zone. Experimental work was carried out to initially validate the results of the kinetic code and found a good agreement. Further experiments were conducted at three different equivalence ratios (ERs) and at three different temperatures (800, 900, and 1100 °C). Sensitivity analysis was then carried out by the kinetic code to optimise the working parameters of a downdraft gasifier that led to a higher calorific value of syngas. The results reveal that a tar evolution model is more accurate for wood biomass materials and that using ER around 0.3, and moisture content levels lower than 10% lead to the production of higher value syngas with lower tar amounts.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 130〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Surbhi Semwal, Tirath Raj, Rahul Kumar, Jayaraj Christopher, Ravi P. Gupta, Suresh K. Puri, Ravindra Kumar, S.S.V. Ramakumar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The present study deals to visualise the impact of various process parameters, i.e. particle size and impregnation media over sugar released during steam explosion pretreatment. For this, 5, 10 and 20 mm rice straw sizes were impregnated in water and dilute acid media (1%) followed by steam explosion at 180 and 200 °C. Pretreated slurry was further hydrolyzed by 5 and 10 FPU g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of residue varying 15 and 20% solid loading. The result showed that 10 mm particle size gave highest glucan conversion (88.7%) in acid impregnated steam explosion at 180 °C using 5 FPU g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of residue with 15% solid loading. Comparatively, water impregnated pretreated biomass results significantly lower glucan conversion (61.1%), which was further intensified to 77.7% at 10 FPU g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 of residue with increased temperature. Furthermore, mass balance, compositional and structural transformation studies support our finding. Overall 30.6–81.1% sugar recovery was achieved with/or without acid pretreatment respectively.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉SE pretreatment of rice straw by varying process parameters, i.e. particle size, impregnation media, temperature and solid loading for high glucan conversion.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419303393-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 130〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Alexandr Leontiev, Boris Kichatov, Alexey Korshunov, Vladimir Gubernov, Alexey Kiverin, Natalia Medvetskaya, Ksenia Melnikova〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Biomass fuel pellets are an important product for the energy sector. The disadvantages of biomass as a sustainable alternative fuel when compared with coal and other fossil fuels are mainly attributed to its low energy density. To improve the biomass properties the torrefaction process can be used. This study aims at investigating the new technique of pellets torrefaction inside a quiescent layer of bentonite under the atmospheric conditions. This process of torrefaction is carried out without the use of inert gas that makes it attractive from the economic and ecological points of view. The main purpose of bentonite in this technique is to limit oxygen access to the biomass from the environment since oxygen excess leads to the decrease in the energy yield. It is also proposed to use the salts of alkali metals as an inhibitor of the oxidation reactions. In this work, the effect of sodium hydrocarbonate addition on the mass and energy yields of biomass is analyzed at varying torrefaction temperature, duration and height of the mineral layer. Pyrolytic behavior of torrefied biomass is analyzed with the use of thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry measurements. It is established that the mass and energy yields occur to be higher in case of torrefaction in the bentonite-soda blend than in case of torrefaction in pure bentonit. Furthermore, the use of bentonite-soda blend favors the decrease in enhancement factor of HHV. It is shown that 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si1.svg"〉〈mrow〉〈mi〉e〈/mi〉〈mi〉n〈/mi〉〈mi〉e〈/mi〉〈mi〉r〈/mi〉〈mi〉g〈/mi〉〈mi〉y〈/mi〉〈mspace width="0.25em"〉〈/mspace〉〈mi〉y〈/mi〉〈mi〉i〈/mi〉〈mi〉e〈/mi〉〈mi〉l〈/mi〉〈mi〉d〈/mi〉〈mo linebreak="badbreak"〉≈〈/mo〉〈mn〉1.15〈/mn〉〈mo linebreak="goodbreak" linebreakstyle="after"〉⋅〈/mo〉〈mi〉m〈/mi〉〈mi〉a〈/mi〉〈mi〉s〈/mi〉〈mi〉s〈/mi〉〈mspace width="0.25em"〉〈/mspace〉〈mi〉y〈/mi〉〈mi〉i〈/mi〉〈mi〉e〈/mi〉〈mi〉l〈/mi〉〈mi〉d〈/mi〉〈/mrow〉〈/math〉.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419303307-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 130〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Simon Klinge Nielsen, Hamid Rezaei, Matthias Mandø, Shahab Sokhansanj〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The increasing pellet production and a demand for making high quality biofuel pellets call for tools that can facilitate producers to meet these requirements and help understanding the effect feedstock and process parameters. In this study, mechanical and rheological properties of pine pellets made of different particle sizes and compression speeds were studied via pelleting tests and numerical simulations. Single pelleting tests were performed with six different particle size samples, ranging between 0.25 and 2.8 mm, and pelleted at compression speeds of 1, 5, and 10 mm min〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The experimental results of specific compression and extrusion energy showed a positively linear correlation between particle size and energy consumption. The highest pellet durability was observed for pellets produced from small and mixed particle sizes. Eight different constitutive models were evaluated on their ability to simulate compression and stress relaxation, and their level of complexity. A non-linear Maxwell representation of the Standard Linear Solid (SLS) model was setup and fitted to the experimental compression data. The model coefficient of spring 1 composes the asymptotic stress level of the relaxed pellet, and the coefficient of spring 2 was found to be positively correlated with particle size. The viscosity of the dashpot is also found to be positively correlated with particle size, likewise it depends on the compression speed, where higher compression speed resulted in lower viscosities. The results of the study elucidate new insight into mechanical behavior of biomass particle compression, and the resultant simulations have utility for predicting the pressure requirements to produce pellets.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 130〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lina Garcia_Florez, Jerome K. Vanclay, Kevin Glencross, J. Doland Nichols〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Biomass has been widely studied in terms of ecosystem ecology, timber production profitability, bioenergy (biofuels) and greenhouse gas emission reduction mechanisms. However, uncertainty in biomass estimation is still a current concern. In this study, direct and indirect methods were used to develop species-specific biomass estimation models (BEMs) for stem, bark, branch and crown compartments in 16-year old plantations of 〈em〉Eucalyptus dunnii〈/em〉 and 〈em〉Corymbia citriodora〈/em〉. A total of 93 trees were destructively sampled. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) assessed the effect of species on biomass prediction. Our results indicated that equations developed by using parameters or predictors such as diameter at breast height (DBH), height (H), wood density (〈em〉p〈/em〉) and branch diameter were generally significant (p 〈 0.05) and their regression lines fitted well the data (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 〉 0.84). After a rigorous process that included testing hypotheses, checking diagnostic statistics, assessing model coefficients and model functionality, the most suitable stem BEMs corresponded to those ones derived from the compound variable DBH〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈em〉p〈/em〉. The most reliable branch and crown BEMs used DBH and branch diameter respectively as single variable (simple linear models). Bark BEMs differ between species as DBH was the best predictor for 〈em〉E. dunnii〈/em〉 whilst the compound variable DBH H predicted better for 〈em〉C. citriodora〈/em〉. The BEMs with multiple predictors, and in particular polynomial models, produced wider confidence intervals, unreliable coefficients, multicollinearity and higher proportion of outliers and leverage points. In conclusion, appropriate model diagnosis can reduce pitfalls and ensure selection of valid BEMs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Derek Hess, Lynn M. Wendt, Bradley D. Wahlen, John E. Aston, Hongqiang Hu, Jason C. Quinn〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Large-scale microalgae cultivation for biodiesel production is expected to be performed utilizing open air growth infrastructure that will inherently introduce ash into the system. High ash biomass represents a significant challenge for the production of biofuel as it increases processing capital and operational costs. This study assesses the economic viability of pretreatment to remove ash from biomass grown with an algal turf scrubber (ATS). An engineering process model of biofuel production was developed based on an ATS growth system followed by an ash removal process and conversion of the biomass to fuels through hydrothermal liquefaction. The model was validated with literature data for the growth and conversion processes and with experimental data for 14 de-ashing processes using water washing or alkaline extraction. The engineering process model was integrated with techno-economic modeling to investigate the impact of ash on biomass and fuel selling prices. Capital costs associated with biofuel conversion doubled as ash content increased from 0% to 70%, increasing fuel selling price by 21%. Integrating ash removal resulted in reduced conversion capital costs (14–42%) based on the reduction of total mass processed. However, only water washes scenarios at 25 °C and 50 °C were found to reduce overall fuel selling price, with alkaline extraction scenarios showing a significant increase. Operational expenses associated with alkaline extraction de-ashing including wastewater treatment, chemical costs, and heating the microalgae slurry were found to significantly increase the overall fuel selling price of the microalgae biofuel by 17–92% depending on the operational scenario.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419300704-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Isabela S. Tagomori, Pedro R.R. Rochedo, Alexandre Szklo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study aims to identify the potential for the deployment of diesel biofuel production based on forestry residues conversion through Fischer-Tropsch synthesis in Brazil. It develops a technical and economic analysis to estimate in what extension (georeferenced analysis) and at what costs (process analysis) can this biomass-based diesel contribute to the Brazilian diesel supply, and to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Findings indicate the annual techno-economic potential of 80.3 PJ (considering the use of eucalyptus and pine residues), mostly concentrated in the South, Midwest and Southeast regions of the country. Overall, 21 production hotspots were identified, allowing the deployment of 27 facilities across the country. A clear advantage of this fuel production route is the fact that the carbon capture and storage can be intrinsic to the process, leading to negative CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 emissions of the fuel production chain. Total mitigation potential is nearly 25 MtCO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 yearly. Furthermore, while still not cost-competitive without ambitious climate and energy policies in place, the forestry residue-based diesel can contribute to the reduction of the country's dependency on imports, resulting in positive impacts on the Brazilian trade balance.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Samreen Hameed, Abhishek Sharma, Vishnu Pareek, Hongwei Wu, Yun Yu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Pyrolysis converts biomass into liquid, gaseous and solid fuels. This work reviews the existing models for biomass pyrolysis, including kinetic, network and mechanistic models. The kinetic models are based on the global reaction mechanisms and have been extensively used for a wide range of biomass under various operating conditions. Major emphases have been on the network models as these models predict the structural changes during biomass pyrolysis. Key aspects of various network models include reaction schemes, structural characteristics and applications to CFD simulations. Recent advances in understanding reaction mechanisms using mechanistic models have been summarized. Importance of inherent inorganic species in biomass pyrolysis is also critically analysed. Future studies of biomass pyrolysis modelling should focus on developing multiscale models considering reactions of all biomass components (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, inorganic species and extractives) and potential interactions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): John Sessions, David Smith, Kristin M. Trippe, Jeremy S. Fried, John D. Bailey, Joshua H. Petitmermet, William Hollamon, Claire L. Phillips, John D. Campbell〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The commercial use of low-value forest-origin biomass has long been considered for its potential to offset the cost of reducing wildfire hazard. The production of biochar simultaneously consumes low-value forest biomass and produces stable charcoal that, when applied to dryland agricultural soils, can increase water holding capacity and crop yield. In this way the production of forest-origin biochar has the potential to promote forest restoration, foster forest-related employment, increase agricultural competitiveness, and sequester carbon. Biochar offers the greatest opportunity where dryland food crops, limited water availability, existing energy transmission infrastructure, and high-fire hazard forests share the same landscape. In this paper we describe a landscape-level study based on this scenario to optimize wildfire hazard reduction treatments, biochar facility locations, and agroeconomic outcomes to evaluate the potential benefits needed to carry the costs of biochar production.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Katja Lappalainen, Yue Dong〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this work pine sawdust was converted into levulinic acid (LA) and furfural. Sawdust was first pre-treated with sulfuric acid-catalysed mechanical depolymerization. The conversion reactions were then performed with microwave heating at 180 °C. To enhance the furfural yield and the efficient separation of furfural and LA, a biphasic water-toluene reaction system was used. The effect of an additional catalyst, AlCl〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, on the yield of LA and furfural was also studied. According to the results the pre-treatment method enhanced the yields of LA. In addition, due to the microwave heating the reaction times were short. Additional AlCl〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 catalyst enhanced the LA yield, however excellent furfural yields were achieved even without it. Best LA yield (38%) was achieved with 6 h of milling combined with 30 min of microwave heating while the best furfural yield (85%) was achieved with 4 h of milling and 20 min of microwave heating.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S096195341930087X-fx1.jpg" width="289" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Vasudeva Madav, Darpan Das, Manish Kumar, Manoj Surwade, P.P. Parikh, Virendra Sethi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Biomass gasification based electricity generation systems are emerging as an important component of the decentralised energy supply systems in rural India. Each type of gasifier has different reaction conditions, temperature, residence time, pressure, feedstock, reactor design, and therefore the tar and particulate matter (PM) compositions and concentrations are found to vary. A field study was conducted on a 35 kWe downdraft gasifier to measure and characterize the tar in producer gas using GC-MS, for rice husk and pine needles as the two biomass feeds. Use of water-based scrubbers for removal of tar and PM is prevalent, however it is often the case that such clean-up is not adequate for meeting the engine manufacturers’ requirements for the quality of intake gas. Limited attempts have been reported for the use of organic solvent based gas cleaning in small scale downdraft gasifiers in the range 15–50 kWe. In the present work, toluene, naphthalene and phenol were selected as representative compounds of tar, and methyl oleate was selected to represent biodiesel as an organic solvent. A bench scale packed bed scrubber was designed for 95% removal of toluene. An 86–97% removal of toluene from the gas stream was achieved, and similar results were obtained for phenol and naphthalene. Further experiments were carried out with actual producer gas from a 1 kWe downdraft wood gasifier. 〈em〉Pongamia pinnata〈/em〉 based biodiesel was used as the solvent, and 88–92% of the tar removal from the producer gas stream was achievable.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb, Dil Bahadur Rahut〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Indoor air pollution from the use of dirty fuel such as firewood, and dung cake for household chores is a serious health risk globally. Currently, 2.8 billion people in the world rely on dirty fuel for cooking and heating, of which more than 700 million (25%) people are from India. In 2016, 3.8 million premature deaths were attributable only to indoor air pollution, of which the total premature deaths due to indoor air pollution in India was 1.3 million (34%). One of the effective ways to combat indoor air pollution is a rapid dissemination of biogas technology. With nearly 300 million bovine animals, and 22% of rural agricultural households that completely rely on livestock for their livelihoods, India has a great potential to expand biogas technology and to combat the killer indoor air pollution. Currently, however, only 0.4% of the households in India reportedly use biogas. Using National Sample Survey Organization data, India, and applying an econometric estimation procedure, the present study demonstrates that both physical capital, such as landholdings and house ownership, and human capital, such as general education of the household head and spouse, can significantly affect the decision to use biogas. However, the positive decision to use biogas is negatively associated with the monthly expenditure on dirty fuel. The study, therefore, recommends the provision of general education as well as external supports in developing countries to increase awareness, as well as the adoption of domestic biogas digesters.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): C. Asquer, G. Cappai, A. Carucci, G. De Gioannis, A. Muntoni, M. Piredda, D. Spiga〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Ash generated by biomass combustion has been envisaged as a potential composting additive in order to address some of the most common critical issues concerning the composting process and final product quality. Nonetheless, a deeper awareness for the effective feasibility of such ash reuse option should be pursued. In this work, all the ash types produced at different sections of a typical biomass combustion plant (namely bottom, boiler and fly ash) were characterised with the scope of identifying the weaknesses and strengths of each residue in the light of their reuse as a composting additive. The results manifest that boiler and fly ash were very enriched in nutrients such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. They also had high porosity and water holding capacity. Because of these properties, they could act as a mineral additive and a physical amendment in composting. The pH values for boiler and fly ash were 12 and 13, respectively, so they could also act as a liming agent in composting of acidic substrates. The electrical conductivity was high (16 and 33 mS·cm〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively) and could be harmful for plant growth. On the other hand, bottom ash had low salinity and alkalinity, but the physical properties and nutrient content were not of interest for composting. Heavy metals release was not a concern in all the ash types.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419300893-fx1.jpg" width="463" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): L.M. de Carvalho, G. Borelli, A.P. Camargo, M.A. de Assis, S.M.F. de Ferraz, M.B. Fiamenghi, J. José, L.S. Mofatto, S.T. Nagamatsu, G.F. Persinoti, N.V. Silva, A.A. Vasconcelos, G.A.G. Pereira, M.F. Carazzolle〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The ever-increasing demand for energy, along with worldwide policies aiming sustainability, resulted in an escalation of research projects focusing on alternative routes for energy production. Among the available options, microorganism fermentation using lignocellulosic biomass as a carbon source to generate bioproducts is considered a promising technology for industrial applications, with potential to replace several sources of non-renewable origin that are widely used today. In this context, various new industrial processes have been developed, such as the second-generation ethanol technology, which allows bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass by genetically modified microorganisms.〈/p〉 〈p〉In recent years, fields in biotechnology were mainly driven by advances in molecular biology and genetic engineering tools, which culminated in the ‘omics’ revolution. Recent developments in DNA sequencing and liquid/mass spectrometry technologies, supported by research in bioinformatics and high-performance computing, allowed the identification of new organisms and metabolic processes, expanding the human knowledge about biological systems. The result of this newly gained understanding is the ability to perform genetic modifications focusing on the obtention of interesting phenotypes with increased productivity and resistance or the synthesis of new compounds that were previously produced using non-renewable routes.〈/p〉 〈p〉In this context, this review presents the bioinformatics workflows and applications of ‘omics’ approaches in biotechnological research, focusing on genomics, metagenomics, phylogenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and their integration to enable a holistic overview of biological systems.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Liang Liu, Yina You, Hong Deng, Yurong Guo, Yonghong Meng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The low hydrolysis rate limits fermentable sugar production from apple pomace. Thus, efficient enzymatic hydrolysis techniques are critical. In this research, the release rate of galacturonic acid, the major monomer ingredient of pectin, achieved 9.23% by adding 0.05% pectinase to remove pectin which impedes the contact between cellulose and cellulase. Galacturonic acid was removed to facilitate the fermentation of 〈em〉Yarrowia lipolytica〈/em〉 which could not utilize galacturonic acid. After optimization of cellulase hydrolysis parameters by response surface methodology, a maximum fermentable sugar yield of 67.54 ± 1.45% was obtained. The sugar was fermented using engineered strain 〈em〉Yarrowia lipolytica po1f〈/em〉 (〈em〉pex10〈/em〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉〈em〉mfe〈/em〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 〈em〉leu〈/em〉〈sup〉〈em〉+〈/em〉〈/sup〉), with a maximum lipid yield of 25.8 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The microbial oils yield from apple pomace hydrolyzate was higher than that from glucose because some pomace hydrolysate components (such as xylose) can be metabolized through the phosphoketolase reaction to produce more acetyl-CoA.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419301606-fx1.jpg" width="500" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Eduardo de Almeida, Nicolas Spogis, Osvaldir Pereira Taranto, Maria Aparecida Silva〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sugarcane bagasse is a byproduct generated at sugarcane mills after sugarcane juice extraction. Studies on the enzymatic hydrolysis of fine pneumatic classified particles at ambient equilibrium moisture content have shown good cellulose to glucose conversion without any extra pretreatments as milling, enzymatic, acid or a combination of these, which is one of the current hydrolysis process bottlenecks. Avoid such pretreatments is extremely important for reducing process costs. Based on previous work, this study performed a theoretical investigation of bagasse particles' separation aiming a better understanding of this phenomena permitting development and improvement of equipment used for it. Numerical simulations were carried out using ANSYS Fluent〈sup〉®〈/sup〉 and Rocky〈sup〉®〈/sup〉 DEM software, which modelled separation experiments based on computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method, respectively. The comparison between simulation and actual experimental results showed that the model is predictive and can be extended to several processes that use the fluidisation of sugarcane bagasse, such as drying, pyrolysis, and gasification. The studied simulation models can also serve as a basis for fluidisation simulations of other biomasses.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: April 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 123〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Dorisel Torres-Rojas, Lei Deng, Lauren Shannon, Elizabeth M. Fisher, Stephen Joseph, Johannes Lehmann〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Cookstoves, where fuel is pyrolyzed or gasified, have received much attention due to their potential to reduce environmental and household air pollution (HAP). In this study, an indirect pyrolysis cookstove was investigated to determine how operating conditions influence carbon and nitrogen emission rates and heat input to the cooking water. Multiple linear regression models were developed based on time-resolved measurements. The rate of pyrolysis fuel consumption emerged as the primary driver for the production of CO and NO emissions and heating of water. This parameter alone explained over 70% of the variation in the models for CO, NO and the water heating rate. The CO emission rate had a non-linear dependency on the rate of pyrolysis fuel consumption (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 = 0.70, p 〈 0.0001), likely because high pyrolysis fuel consumption produced conditions with insufficient air flow for the conversion of C to CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉. NO emission rates were mainly affected by the rate of N release from the pyrolysis fuel (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 = 0.74, p 〈 0.0001). However, the pyrolysis temperature also affected the rate of production of NO, accounting for 4% of its variation. The water heating rate has a linear relationship to the rate of pyrolysis fuel consumption (R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 = 0.69, p 〈 0.0001). CO and NO emission rates depend on the speed of cooking and the choice of fuel, as well as on the amount of pyrolysis fuel used. Reduction of CO emissions and increase in efficiency are possible through stove design changes while choosing low-nitrogen pyrolysis fuel can lower NO emissions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: May 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): ChenTing Zhang, Lijun Zhang, Qingyin Li, Yi Wang, Qing Liu, Tao Wei, Dehua Dong, Saman Salavati, Mortaza Gholizadeh, Xun Hu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Metal oxides are frequently used in the formulations of the catalysts for catalytic pyrolysis of biomass. This study aims to investigate the catalytic behaviors of the transition metal oxides (CoO, Cr〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, CuO, Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, Mn〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, NiO, TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and V〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉5〈/sub〉) as well as CeO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 for the catalytic pyrolysis of poplar wood. The metal oxides, especially TiO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and NiO could suppress further cracking of primary products, increasing the tar yield and simultaneously decreasing the gas yield. The V, Mn, Ti or Co-based catalyst promoted the formation of the heavy bio-oil, while the Ce, Cr, Cu or Fe-based catalysts were the opposite. The metal oxides (except Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉) promoted the formation of alcohols, furan, ketones, acetic acid and phenolics in bio-oil. Fe〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 catalysts suppressed formation of the derivatives from cellulose and hemicellulose except hydroxyl acetone. Hydroxyl acetone formation was promoted by almost all the oxide catalysts while hydroxyl aldehyde formation was the opposite. Remarkable coke formed over the V, Mn, Cu and Co-based catalysts. These oxides contain multiple valences and could be partially reduced to generate oxygen vacancies, which played important roles in the polymerisation reactions. In addition, the coke species formed on the oxide catalysts were mainly polymeric with low thermal stability.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: May 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 124〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Christian Wever, Martin Höller, Lukas Becker, Andrea Biertümpfel, Johannes Köhler, Delphine van Inghelandt, Peter Westhoff, Ralf Pude, Elena Pestsova〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Cup plant (〈em〉Silphium perfoliatum〈/em〉 L.) represents a promising alternative to silage maize as an energy crop for biogas production. This non-food plant possesses a highly ecological value due to its long blooming period, ability to grow in low-input agriculture and positive influence on soil structure. So far, there have been almost no breeding attempts for the cup plant, and all field experiments showing its high biomass yield were conducted by using only a few cultivated populations of unclear ancestry.〈/p〉 〈p〉Comprehensive assessment of five such populations for their biomass and methane yield parameters revealed substantial genetic variations indicating the possibility of improving these traits through selection and breeding. Higher biomass yield is likely to be achieved by breeding for secondary traits such as plant height, shoot diameter and internode number as well as photoperiod response. For increasing the methane production, reduced lignin or fibre content in the biomass seems to be important.〈/p〉 〈p〉Genetic relationships among the populations were estimated using tunable genotyping by sequencing (tGBS) technology. Genetic structure and phylogeny analyses revealed that all the plants belong to the same gene pool and share a common ancestry. Four out of five populations demonstrate a low genetic differentiation, whereas the fifth one represents a clear example of population stratification. To achieve a successful domestication and breeding of this new high-yielding perennial crop, a broader base of genetic diversity needs to be ensured and complemented by innovative breeding strategies driven by molecular genetic and modern genomics approaches.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419301126-fx1.jpg" width="281" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Roman Tabakaev, Alexander Astafev, Yuliya Shanenkova, Yury Dubinin, Nikolay Yazykov, Vadim Yakovlev〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The desire to increase the role of renewable biomass resources in the energy sector sets the task of finding promising areas for its resource-efficient use. Pyrolytic conversion (pyrolysis) of biomass can be considered as one of such directions. The efficiency of pyrolysis depends on the possibility of its implementation in the autothermal mode. In this regard, the purpose of this work is to study the thermal conversion of biomass in the process of slow low-temperature pyrolysis in relation to its implementation in a fixed bed reactor. Physical experiment methods, differential thermal analysis and electron scanning microscopy were used in the work. As a result of the study, it was shown that in the process of straw and peat low-temperature pyrolysis (heating rate of 10 °C/min) a thermal exothermic decomposition effect was observed when the reactor was heated to 500 °C. This effect led to an increase in the rate of heating of the biomass bed. Moreover, in the case of straw pyrolysis, the temperature in the bed began to exceed the temperature of the reactor wall (up to 55–60 °C) when heated above 303 °C. The total values of the exothermic effect of straw and peat pyrolysis in the temperature range of 170–600 °C were 1,475 kJ/kg and 862 kJ/kg, respectively (based on the dry mass of the feedstock). The scanning microscopy method shows the change in the biomass structure during the pyrolytic decomposition process.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Maryem Dhrioua, Walid Hassen, Lioua Kolsi, Veerabathiran Anbumalar, Ali Sulaiman Alsagri, Mohamed Naceur Borjini〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A new three-stage biomass gasifier is proposed to generate product gas with low tar content. The first stage is dedicated for biomass pyrolysis. While the main roles of the second and third stages, which are superposed and separated by a gas distributor plate, are product pyrolysis gases combustion and gasification, respectively; noting that gasification is realized in a fluidized bed. In order to study and improve the process fundamentals, a cold flow model is developed to understand system dynamics and parameters. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study has been conducted using the Eulerian-multiphase model approach applied within the combustion and gasification zones. A complete CFD simulation of flow through the gas distributor is realized. Three values of the distributor perforated area: 1%, 3% and 5% and three bed materials were investigated to study the effect of the solid density and particle size on the fluidized bed. The aim of this work is to study the effect different parameters such as the distributor design, gas flow rate, fluidization velocity, solid density and solid particle size. In this work, gas and solid velocities above the distributor, pressure drop across the distributor, distributor to bed pressure drop ratio, solid volume fraction, bed pressure drop and the bed expansion ratio have been examined. Results show that the perforated area of a distributor has a great influence on the uniformity of the fluidization. The hydrodynamics of solid-gas fluidized beds are shown strongly affected by the gas flow rate and the properties of the bed material.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 126〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Saumita Chakravarty, Nirupama Mallick〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In the present study the lipid content under normal conditions of a freshwater native green microalga 〈em〉Selenastrum〈/em〉 sp. GA66 was found to augment significantly when subjected to stress factors, viz. nitrate and phosphate starvation and NaCl supplementation. With the aim of maximizing it further for production of biodiesel, three optimization experiments were conducted of which the preeminent one comprising of 3.5 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 NaCl, 0.06 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 nitrate and incubation period of 4 days resulted in 〉3 fold boost in the lipid content alongside a significant reduction in the incubation period. In order to curb the loss of biomass and lipid yield due to stress condition, biphasic optimization strategy was implemented resulting in 2.6 fold higher lipid yield with 2.2 fold higher productivity. Fatty acid profile analyses of the biodiesel samples have presented a higher degree of saturation conversely with a lower amount of unsaturation under the biphasic optimized condition. Fuel properties of the biodiesel were tested to fall within the restrictions set by the International standards of biodiesel. As a way of generalising this strategy, six different freshwater microalgae were grown in this condition and each of them showed 〉2 fold higher lipid yields and productivities thereby, favouring its acceptance as a mass strategy for lipid induction. The optimized medium indicated 16 times reduction in nitrate requirement resulting in ∼5 times cost reduction in the optimized condition thereby, supporting it to be an economically feasible and environmentally sustainable approach for biodiesel production.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xu Jin, Niu Chen-yang, Zhang Deng-yin, Gen Yan-hui, Hou Qi-min, Xie Yu-hong, Bappi paul〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Co-pyrolysis of biomass with abundantly available materials could be an economical method for production of bio-fuels. Pyrolysis behavior of rice straw (RS) and water hyacinth (WH) were carried out in fixed bed reactor at temperature ranging from 300 to 450 °C at a heating rate of 20 °C/min. Co-pyrolysis of biomass with different reaction mixture were carried out at optimum condition 400 °C. The maximum liquid product yields for the pyrolysis of RS and WH obtained were 28.2 wt% and 24.7 wt%, respectively, whereas the maximum liquid product yield for RS+WH co-pyrolysis was 44.4 wt% at 400 °C with 5: 5 biomass mixture ratio. The bio-oils obtained from pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis was analyzed by using GC-MS, FT-IR, 〈sup〉1〈/sup〉H NMR. The results of GC-MS and FT-IR analysis confirmed the interaction between RS and water hyacinth during co-pyrolysis, which resulted into increases the number of compounds and compound selectivity. The intensity of the peak enhanced at 1633 cm〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 in the case of bio-char due to an increase in the amount of aromatic carbon and decreased cellulose and hemicellulose contents in the biomass. This work aimed to summarize research progress on co-pyrolysis as well as their benefits on enhancement of bio-oils derived from biomass.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Sara Rajabi Hamedani, Luca Del Zotto, Enrico Bocci, Andrea Colantoni, Mauro Villarini〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Life-cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) were combined in the environmental sustainability assessment of bioelectricity production by means of vineyard waste biomass gasification. Fifty vineyards were assessed following LCA and DEA methodologies to estimate their technical efficiency. Moreover, target performance values benchmarked for inefficient vineyards, and the potential reductions in their environmental impact linked to the improvement in technical efficiency, were evaluated with the aim of verifying eco-efficiency criteria. The DEA results showed an average reduction of up to 30% per input of material for the vineyards, leading to impact reductions that ranged from 29% to 60% depending on the chosen impact category. Photochemical oxidation and terrestrial ecotoxicity had the highest environmental inefficiencies. Electricity generated from vineyard pruning residue gasification—as an alternative to conventional electricity and in comparison to electricity generation via combustion—was a suitable solution for reducing environmental impact under the studied categories. The innovative value of the present work is further based in the integrated application of LCA and DEA methodologies for the previously unexplored Iranian context. The results show that operational efficiency within vineyards is required to ensure that bioelectricity is significantly advantageous with regards to environmental performance in comparison to national grid electricity. The analysis further emphasises that increasing the operational efficiency of biomass production is a feasible way to achieve significant and wide-ranging environmental sustainability benefits.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Silvia Crognale, Federico Liuzzi, Alessandro D'Annibale, Isabella de Bari, Maurizio Petruccioli〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The production of seed oils from 〈em〉Cynara cardunculus〈/em〉 generates huge amounts of lignocellulosic residues which can be exploited according to a cascade approach. In this paper, residual cardoon biomass (RCB) was tested as a growth substrate for the solid-state production of cellulolytic cocktails by species known to produce glucose-tolerant β-glucosidase isoenzymes. Best productions were obtained with 10-〈em〉d〈/em〉-old 〈em〉Aspergillus tubingensis〈/em〉 cultures on RCB supplemented with wheat bran (200 g kg〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉) yielding β-glucosidase and endo-β-1,4-glucanase activities as high as (25 and 4) IU g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, respectively, and 4 FPU g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉. The saccharification performance of the obtained cocktail tested on acid-catalysed steam-exploded RCB at low solid loading (25 g dm〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉) was around 53% at 20 FPU g〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 cellulose. These performance were significantly enhanced by adding the xylanase-rich NS 22083 commercial formulation, reaching glucose yields higher than 80% after 72 h incubation. The use of the catalytic additive was optimized by a statistical approach, based on factorial analysis. A comparison of the performance of the 〈em〉A. tubingensis〈/em〉 reinforced cocktail with the Cellic〈sup〉®〈/sup〉CTec2 taken as benchmark formulation was done at the same enzyme load and performed at industrially relevant solid loadings, namely at (100 and 200) g dm〈sup〉−3〈/sup〉. This comparison showed that Cellic〈sup〉®〈/sup〉CTec2 led to only slightly higher glucose yields while an opposite outcome was observed for xylose yields, irrespective of the solid loading conditions. Thus, this study shows that an in-house enzyme production, based on the solid-state conversion of an industrial byproduct, able of yielding cellulolytic cocktails with substantial saccharification performance is feasible.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mauricio Musso, Santiago Veiga, Nicolás Estefan, Juan Bussi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉/CO/CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 gaseous mixtures obtained by biomass gasification (bio-syngas) could be used to obtain hydrocarbons by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS). In this work, trimetallic Fe–La–Zr mixed oxides prepared by coprecipitation with oxalic acid were studied in the synthesis of hydrocarbons from bio-syngas at 300 °C and 10 bar. Catalysts obtained by calcination at 700 °C are activated by the bio-syngas and the one that contains 30 wt% of Fe attains steady CO conversion levels of 75% and a total hydrocarbon yield of 34%–36%. A liquid product containing hydrocarbons in the range C5–C13 is formed together with C1–C4 products. Potassium promotion (6 wt%) allows to increase CO conversion (∼89%) and hydrocarbons yield (∼44%). Catalysts obtained by calcination at 900 °C display higher activation times due to their crystalline structure, although they attain final activity levels close to the amorphous ones obtained by calcination at 700 °C.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0961953419302272-fx1.jpg" width="252" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Description: 〈p〉Publication date: August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biomass and Bioenergy, Volume 127〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ruethai Narinthorn, Wanna Choorit, Yusuf Chisti〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Alkaline and biological pretreatments were compared for enhancing the biological methane potential of Napier grass. The earlier reported biotreatments for Napier grass did not use the edible white-rot fungus 〈em〉Pleurotus sajor-caju〈/em〉, as in the present work. Dry Napier grass was ground to different particles sizes (20–30 mm, N1-L; ≤0.6 mm, N1-S). The N1-L grass was treated with alkali and designated as the alkali treated grass N2. The samples N1-S, N1-L and N2 were used separately as substrates for growing the fungus for 14 days at room temperature (30 ± 2 °C) in a solid-state biotreatment. Alkali treatment delignified the grass 2.1- to 10.7-fold better than the fungus. Fungal treatment resulted in 3.8- to 8.3-fold loss in glucan compared to alkali treatment. Maximum xylan loss occurred in the N1-S fine-ground grass after fungal growth. The fungus-grown grass samples (N1-FL, N1-FS, N2-F), the untreated ground samples (N1-L, N1-S) and the alkali treated sample (N2) were anaerobically digested to determine the biological methane potential. The fungus-grown grass samples had a maximum daily methane production in the range of 44–50 cm〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 g VS〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, significantly higher than the samples not treated with the fungus. The alkali treated grass gave a significantly higher cumulative methane yield than the untreated grass and the biological methane potential was ∼71–77% of the theoretical methane potential. The proportion of methane in the total gas produced from the treated grass was in range of 74–83% by volume whereas it was 57–68% for the untreated grass.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉