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Biomass Conversion (biomass + conversion)
Selected AbstractsSynthesis of Nanophased Metal Oxides in Supercritical Water: Catalysts for Biomass ConversionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2006Caroline Levy Nanoparticles of zinc oxide-based materials (ZnO, ZnAl2O4) with various morphologies were synthesized in supercritical water (SCW) with a flow-type apparatus and in sub- and supercritical water with a batch reactor. In the flow-type apparatus, smaller particles were obtained. Depending on the precursors, the morphology of crystallites is rod, hexagonal, or rectangular shaped. ZnAl2O4 was synthesized with a high specific surface area (SBET) reaching 210 m2/g and nanocrystallite sizes ,10 nm. The KOH concentration played a major role in the formation of ZnO and ZnAl2O4 phases. Then, the synthesized materials were used as catalysts for the biomass conversion by the oxidation process to produce hydrogen. [source] Defect-Mediated Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes as a Route to Design Single-Site Basic Heterogeneous Catalysts for Biomass Conversion,ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE, Issue 35 2009Jean-Philippe Tessonnier Dr. Aktive Zentren wurden direkt durch einen elektrophilen Angriff an Strukturdefekten von Kohlenstoffnanoröhren eingeführt (siehe Bild). Dieses Syntheseverfahren ist schneller und effizienter als andere und kann Heterogenkatalysatoren liefern, die einstellbare aktive Zentren enthalten. Solche Katalysatoren auf der Basis von Kohlenstoffnanoröhren verfügen über ein großes Potenzial bei der Umwandlung von Biomasse in der Flüssigphase. [source] Synthesis of Nanophased Metal Oxides in Supercritical Water: Catalysts for Biomass ConversionINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2006Caroline Levy Nanoparticles of zinc oxide-based materials (ZnO, ZnAl2O4) with various morphologies were synthesized in supercritical water (SCW) with a flow-type apparatus and in sub- and supercritical water with a batch reactor. In the flow-type apparatus, smaller particles were obtained. Depending on the precursors, the morphology of crystallites is rod, hexagonal, or rectangular shaped. ZnAl2O4 was synthesized with a high specific surface area (SBET) reaching 210 m2/g and nanocrystallite sizes ,10 nm. The KOH concentration played a major role in the formation of ZnO and ZnAl2O4 phases. Then, the synthesized materials were used as catalysts for the biomass conversion by the oxidation process to produce hydrogen. [source] Production of bio-crude from forestry waste by hydro-liquefaction in sub-/super-critical methanolAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009Yun Yang Abstract Hydro-liquefaction of a woody biomass (birch powder) in sub-/super-critical methanol without and with catalysts was investigated with an autoclave reactor at temperatures of 473,673 K and an initial pressure of hydrogen varying from 2.0 to 10.0 MPa. The liquid products were separated into water soluble oil and heavy oil (as bio-crude) by extraction with water and acetone. Without catalyst, the yields of heavy oil and water soluble oil were in the ranges of 2.4,25.5 wt % and 1.2,17.0 wt %, respectively, depending strongly on reaction temperature, reaction time, and initial pressure of hydrogen. The optimum temperature for the production of heavy oil and water soluble oil was found to be at around 623 K, whereas a longer residence time and a lower initial H2 pressure were found to be favorite conditions for the oil production. Addition of a basic catalyst, such as NaOH, K2CO3, and Rb2CO3, could significantly promote biomass conversion and increase yields of oily products in the treatments at temperatures less than 573 K. The yield of heavy oil attained about 30 wt % for the liquefaction operation in the presence of 5 wt % Rb2CO3 at 573 K and 2 MPa of H2 for 60 min. The obtained heavy oil products consisted of a high concentration of phenol derivatives, esters, and benzene derivatives, and they also contained a higher concentration of carbon, a much lower concentration of oxygen, and a significantly increased heating value (>30 MJ/kg) when compared with the raw woody biomass. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source] Engineering photosynthetic light capture: impacts on improved solar energy to biomass conversionPLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL, Issue 6 2007Jan H. Mussgnug Summary The main function of the photosynthetic process is to capture solar energy and to store it in the form of chemical ,fuels'. Increasingly, the photosynthetic machinery is being used for the production of biofuels such as bio-ethanol, biodiesel and bio-H2. Fuel production efficiency is directly dependent on the solar photon capture and conversion efficiency of the system. Green algae (e.g. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) have evolved genetic strategies to assemble large light-harvesting antenna complexes (LHC) to maximize light capture under low-light conditions, with the downside that under high solar irradiance, most of the absorbed photons are wasted as fluorescence and heat to protect against photodamage. This limits the production process efficiency of mass culture. We applied RNAi technology to down-regulate the entire LHC gene family simultaneously to reduce energy losses by fluorescence and heat. The mutant Stm3LR3 had significantly reduced levels of LHCI and LHCII mRNAs and proteins while chlorophyll and pigment synthesis was functional. The grana were markedly less tightly stacked, consistent with the role of LHCII. Stm3LR3 also exhibited reduced levels of fluorescence, a higher photosynthetic quantum yield and a reduced sensitivity to photoinhibition, resulting in an increased efficiency of cell cultivation under elevated light conditions. Collectively, these properties offer three advantages in terms of algal bioreactor efficiency under natural high-light levels: (i) reduced fluorescence and LHC-dependent heat losses and thus increased photosynthetic efficiencies under high-light conditions; (ii) improved light penetration properties; and (iii) potentially reduced risk of oxidative photodamage of PSII. [source] Protein feeds coproduction in biomass conversion to fuels and chemicalsBIOFUELS, BIOPRODUCTS AND BIOREFINING, Issue 2 2009Bruce E. Dale Abstract Agriculture has changed greatly in the past in response to changing human needs. Now agriculture is being called on to provide raw materials for very large-scale fuel and chemical production. Agriculture will change again in response to this demand and all producers and users of agricultural feedstocks will be affected by this change. For example, livestock feeding practices have already changed in response to the availability of distillers' grains from corn ethanol production. A fuels industry based on herbaceous biomass energy crops will be many-fold larger than the existing corn ethanol industry and will produce its own set of impacts on livestock feeding. We explore here one of these impacts: the availability of large new sources of feed protein from biomass energy crops. In addition to structural carbohydrates, such as cellulose and hemicellulose, herbaceous biomass energy crops can easily be produced with approximately 10% protein, called ,leaf protein'. This leaf protein, as exemplified by alfalfa leaf protein, is superior to soybean meal (SBM) protein in its biological value. Leaf protein recovery and processing fit well into many process flow diagrams for biomass fuels. When leaf protein is properly processed to concentrate it and remove antinutritional factors, as we have learned over the years to do with soybean meal protein, protein in leaf protein concentrate (LPC) will probably be at least as valuable in livestock diets as SBM protein. If LPC is used to meet 20% of total animal protein requirements (i.e., market penetration of 20%) then the potential utilization of leaf protein concentrate could reach as much as 24 million metric tons annually. This leaf protein will replace protein from SBM and other sources. This much leaf protein will reduce by approximately 16 million hectares the amount of land required to provide protein for livestock. Likewise the amount of land required to meet fuel needs will effectively be reduced by 8 million hectares because this land will effectively do ,double duty' by producing needed animal protein as well as feedstocks for fuel production. © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [source] Kinetic modeling of cellulosic biomass to ethanol via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation: Part II.BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 1 2009Experimental validation using waste paper sludge, anticipation of CFD analysis Abstract A kinetic model of cellulosic biomass conversion to ethanol via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) developed previously was validated experimentally using paper sludge as the substrate. Adsorption parameters were evaluated based on the data obtained at various values for fractional cellulose conversion. The adsorption model was then combined with batch SSF data to evaluate the cellulose hydrolysis parameters. With the parameters evaluated for the specific substrate, the discrete model was able to predict SSF successfully both with discrete addition of cellulase only and with discrete feeding of substrate, cellulase, and media. The model tested in this study extends the capability of previous SSF models to semi-continuous feeding configurations, and invites a mechanistic interpretation of the recently observed trend of increasing conversion with decreasing feeding frequency [Fan et al. (2007a) Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 30(1):27,34]. Our results also support the feasibility and utility of determining adsorption parameters based on data obtained at several conversions, particularly when the model is to be applied to extended reaction times rather than only initial hydrolysis rates. The revised model is considerably more computationally efficient than earlier models, and appears for many conditions to be within the capability of simulation using computational fluid dynamics. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;102: 66,72. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||