Artikel in Agro & Chemie over de productie van exogene ketonen in het projecten Circulaire Biopolymeren Waardeketens voor PHA en Cellulose.
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Fontys en Avans hebben in de afgelopen twee jaar onder meer laagdrempelige test- en onderzoeksmogelijkheden geboden, bijvoorbeeld in de vorm van afstudeerstages. Daarnaast hebben de beide kennisinstellingen een (regionaal) kennisnetwerk voor het MKB gefaciliteerd dat de mogelijkheid biedt om op nieuwe ontwikkelingen te anticiperen. Het is nu mei 2011 en het project loopt ten einde. In de afgelopen twee jaar is er veel bereikt: bedrijven en onderwijsorganisaties hebben elkaar gevonden, er is veel onderzoek gedaan naar nieuwe toepassingen van biopolymeren, aannames zijn getoetst en in het groeiende netwerk van producenten, leveranciers en consumenten van bioplastics is veel kennis gedeeld en uitgewisseld.
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Lignocellulose biorefining is a promising technologyfor the sustainable production of chemicals and biopolymers.Usually, when one component is focused on, the chemical natureand yield of the others are compromised. Thus, one of thebottlenecks in biomass biorefining is harnessing the maximumvalue from all of the lignocellulosic components. Here, we describea mild stepwise process in a flow-through setup leading to separateflow-out streams containing cinnamic acid derivatives, glucose,xylose, and lignin as the main components from differentherbaceous sources. The proposed process shows that minimaldegradation of the individual components and conservation oftheir natural structure are possible. Under optimized conditions,the following fractions are produced from wheat straw based ontheir respective contents in the feed by the ALkaline ACid ENzyme process: (i) 78% ferulic acid from a mild ALkali step, (ii) 51%monomeric xylose free of fermentation inhibitors by mild ACidic treatment, (iii) 82% glucose from ENzymatic degradation ofcellulose, and (iv) 55% native-like lignin. The benefits of using the flow-through setup are demonstrated. The retention of the ligninaryl ether structure was confirmed by HSQC NMR, and this allowed monomers to form from hydrogenolysis. More importantly, thecrude xylose-rich fraction was shown to be suitable for producing polyhydroxybutyrate bioplastics. The direct use of the xylose-richfraction by means of the thermophilic bacteria Schlegelella thermodepolymerans matched 91% of the PHA produced with commercialpure xylose, achieving 138.6 mgPHA/gxylose. Overall, the ALACEN fractionation method allows for a holistic valorization of theprincipal components of herbaceous biomasses.
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Bioplastics are gaining interest as an alternative to fossil-based plastics. In addition, biodegradable bioplastics may yield biogas after their use, giving an additional benefit. However, the biodegradability time in international norms (35 days) far exceeds processing times in anaerobic digestion facilities (21 days). As the bioplastic packaging does not indicate the actual biodegradability, it is important to understand the time required to biodegrade bioplastic if it ends up in the anaerobic digestion facility along with other organic waste. For this work, cellulose bioplastic film and polylactic acid (PLA) coffee capsules were digested anaerobically at 55 ℃ for 21 days and 35 days, which are the retention times for industrial digestors and as set by international norms, respectively. Different sizes of bioplastics were examined for this work. Bioplastic film produced more biogas than bioplastic coffee capsules. The biodegradability of bioplastic was calculated based on theoretical biogas production. With an increase in retention time, biogas production, as well as biodegradability of bioplastic, increased. The biodegradability was less than 50% at the end of 35 days for both bioplastics, suggesting that complete degradation was not achieved, and thus, the bioplastic would not be suitable for use in biogas digesters currently in use.
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Podcast door HanzeMag.Plastic maken uit bacteriën: het klinkt bijna te mooi om waar te zijn, maar het kan echt. hoe dan? Hanze-lector Janneke Krooneman legt het uit aan onze dummies!Wat is bioplastic? En hoe krijg je bacteriën zo gek dat ze plastic gaan vormen? Janneke weet precies hoe je bacteriën ’temt’: je laat ze heel veel eten tot ze obese zijn. En zoals mensen eten opslaan als vet, slaan bacteriën het op als plastic, dus al die dikke bacteriën bij elkaar vormen een prachtig biologisch plastic.Om het nog wat concreter te maken heeft Janneke ook enkele producten meegenomen die gemaakt zijn van bioplastic, zoals festivalbekers en lego, dus kijk ook vooral de videoversie van deze podcast, zodat je kunt zien hoe weinig het verschilt van ‘gewoon’ plastic.Presentatie: Maikel van Duinen & Mattheüs DouwesBeeld: Bas SwavingGeluid: Cazism
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It is of utmost importance to collect organic waste from households as a separate waste stream. If collected separately, it could be used optimally to produce compost and biogas, it would not pollute fractions of materials that can be recovered from residual waste streams and it would not deteriorate the quality of some materials in residual waste (e.g. paper). In rural areas with separate organic waste collection systems, large quantities of organic waste are recovered. However, in the larger cities, only a small fraction of organic waste is recovered. In general, citizens dot not have space to store organic waste without nuisances of smell and/or flies. As this has been the cause of low organic waste collection rates, collection schemes have been cut, which created a further negative impact. Hence, additional efforts are required. There are some options to improve the organic waste recovery within the current system. Collection schemes might be improved, waste containers might be adapted to better suit the needs, and additional underground organic waste containers might be installed in residential neighbourhoods. There are persistent stories that separate organic waste collection makes no sense as the collectors just mix all municipal solid waste after collection, and incinerate it. Such stories might be fuelled by the practice that batches of contaminated organic waste are indeed incinerated. Trust in the system is important. Food waste is often regarded as unrein. Users might hate to store food waste in their kitchen that could attract insects, or the household pets. Hence, there is a challenge for socio-psychological research. This might also be supported by technology, e.g. organic waste storage devices and measures to improve waste separation in apartment buildings, such as separate chutes for waste fractions. Several cities have experimented with systems that collect organic wastes by the sewage system. By using a grinder, kitchen waste can be flushed into the sewage system, which in general produces biogas by the fermentation of sewage sludge. This is only a good option if the sewage is separated from the city drainage system, otherwise it might create water pollution. Another option might be to use grinders, that store the organic waste in a tank. This tank could be emptied regularly by a collection truck. Clearly, the preferred option depends on local conditions and culture. Besides, the density of the area, the type of sewage system and its biogas production, and the facilities that are already in place for organic waste collection are important parameters. In the paper, we will discuss the costs and benefits of future organic waste options and by discussing The Hague as an example.
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This article will discuss philosophical debates on economic growth and environmental sustainability, the role of management responsibility, and the risk of subversion to business as usual. This discussion will be framed using the concepts of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) and Circular Economy about sustainable production. The case study illustrating the danger of subversion of these progressive models discussed here is based on the assignments submitted by Masters students as part of a course related to sustainable production and consumption at Leiden University. The evaluation of the supposedly best practice cases placed on the website of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation or those awarded Cradle to Cradle certificate has led some students to conclude that these cases illustrated green-washing. Larger implications of identified cases of green-washing for the field of sustainable business and ecological management are discussed. “This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in 'Philosophy of Management'. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-019-00108-x LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) form a highly promising class of bioplastics for the transition from fossil fuel-based plastics to bio-renewable and biodegradable plastics. Mixed microbial consortia (MMC) are known to be able to produce PHAs from organic waste streams. Knowledge of key-microbes and their characteristics in PHA-producing consortia is necessary for further process optimization and direction towards synthesis of specific types of PHAs. In this study, a PHA-producing mixed microbial consortium (MMC) from an industrial pilot plant was characterized and further enriched on acetate in a laboratory-scale selector with a working volume of 5 L. 16S-rDNA microbiological population analysis of both the industrial pilot plant and the 5 L selector revealed that the most dominant species within the population is Thauera aminoaromatica MZ1T, a Gram-negative beta-proteobacterium belonging to the order of the Rhodocyclales. The relative abundance of this Thauera species increased from 24 to 40% after two months of enrichment in the selector-system, indicating a competitive advantage, possibly due to the storage of a reserve material such as PHA. First experiments with T. aminoaromatica MZ1T showed multiple intracellular granules when grown in pure culture on a growth medium with a C:N ratio of 10:1 and acetate as a carbon source. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses upon extraction of PHA from the pure culture confirmed polyhydroxybutyrate production by T. aminoaromatica MZ1T.
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Van de achterflap: "Het is nú nodig om duurzaam te innoveren. De aarde vraagt er om. Maar ook vanwege economische redenen moeten we slimmer omgaan met grondstoffen en energie, ze worden steeds kostbaarder. Er is daarbij niet alleen sprake van een bedreiging, er liggen ook kansen. Het ontwikkelen van een circulaire economie zorgt namelijk voor nieuwe toegevoegde waarde. Om die kansen te kunnen benutten is het nodig om nú te beginnen. En dat kunnen bedrijven niet alleen. Samenwerken is onmisbaar en helpt om een toekomstbestendige industrie in Nederland neer te zetten – samen staan we sterk! Toch zien we dat het hieraan vaak ontbreekt. We roepen daarom op tot durven, delen en doen. En geven aanbevelingen om de industrie in Nederland ook in de toekomst sterk te houden. Al sinds haar oprichting in 1990 is Smart Group bezig met innovatie en duurzaamheid. Met hun creativiteit helpen de adviseurs van Smart Group bedrijven en organisaties met organisatorische, technische en marketinggerichte innovaties. Duurzaamheid is daarbij volgens Smart Group onontkoombaar. En daarbij gaan technologie, ontwikkelen van organisatie en mens, hand in hand."
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The transition to a biobased economy necessitates utilizing renewable resources as a sustainable alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Bioconversion is a way to produce many green chemicals from renewables, e.g., biopolymers like PHAs. However, fermentation and bioconversion processes mostly rely on expensive, and highly refined pure substrates. The utilization of crude fractions from biorefineries, especially herbaceous lignocellulosic feedstocks, could significantly reduce costs. This presentation shows the microbial production of PHA from such a crude stream by a wild-type thermophilic bacterium Schlegelella thermodepolymerans [1]. Specifically, it uses crude xylose-rich fractions derived from a newly developed biorefinery process for grassy biomasses (the ALACEN process). This new stepwise mild flow-through biorefinery approach for grassy lignocellulosic biomass allows the production of various fractions: a fraction containing esterified aromatics, a monomeric xylose-rich stream, a glucose fraction, and a native-like lignin residue [2]. The crude xylose-rich fraction was free of fermentation-inhibiting compounds meaning that the bacterium S.thermodepolymerans could effectively use it for the production of one type of PHA, polyhydroxybutyrate. Almost 90% of the xylose in the refined wheat straw fraction was metabolized with simultaneous production of PHA, matching 90% of the PHA production per gram of sugars, comparable to PHA yields from commercially available xylose. In addition to xylose, S. thermodepolymerans converted oligosaccharides with a xylose backbone (xylans) into fermentable xylose, and subsequently utilized the xylose as a source for PHA production. Since the xylose-rich hydrolysates from the ALACEN process also contain some oligomeric xylose and minor hemicellulose-derived sugars, optimal valorization of the C5-fractions derived from the refinery process can be obtained using S. thermodepolymerans. This opens the way for further exploration of PHA production from C5-fractions out of a variety of herbaceous lignocellulosic biomasses using the ALACEN process combined with S. thermodepolymerans. Overall, the innovative utilization of renewable resources in fermentation technology, as shown herein, makes a solid contribution to the transition to a biobased economy.[1] W. Zhou, D.I. Colpa, H. Permentier, R.A. Offringa, L. Rohrbach, G.J.W. Euverink, J. Krooneman. Insight into polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from xylose and extracellular PHA degradation by a thermophilic Schlegelella thermodepolymerans. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 194 (2023) 107006, ISSN 0921-3449, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107006. [2] S. Bertran-Llorens, W.Zhou. M.A.Palazzo, D.I.Colpa, G.J.W.Euverink, J.Krooneman, P.J.Deuss. ALACEN: a holistic herbaceous biomass fractionation process attaining a xylose-rich stream for direct microbial conversion to bioplastics. Submitted 2023.
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