A process for the prepn. of arom. compds. from a feed stream contg. biomass or mixts. of biomass, the process comprising: a) subjecting a feed stream contg. biomass or mixts. of biomass to a process to afford a conversion product comprising arom. compds.; b) recovering the arom. compds. from said conversion product; c) sepg. a higher mol. wt. fraction comprising polyarom. hydrocarbons (PAH) from a lower mol. wt. fraction comprising benzene, toluene and xylene (BTX) by distn.; d) reducing at least part of said higher mol. wt. fraction to obtain a reduced fraction comprising polycyclic aliphatics (PCA); and e) subjecting the higher mol. wt. fraction obtained in step c), the reduced fraction obtained in step d), or a mixt. thereof, to a process to obtain lower mol. wt. aroms. (BTX). [on SciFinder(R)]
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In the field of ‘renewable energy resources’ formation of biogas is an important option. Biogas can be produced from biomass in a multistep process called anaerobic digestion (AD) and is usually performed in large digesters. Anaerobic digestion of biomass is mediated by various groups of microorganisms, which live in complex community structures. However, there is still limited knowledge on the relationships between the type of biomass and operational process parameters. This relates to the changes within the microbial community structure and the resulting overall biogas production efficiency. Opening this microbial black box could lead to an better understanding of on-going microbial processes, resulting in higher biogas yields and overall process efficiencies.
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In the field of ‘renewable energy resources’ formation of biogas Biomass and biogas: potentials, efficiencies and flexibility is an important option. Biogas can be produced from biomass in a multistep process called anaerobic digestion (AD) and is usually performed in large digesters. Anaerobic digestion of biomass is mediated by various groups of microorganisms, which live in complex community structures. However, there is still limited knowledge on the relationships between the type of biomass and operational process parameters. This relates to the changes within the microbial community structure and the resulting overall biogas production efficiency. Opening this microbial black box could lead to an better understanding of on-going microbial processes, resulting in higher biogas yields and overall process efficiencies.
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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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Within this paper, biomass supply chains, with different shares of biomass co-combustion in coal fired power plants, are analysed on energy efficiency, energy consumption, renewable energy production, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and compared with the performance of a 100% coal supply chain scenario, for a Dutch situation. The 60% biomass co-combustion supply chain scenarios show possibilities to reduce emissions up to 48%. The low co-combustion levels are effective to reduce GHG emissions, but the margins are small. Currently co-combustion of pellets is the norm. Co-combustion of combined torrefaction and pelleting (TOP) shows the best results, but is also the most speculative. The indicators from the renewable energy directive cannot be aligned. When biomass is regarded as scarce, co-combustion of small shares or no co-combustion is the best option from an energy perspective. When biomass is regarded as abundant, co-combustion of large shares is the best option from a GHG reduction perspective.
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Catalytic pyrolysis of crude glycerol over a shaped H-ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst with (partial) recycling of the product oil was studied with the incentive to improve benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) yields. Recycling of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) fraction, after separation from BTX by distillation and co-feeding with the crude glycerol feed, was shown to have a positive effect on the BTX yield. Further improvements were achieved by hydrogenation of the PAH fraction using a Ru/C catalyst and hydrogen gas prior to co-pyrolysis, and BTX yields up to 16 wt% on feed were obtained. The concept was also shown to be beneficial to other biomass feeds such as e.g., Kraft lignin, cellulose, and Jatropha oil.
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Climate change calls for an energy transition utilizing all available renewable energy resources, such as bioenergy from biomass. However, the use of biomass is debated in society, and public acceptance is low or lacking. This survey-based research demonstrates for the first time that public acceptance of bioenergy hinges on (a) the type of biomass feedstock used to generate bioenergy and (b) the perceptions of the effectiveness of bioenergy in contributing to the energy transition. A survey-embedded vignette experiment (with 409 Dutch participants) shows that public acceptance of the biomass feedstocks 'wood' and 'energy crops' is significantly lower than the acceptance of 'organic waste' and 'manure' for bioenergy. These results indicate that the biomass feedstock type should be more carefully considered and specified in future research and communication on public acceptance of bioenergy. Thematic coding and bootstrapped mediation analyses identified the perceived effectivity of bioenergy in contributing to the energy transition as a prime explanatory (i.e., mediating) variable for acceptance. A subsequent message-framing communication experiment (with 414 Dutch participants) demonstrates that emphasizing biomass feedstock as a form of waste utilization is a frame that helps to increase public acceptance of bioenergy. The waste utilization frame notably improves the perceptions of the effectiveness of bioenergy as contributing to the energy transition for the two lesser accepted biomass feedstocks. The emphasis on biomass feedstock type as a form of waste treatment can improve strategic communications on bioenergy and foster wider public acceptance of bioenergy in the transition toward a more sustainable energy system.
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Biogas plays an important role in many future renewable energy scenarios as a source of storable and easily extracted form of renewable energy. However, there remains uncertainty as to which sources of biomass can provide a net energy gain while being harvested in a sustainable, ecologically friendly manner. This study will focus on the utilization of common, naturally occurring grass species which are cut during landscape management and typically treated as a waste stream. This waste grass can be valorized through co-digestion with cow manure in a biogas production process. Through the construction of a biogas production model based on the methodology proposed by (Pierie, Moll, van Gemert, & Benders, 2012), a life cycle analysis (LCA) has been performed which determines the impacts and viability of using common grass in a digester to produce biogas. This model performs a material and energy flow analysis (MEFA) on the biogas production process and tracks several system indicators (or impact factors), including the process energy return on energy investment ((P)EROI), the ecological impact (measured in Eco Points), and the global warming potential (GWP, measured in terms of kg of CO2 equivalent). A case study was performed for the village of Hoogkerk in the north-east Netherlands, to determine the viability of producing a portion of the village’s energy requirements by biogas production using biomass waste streams (i.e. common grass and cow manure in a co-digestion process). This study concludes that biogas production from common grass can be an effective and sustainable source of energy, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and negative environmental impacts when compared to alternate methods of energy production, such as biogas produced from maize and natural gas production.
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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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