Search results for "Biofuel"
showing 10 items of 142 documents
Thermal transformation of micro-crystalline cellulose in phosphoric acid
2011
Use of crude oil derivatives such as diesel and gasoline is becoming unsuitable due to their detriment to environment and to the increasing worldwide energy demand which is driving crude oil reservoirs towards exhaustion. Replacement of diesel and gasoline with biofuels (i.e. biodiesel and bioethanol, respectively) is very desirable. In fact, biofuels are not only environmentally sustainable, but also potentially inexhaustible due to the large amounts of waste biomasses from which they can be retrieved. In the present study, a model compound (micro-crystalline cellulose) was dissolved in phosphoric acid and converted at 80 °C to glucose, thereby providing the possible substrate for fermenta…
Enzymatic biodiesel: Challenges and opportunities
2014
The chemical-catalyzed transesterification of vegetable oils to biodiesel has been industrially adopted due to its high conversion rates and low production time. However, this process suffers from several inherent drawbacks related to energy-intensive and environmentally unfriendly processing steps such as catalyst and product recovery, and waste water treatment. This has led to the development of the immobilized enzyme catalyzed process for biodiesel production which is characterized by certain environmental and economical advantages over the conventional chemical method. These include room-temperature reaction conditions, elimination of treatment costs associated with recovery of chemical…
Ecological Limits to Sustainable Use of Wood Fuels
2018
A theoretical study of a simple analytical model of biomass accumulation to assess conditions of the neutrality of CO2-emissions from burning wood (biomass) is reported. Conditions under sustainability defined with respect to harvesting are shown to satisfy requirements of CO2-neutrality on local scale while burning wood under conditions of shrinking global forest area is not and should be taken into account in the balance of global emissions. Other ecological restraints—conservation of biodiversity in particular, are discussed concerning conditions imposed by the economic system and reflecting on the visions of bio-economy.
Monofunctional pyrenes at carbon nanotube electrodes for direct electron transfer H2O2 reduction with HRP and HRP-bacterial nanocellulose
2021
Abstract The non-covalent modification of carbon nanotube electrodes with pyrene derivatives is a versatile approach to enhance the electrical wiring of enzymes for biosensors and biofuel cells. We report here a comparative study of five pyrene derivatives adsorbed at multi-walled carbon nanotube electrodes to shed light on their ability to promote direct electron transfer with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) for H2O2 reduction. In all cases, pyrene-modified electrodes enhanced catalytic reduction compared to the unmodified electrodes. The pyrene N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) ester derivative provided access to the highest catalytic current of 1.4 mA cm−2 at 6 mmol L−1 H2O2, high onset potential …
Bioresource technology for bioenergy, bioproductsenvironmental sustainability.
2022
The 3rd International Conference for Bioresource Technology for Bioenergy, Bioproducts & Environmental Sustainability (BIORESTEC) was held online from 17 to 19 May 2021. More than 120 participants from all over the world participated in this conference. The conference was studded with nine plenary lectures, ten invited lectures as well as more than 50 oral presentations along with several poster presentations. The purpose of the conference was to foster the exchange of knowledge and ideas among researchers in academia and industry as well as policymakers working on various aspects of biorefinery to discuss the progress made during the intervening three years and the latest trends in bio…
Uses of weeds as an economical alternative to processed wood biomass and fossil fuels
2016
Abstract The use of fossil fuels as a main source of energy is directly linked to global climate change (due to CO2 emission), so there is a necessity to find new, cheap and easily available energy sources for the earth’s inhabitants. Nowadays renewable energy sources are forced also for the mitigation of the effects of climate change as a result of greenhouse gases emission control. Decentralized sources of low-cost renewable fuels that may be used, in particular, in those households where there is no possibility of using gas or heat delivered from other sources should be of special interest. This paper describes the possibility of using untreated plants such as Canadian goldenrod (Solidag…
Catalytic treatment of rapeseed straw for enhanced production of furfural and glucose for bioethanol production
2021
Abstract Ethanol produced from renewable biomass, such as lignocellulosic feedstock, is one of the most promising future biofuels. In this paper, rapeseed straw was tested as an abundant and cost-effective renewable resource material for the production of cellulosic glucose. Pre-treatment of this material is an important step to improve the efficiency of subsequent cellulose hydrolysis. In this study, we used two pre-treatment methods – hydrothermochemical and ultrasound. Studies have shown that, in the initial hydrothermal pre-treatment of rapeseed straw, Al2(SO4)3 may be used as an efficient catalyst, at least in procedures for obtaining glucose. An increase in the amount of this catalyst…
Pyrolysis of vegetable oil soaps—Palm, olive, rapeseed and castor oils
2011
Abstract Saponified, palm, olive, rapeseed and castor oils were pyrolysed (at 750 °C for 20 s) by pyrolysis gas chromatography with mass selective and flame ionisation detection (Py-GC/MSD and FID) to clarify their thermochemical behaviours. The liquefiable compounds recovered from palm, olive and rapeseed oils mainly contained linear alkenes (up to C 19 ) and alkanes (up to C 17 ), both similar to those found in gasoline (C 4 –C 10 ) and diesel fuel (C 11 –C 22 ) boiling range fractions of petroleum, whereas in the case of castor oil a significant amount of undesired oxygen-containing products (e.g., ketones and phenols) were formed. The obtained data on reaction mechanisms can also be uti…
Insights into the annotated genome sequence of Methanoculleus bourgensis MS2(T), related to dominant methanogens in biogas-producing plants
2014
The final step of the biogas production process, the methanogenesis, is frequently dominated by members of the genus Methanoculleus. In particular, the species Methanoculleus bourgensis was identified to play a role in different biogas reactor systems. The genome of the type strain M. bourgensis MS2(T), originally isolated from a sewage sludge digestor, was completely sequenced to analyze putative adaptive genome features conferring competitiveness within biogas reactor environments to the strain. Sequencing and assembly of the M. bourgensis MS2(T) genome yielded a chromosome with a size of 2,789,773 bp. Comparative analysis of M. bourgensis MS2(T) and Methanoculleus marisnigri JR1 revealed…
Fossil Fuel and Biofuel Boilers in Ukraine: Trends of Changes in Levelized Cost of Heat
2022
An increase in the share of renewables in heat supply systems is a promising direction to reach sustainable development goals and decarbonization. Decision makers should consider various factors, including energy market prices, the availability of biofuels, boiler and auxiliary equipment costs, logistic costs, and the taxation system. In the European Union, the energy crisis causes a rapid increase in fossil fuel prices. Moreover, the use of fossil fuels results in greenhouse gas emissions, which threatens the achievement of sustainable development goals. We studied the influence of the delivery cost and the value of environmental tax rates on the levelized cost of heat. Low-capacity boiler…