Opportunities for Dutch Biorefineries

Deze Roadmap Bioraffinage beschrijft een aantal mogelijke routes naar de ontwikkeling en implementatie van een bioraffinage-gerelateerde Bio-based Economy in Nederland. De Roadmap combineert korte- en middellange termijn mogelijkheden (commerciële implementatie, demonstratie plants, pilot plants en gerelateerd toegepast onderzoek) met strategisch onderzoek voor de langere termijn. Tevens zijn vier z.g. Moonshots uitgewerkt, als voorziene bioraffinagestrategieën met een grote potentie voor de Nederlandse economi

Electricity-assisted production of caproic acid from grass

Background: Medium chain carboxylic acids, such as caproic acid, are conventionally produced from food materials. Caproic acid can be produced through fermentation by the reverse beta-oxidation of lactic acid, generated from low value lignocellulosic biomass. In situ extraction of caproic acid can be achieved by membrane electrolysis coupled to the fermentation process, allowing recovery by phase separation. Results: Grass was fermented to lactic acid in a leach-bed-type reactor, which was then further converted to caproic acid in a secondary fermenter. The lactic acid concentration was 9.36 +/- 0.95 g L-1 over a 33-day semi-continuous operation, and converted to caproic acid at pH 5.5-6.2, with a concentration of 4.09 +/- 0.54 g L-1 during stable production. The caproic acid product stream was extracted in its anionic form, concentrated and converted to caproic acid by membrane electrolysis, resulting in a >70 wt% purity solution. In a parallel test exploring the upper limits of production rate through cell retention, we achieved the highest reported caproic acid production rate to date from a lignocellulosic biomass (grass, via a coupled process), at 0.99 +/- 0.02 g(-)L(-1) h(-1). The fermenting microbiome (mainly consisting of Clostridium IV and Lactobacillus) was capable of producing a maximum caproic acid concentration of 10.92 +/- 0.62 g L-1 at pH 5.5, at the border of maximum solubility of protonated caproic acid. Conclusions: Grass can be utilized as a substrate to produce caproic acid. The biological intermediary steps were enhanced by separating the steps to focus on the lactic acid intermediary. Notably, the pipeline was almost completely powered through electrical inputs, and thus could potentially be driven from sustainable energy without need for chemical input

Financieel-economische aspecten van Biobrandstofproductie : deskstopstudie naar de invloed van co-productie van bio-based producten op de financiële haalbaarheid van biobrandstoffen

Door uitvoering van een deskstop studie heeft WUR, in samenwerking met ECN, onderzocht of co-productie van biobrandstoffen en bio-based producten leidt tot meer marktcompetitieve biobrandstofproductie. De centrale vraagstelling van de studie was of aangetoond kan worden dat “co-productie” resulteert in realisatie van meer marktcompetitieve waardeketens voor grootschalige en duurzame inzet van biomassa in de biobased economy. De studie naar de financiële haalbaarheid van een twaalftal biobrandstofketens laten zien dat co-productie van biobrandstoffen tezamen met bio-based producten een goede methode is om additionele waarde toe te kennen aan de totale biomassa-product-keten. De co-producten die tezamen met biobrandstoffen geproduceerd kunnen worden zijn zeer divers. In het algemeen bestaat er voor deze co-producten een omvangrijke afzetmarkt, en gaat het om producten die op dit moment grotendeels uit aardolie vervaardigd worden. Technologieën voor productie en toepassing van hoogwaardige co-producten die naast biobrandstoffen uit biomassa geproduceerd kunnen worden bevinden zich in verschillende stadia van ontwikkeling

Recovering low molecular weight extractives from degraded straw by oyster mushroom at the farm scale for high value use

The cultivation of mushrooms on wheat straw can be considered a solid state fermentation, yet following harvest the residual, partially degraded straw is discarded. During cultivation, the degradation of lignocellulose in the straw takes place by the fungus under the action of enzymes releasing degradation products with small molecular weight, some of which are potentially valuable. These compounds may be extracted from straw after mushroom cultivation in two stages: an aqueous extraction followed by a solvent extraction. The present work is focused on the first stage of the process. The aqueous extraction releases water soluble compounds, such as sugars and phenolics with lower molecular weight, which are easily obtained. The partially degraded straw may then be treated with organic solvents to release water insoluble lignin breakdown products, such as fatty acids, phenolics and other aromatics. It is important to conduct scale-up experiments at a scale that would reflect the amount of waste straw generated by a mushroom farm. A study was performed using a vessel of 300 L capacity with mixing impeller, by observing the influence of the temperature (20oC, 25oC, 40oC, 60oC and 80oC) and water-to-dry straw ratio (from 40:1 to 90:1) on the total extracted matter and especially on sugar and phenolic compounds yields. A microbial study of the aqueous extract was also performed at 20oC and 25oC to explain the high concentration of organic carbon in the extract under certain circumstances. The optimum extraction conditions were determined by taking into account the yield and the energy consumption of the process. The conclusion was that the extraction temperature can be conducted between 20oC and 25oC with good results for obtaining liquor which can be used in a biogas installation. The extraction should be conducted at 80oC to obtain greater yields of sugars and phenolics

Bioprospecting: Forest bioeconomy and bioproducts

Extraction of the valuable bioproducts from forest resources is crucial inorder to reduce carbon emission, creating sustainable environment and contributions in national economy. Norway consists of a large area of boreal forest resources and biomass which has a very potential sources for providing bio based products. This approachs for searching, identifying of commercially valuable products from natural resources is termed as bioprospecting. Biorefineries are the platforms that manufacture bioproducts involving different stage/ process such as raw materials processing, technical process or methods for production of chemicals, and extraction/ recovery process for desired products. Apart from using biorefineries as the platform for value creation, appropriate strategies, plans and policies are also required to achieve the goal. The study has reviewed the possibilities of valuable products from Norwegian tree species eg. Scots pine, Norway spruce and Birch with the inclusion of case studies in Norway, Finland and Sweden. Furthermore, this study discuss and suggest the strategies to create the value from forest resources, figured out challenges related to Norwegian forest industry, and some recommendations to increase the value from Norwegian forest. While concluding this paper, the study was concluded with the focus on approaches like collaboration across related sectors, sustainable utilization of renewable forest resources along with its productions and extractions

Enhanced product recovery from glycerol fermentation into 3-carbon compounds in a bioelectrochemical system combined with in situ extraction

Given the large amount of crude glycerol formed as a by-product in the biodiesel industries and the concomitant decrease in its overall market price, there is a need to add extra value to this biorefinery side stream. Upgrading can be achieved by new biotechnologies dealing with recovery and conversion of glycerol present in wastewaters into value-added products, aiming at a zero-waste policy and developing an economically viable process. In microbial bioelectrochemical systems (BESs), the mixed microbial community growing on the cathode can convert glycerol reductively to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO). However, the product yield is rather limited in BESs compared with classic fermentation processes, and the synthesis of side-products, resulting from oxidation of glycerol, such as organic acids, represents a major burden for recovery of 1,3-PDO. Here, we show that the use of an enriched mixed-microbial community of glycerol degraders and in situ extraction of organic acids positively impacts 1,3-PDO yield and allows additional recovery of propionate from glycerol. We report the highest production yield achieved (0.72 mol1,3-PDO mol−1glycerol) in electricity-driven 1,3-PDO biosynthesis from raw glycerol, which is very close to the 1,3-PDO yield reported thus far for a mixed-microbial culture-based glycerol fermentation process. We also present a combined approach for 1,3-PDO production and propionate extraction in a single three chamber reactor system, which leads to recovery of additional 3-carbon compounds in BESs. This opens up further opportunities for an economical upgrading of biodiesel refinery side or waste streams

Sustainable Biorefineries: What was Learned from the Design, Analysis and Implementation

Bioeconomies need sustainable technologies and strategies for biomass processing. One of the best ways to do that is to consider biorefineries as a practical way to achieve real developments in the industry for integral production of energy, food, feed and chemicals under an ideal dream of replacing today’s crude-oil and basically using the accessible biomass in the world as much as possible. Additionally, the existent biofuel facilities are constantly adding new processing lines without integral design strategies, and possibly repeating the past design and implementation errors in refineries based on crude-oil. In recent years, more as a fashion or tendency, these processing lines from biofuels industry have been integrated in a system called “biorefinery” and many sectors have supported this idea through policies to incentivize the development of the bio-based economies adopting this concept. The design of biorefineries is presented as a relevant topic due to the multiple processing paths that could be available to obtain a set of desirable products. However, after many scientific efforts in design through well validated methodologies the biorefineries currently are not working properly or are more close to a conventional standalone biomass processing. Some big facilities already implemented today as biorefineries are closed or working just as standalone process (biofuels plant), but not through a promising multiproduct biorefinery configuration for which the resulting design was developed. In this work, 13 biorefineries were analysed including 4 industrial cases that were implemented after specific design and different industrial plants that use different raw materials of renewable origin. To achieve this, different strategic cases were considered: raw materials with inherent logistics restrictions, technical, economic, environmental assessments together with social considerations and finally market restrictions. As a result, and based on different case studies (where these process engineering strategies where applied through conceptual design using Aspen Plus and Potential Environmental Impacts) the positive and negative lessons are discussed in detail. The main result is an overall learning from different cases of study for future design, analysis and implementation of new biorefineries with a real sustainability and avoiding a repetition of the same evolution that risky and controversial crude-oil refineries had

Monometallic cerium layered double hydroxide supported Pd-Ni nanoparticles as high performance catalysts for lignin hydrogenolysis

Monometallic cerium layered double hydroxides (Ce-LDH) supports were successfully synthesized by a homogeneous alkalization route driven by hexamethylenetetramine (HMT). The formation of the Ce-LDH was confirmed and its structural and compositional properties studied by XRD, SEM, XPS, iodometric analyses and TGA. HT-XRD, N-2-sorption and XRF analyses revealed that by increasing the calcination temperature from 200 to 800 degrees C, the Ce-LDH material transforms to ceria (CeO2) in four distinct phases, i.e., the loss of intramolecular water, dehydroxylation, removal of nitrate groups and removal of sulfate groups. When loaded with 2.5 wt% palladium (Pd) and 2.5 wt% nickel (Ni) and calcined at 500 degrees C, the PdNi-Ce-LDH-derived catalysts strongly outperform the PdNi-CeO2 benchmark catalyst in terms of conversion as well as selectivity for the hydrogenolysis of benzyl phenyl ether (BPE), a model compound for the alpha-O-4 ether linkage in lignin. The PdNi-Ce-LDH catalysts showed full selectivity towards phenol and toluene while the PdNi-CeO2 catalysts showed additional oxidation of toluene to benzoic acid. The highest BPE conversion was observed with the PdNi-Ce-LDH catalyst calcined at 600 degrees C, which could be related to an optimum in morphological and compositional characteristics of the support

Thermostable glycoside hydrolases in Biorefining

Glycoside hydrolases, which are responsible for the degradation of the major fraction of biomass, the polymeric carbohydrates in starch and lignocellulose, are predicted to gain increasing roles as catalysts in biorefining applications in the future bioeconomy. In this context, thermostable variants will be important, as the recalcitrance of these biomass-components to degradation often motivates thermal treatments. The traditional focus on degradation is also predicted to be changed into more versatile roles of the enzymes, also involving specific conversions to defined products. In addition, integration of genes encoding interesting target activities opens the possibilities for whole cell applications, in organisms allowing processing at elevated temperatures for production of defined metabolic products. In this review, we overview the application of glycoside hydrolases related to the biorefining context (for production of food, chemicals, and fuels). Use of thermostable enzymes in processing of biomass is highlighted, moving from the activities required to act on different types of polymers, to specific examples in today’s processing. Examples given involve (i) monosaccharide production for food applications as well as use as carbon source for microbial conversions (to metabolites such as fuels and chemical intermediates), (ii) oligosaccharide production for prebiotics applications (iii) treatment for plant metabolite product release, and (iv) production of surfactants of the alkyl glycoside class. Finally future possibilities in whole cell biorefining are shown