Potential bioethanol and biogas production using lignocellulosic biomass from winter rye, oilseed rape and faba bean

To meet the increasing need for bioenergy several raw materials have to be considered for the production of e.g. bioethanol and biogas.In this study, three lignocellulosic raw materials were studied, i.e. (1) winter rye straw (Secale cereale L), (2) oilseed rape straw (Brassica napus L.) and (3) faba bean straw (Viciafaba L.). Their composition with regard to cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives and ash was evaluated, as well as their potential as raw materials for ethanol and biogas production. The materials were pretreated by wet oxidation using parameters previously found to be optimal for pretreatment of corn stover (195 1C, 15 min, 2 g l_1 Na2CO3 and 12 bar oxygen). It was shown that pretreatment was necessary for ethanol production from all raw materials and gave increased biogas yield from winter rye straw. Neither biogas productivity nor yield from oilseed rape straw or faba bean straw was significantly affected by pretreatment. Ethanol was produced by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae during simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid material after wet oxidation with yields of 66%, 70% and 52% of theoretical for winter rye, oilseed rape and faba bean straw, respectively. Methane was produced with yields of 0.36, 0.42 and 0.44 l g_1 volatile solids for winter rye, oilseed rape and faba bean straw, respectively, without pretreatment of the materials. However, biogas productivity was low and it took over 50 days to reach the final yield. It could be concluded that all three materials are possible raw materials for either biogas or ethanol production; however, improvement of biogas productivity or ethanol yield is necessary before an economical process can be achieved. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Diversity and local business structure in European urban contexts

This article investigates the interconnectedness between neighbourhood diversity and local business structures. For this purpose, interviews with residents and entrepreneurs were conducted in three European cities: Budapest, Copenhagen, and Milan. The results show that diversity in the economic structure of urban neighbourhoods is equally important with regards to residents’ quality of life, the image of the neighbourhood, and local social cohesion. Therefore, the main recommendation is that policy makers should act to preserve the diversity of local business structures, and that the concept of diversity itself should be understood in a broader sense, taking local peculiarities into account

Praxis development in relation to gang conflicts in Copenhagen, Denmark

The primary question addressed in this article is how to understand and produce praxisdevelopment in the complex and contentious field of street communities of young marginalizedmen, an area highlighted almost on a daily basis in the Danish media under headlines with termssuch as ‘foreigner problems’, ‘ghetto problems’, ‘gang conflicts’ and ‘gang war’. Since 2009,activists and professionals related to this field have gathered at Grundtvigs Højskole where theyinitiated and inspired community building activities in relation to the recent gang conflicts in theCopenhagen area of Denmark. The article explores these practices and changes, including someof the communal initiatives arising in response to the escalating gang conflicts. The conflict andcommunity building activities are contextualized in terms of broader tendencies and changes inDanish society, from enduring struggles with ethnic othering of young minority men since the late1990s, to other societal changes escalating ‘gang-conflicts’ to ‘gang-war’. The article examineshow these changes produce new dynamics, tensions and dimensions of binary thinking, which inturn creates new dilemmas in the everyday lives of the people involved in social work practice,community building activities and praxis research

Pro-maturational effects of human iPSC-derived cortical astrocytes upon iPSC-derived cortical neurons

Astrocytes influence neuronal maturation and function by providing trophic support, regulating the extracellular environment, andmodulating signaling at synapses. The emergence of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers a human system with whichto validate and re-evaluate insights from animal studies. Here, we set out to examine interactions between human astrocytes and neuronsderived from a common cortical progenitor pool, thereby recapitulating aspects ofin vivocortical development. We show that the corticaliPSC-derived astrocytesexhibit many of the molecular and functional hallmarks of astrocytes. Furthermore, optogenetic and electrophys-iological co-culture experiments reveal that the iPSC-astrocytes can actively modulate ongoing synaptic transmission and exertpro-maturational effects upon developing networks of iPSC-derived cortical neurons. Finally, transcriptomic analyses implicate syn-apse-associated extracellular signaling in the astrocytes’ pro-maturational effects upon the iPSC-derived neurons. This work helps laythe foundation for future investigations into astrocyte-to-neuron interactions in human health and disease

Green house gas (GHG) emissions from Danish bioethanol production and choice of biomass raw materials

It is very much debated whether bioethanol is a sustainable energy resource that can offer environmental and long-term economic advantages over fossil fuels, like gasoline or die-sel. From the present first generation bioethanol technology focusing on starch (from grain) fermentation GHG savings are only modest. The Danish Integrated Biomass Utili-sation System (IBUS) has developed both first generation and second generation princi-pal bioethanol technologies characterised by integration with an existing coal-fired Com-bined Heat and Power (CBH) plant. To secure that bioenergy is produced from local adapted raw materials with limited use of non-renewable fossil fuels there is a need for integrating the biomass starting point into the energy manufacturing steps. Substitution of fossil fuels by crop biomass requires the right selection of plant species according not only to chemical quality for efficient con-version but also to secure the development of ecologically benign farming system includ-ing biomass for energy. The aim of the present study was to question how to optimise GHG savings for bioetha-nol production using the IBUS technology

Future Premature Mortality Due to O3, Secondary Inorganic Aerosols and Primary PM in Europe — Sensitivity to Changes in Climate, Anthropogenic Emissions, Population and Building Stock

Air pollution is an important environmental factor associated with health impacts in Europe and considerable resources are used to reduce exposure to air pollution through emission reductions. These reductions will have non-linear effects on exposure due, e.g., to interactions between climate and atmospheric chemistry. By using an integrated assessment model, we quantify the effect of changes in climate, emissions and population demography on exposure and health impacts in Europe. The sensitivity to the changes is assessed by investigating the differences between the decades 2000–2009, 2050–2059 and 2080–2089. We focus on the number of premature deaths related to atmospheric ozone, Secondary Inorganic Aerosols and primary PM. For the Nordic region we furthermore include a projection on how population exposure might develop due to changes in building stock with increased energy efficiency. Reductions in emissions cause a large significant decrease in mortality, while climate effects on chemistry and emissions only affects premature mortality by a few percent. Changes in population demography lead to a larger relative increase in chronic mortality than the relative increase in population. Finally, the projected changes in building stock and infiltration rates in the Nordic indicate that this factor may be very important for assessments of population exposure in the future