Biorefinery concept with green solvents towards the phenolic valorization

The efficient separation, hydrolysis and conversion of principal components of lignocellulosic biomass allows to produce chemicals and value added compounds. Ionic liquids (ILs) have been used for the pre-treatment and fractionation of biomass.1-3 The pre-treatment reveals that phenolic compounds were found in the IL phase. This work was devoted for the extraction of phenolic compounds from the recovered IL liquid using several adsorption resins in small scale batch processes. Phenolic compounds, such as vanillin, catechol and flavonoids were identified in extraction samples and also quantified. Temperature, residence time and water amount were evaluated in order to find optimal extraction conditions of phenolic compounds from IL

Economic, social and environmental impacts attained by the use of the effluents generated within a small-scale biorefinery concept

ABSTRACT: Biorefineries are emerging as the proper route to defeat climate change and other social, socio-economic and environmental concerns. So far, no residual lignocellulosic biomass-based biorefineries have been yet industrially implemented, mainly due to its economic viability. This article exposes some elements that may help overcome the bottlenecks associated to its social, economic and environmental sustainability: small-scale approaches, biomass valorisation through added-value products and near-zero effluent.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Green chemistry and the biorefinery concept

Green Chemistry and Biorefinery concepts are two approaches helping to develop new and more sustainable processes. The implementation of both methodologies impels to fossil-independent future with bioeconomy based on natural feedstock like biowaste and industrial by-products. The development of technologies for valorisation of these resources is a key role of society in the creation of sustainable and more environmentally friendly future

High pressure vapour-liquid equilibrium of volatiles in supercritical carbon dioxide

Binary vapour-liquid equilibrium of thymoquinone and carbon dioxide at the isothermal conditions was carried out at temperature 323.15 K and pressures from 6 to 10 MPa. The experimental data were fitted to the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state. Results could be used for selection of process parameters in separation of volatiles from raw oil or for evaluation of existing separation technologies

Efficient extraction of vicine from faba beans using reactive system of high-pressure CO2/water

ABSTRACT: Vicine from faba bean is a causative agent of favism, a genetic disease, which manifests as hemolytic anemia. Despite that low vicine varieties of faba bean exist, they are not widely cultivated. Several extraction methods of vicine from faba beans have been presented in the literature, however, their low efficiency associated to time-consuming and costly process limit the practical use. This work for the first time addresses the employment of high-pressure CO2-assisted extraction of the pyrimidine glycosides from the faba bean. For this purpose, the effect of temperature, CO2 pressure and time on vicine extraction was scrutinized using Box-Behnken design of experiments. Response surface methodology was used to determine the optimal extraction conditions. At 40.7 °C, 8.1 bar of CO2 pressure and 5.1 min of extraction, 81% of total vicine should be extracted from faba bean.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Biodegradable ionic liquids in service of biomass upgrade

ABSTRACT: This work presents an up-to-date overview of the use of biodegradable ionic liquids in the conversion of biomass in the context of biorefineries. Special attention is given to works in which biodegradability potentiates advanced application of ionic liquids in terms of process intensification for deployment of technologies towards bioenergy carriers or bioderived valueadded products.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Green technologies in the valorization of agrofood wastes in the frame of the biorefinery concept

Food production results in the generation of residues at different step of the production chain. A great part of the residues is generated at the agricultural part of the process. Although some of these residues may have already an application as for example feed or bedding, however more energetically and economically efficient use is desirable. Especially that this kind of residues are low-cost bulky feedstock and renewable carbon source, which can be processed and valorised to produce fine chemicals and bio-based commodities fulfilling the requirement of biorefinery concept. However, considering the globally occurring changes, the valorisation of residues made in the frame of biorefinery concept must be done in the green fashion. This way the broadly understood sustainability and bio-based economy requirements can be satisfy. This work will show some examples of valorisation of food production chain residues using greener methods. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the diverse application methods of ionic liquids and high density fluids in direct integrated valorisation of biomass towards value-added chemicals

Ionic liquids as a tool for lignocellulosic biomass fractionation

Lignocellulosic biomass composes a diversity of feedstock raw materials representing an abundant and renewable carbon source. In majority lignocellulose is constituted by carbohydrate macromolecules, namely cellulose and hemicellulose, and by lignin, a polyphenilpropanoid macromolecule. Between these biomacromolecules, there are several covalent and non-covalent interactions defining an intricate, complex and rigid structure of lignocellulose. The deconstruction of the lignocellulosic biomass makes these fractions susceptible for easier transformation to large number of commodities including energy, chemicals and material within the concept of biorefinery. Generally, the biomass pre-treatment depends on the final goal in the biomass processing. The recalcitrance of lignocellulose materials is the main limitation of its processing once the inherent costs are excessively high for the conventional pre-treatments. Furthermore, none of the currently known processes is highly selective and efficient for the satisfactory and versatile use, thus, new methodologies are still studied broadly. The ionic liquid technology on biomass processing is relatively recent and first studies were focused on the lignocellulosic biomass dissolution in different ionic liquids (ILs). The dissolution in IL drives to the structural changes in the regenerated biomass by reduction of cellulose crystallinity and lignin content contrasting to the original biomass. These findings provided ILs as tools to perform biomass pre-treatment and the advantageous use of their specific properties over the conventional pre-treatment processes. This review shows the critical outlook on the study of biomass dissolution and changes occurred in the biomass during this process as well as on the influence of several crucial parameters that govern the dissolution and further pre-treatment process. The review of currently known methods of biomass fractionation in IL and aqueous-IL mixtures is also discussed here and perspectives regarding these topics are given as well

Carbon dioxide in biomass processing: contributions to the green biorefinery concept

The 21st century is witnessing a huge demand of fossil reserves coupled with a rapid reduction in readily and economically reachable oil feedstocks.The present energy demand is not fulfilled from fossil fuel sources, making the world exposed to geopolitical risk. Furthermore, concerns regarding the security of the supply chain and the environmental impacts have resulted in an ever-increasing shift of global energy policies to seek alternative technologies and sustainable sources of energy, materials, chemicals, and value-added products. Recently, the need for development of an economy based on renewable resources has been recognized by society, and diverse R&D activities have started to be funded to accomplish this aim. However, generation of bioproducts based on sustainable supply chains poses vast challenges for an eco-based economy.The simplest way to provide a supportable supply chain is through the employment of renewable biomass feedstocks, which is the only sustainable option to substitute for fossil fuel resources, as sources of organic compounds over a relatively short time scale and with limitless supply