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Processes
Special Issues
Sustainability Use of Wood/Wood Residues and Other Bioenergy Sources
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Sustainability Use of Wood/Wood Residues and Other Bioenergy Sources

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 6054

Special Issue Editor

Dr. David L. Nicholls

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Juneau, AK 11175, USA
Interests: forest bio-hubs; wood-coal cofiring; socioeconomic constraints to bioenergy; woody biomass policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Woody biomass utilization for energy products is a dynamic challenge, influenced by numerous social, economic, and environmental factors, and that in turn influences the development of a modern bioeconomy. This Special Issue will address elements needed to synthesize biomass for utilization from forest stands, with an emphasis on innovative supply chains, emerging bio-based products, novel manufacturing methods, effective transportation systems, and collaborative stakeholder engagement.

The Guest Editor of the Special Issue welcomes the submission of original research, critical reviews, and synthesis papers from researchers of all woody biomass/bioenergy disciplines. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

  • the role of government policies to stimulate new technologies and new uses of biomass material,
  • collaborative engagement of stakeholder’s involvement with landscape level forest restorations,
  • innovative woody biomass supply chain advances, including forest depots, biohubs, and forest terminals,
  • novel technologies for bio-based product manufacture, including liquid biofuels, biochar, torrefied wood, gasification, and wood–coal cofiring,
  • socio-economic needs of rural residents living in or near wildland-urban interfaces, including employment and community safety from wildfires,
  • effective use of woody biomass from targeted wastes streams, including forest harvesting residues, thinnings to reduce wildfire risk, and manufacturing residues from wood products facilities,
  • climate change mitigation benefits derived from effective biomass use for energy products.

Dr. David L. Nicholls
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1782 KiB  
Article
Bioactivities of Waste Cork and Phloem Fractions of Quercus cerris Bark
by Ali Umut Șen, Daiana Almeida, Tayse F. F. da Silveira, Tânia S. P. Pires, Mikel Añibarro-Ortega, Filipa Mandim, Lillian Barros, Isabel C. F. R. Ferreira, Helena Pereira and Ângela Fernandes
Processes 2024, 12(10), 2081; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12102081 - 25 Sep 2024
Viewed by 473
Abstract
Recently, more and more researchers have begun to consider using waste bark fractions to produce value-added biochemicals and materials, as well as for energy production. Extraction is often the first operation in biomass biorefineries. Here we obtained hydroethanolic extracts from waste cork and [...] Read more.
Recently, more and more researchers have begun to consider using waste bark fractions to produce value-added biochemicals and materials, as well as for energy production. Extraction is often the first operation in biomass biorefineries. Here we obtained hydroethanolic extracts from waste cork and phloem fractions of Quercus cerris bark and analyzed them to determine their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and nitric oxide (NO) production inhibition properties and their hepatotoxicity. The antioxidant properties were investigated by ex vivo TBARSs as well as OxHLIA antioxidant assays, the antibacterial properties against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria isolated from food and clinical sources, and antifungal properties against Aspergillus brasiliensis and A. fumigatus. The NO production inhibition activity was assessed in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine macrophage (RAW 264.7) cell line, and antiproliferative activities were determined against five different cell lines, including lung (NCI-H460), gastric (AGS), breast (MCF7), and colon (CaCo2) tumor cell lines, as well as a non-tumor cell line (PLP2). The hydroethanolic maceration of waste cork and phloem yielded 4.4% and 2.4% extracts, respectively. Gallic acid glucosides, phenolic acids, and ellagic acid were identified in both extracts. The waste cork and phloem extracts showed antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiproliferative properties but also showed hepatotoxicity in the case of waste cork. Both bark fractions varied in terms of their bioactivity, with waste cork extracts showing, in general, higher bioactivity than phloem extracts Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Use of Wood/Wood Residues and Other Bioenergy Sources)
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39 pages, 5021 KiB  
Article
Novel Landfill-Gas-to-Biomethane Route Using a Gas–Liquid Membrane Contactor for Decarbonation/Desulfurization and Selexol Absorption for Siloxane Removal
by Guilherme Pereira da Cunha, José Luiz de Medeiros and Ofélia de Queiroz F. Araújo
Processes 2024, 12(8), 1667; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12081667 - 8 Aug 2024
Viewed by 822
Abstract
A new landfill-gas-to-biomethane process prescribing decarbonation/desulfurization via gas–liquid membrane contactors and siloxane absorption using Selexol are presented in this study. Firstly, an extension for an HYSYS simulator was developed as a steady-state gas–liquid contactor model featuring: (a) a hollow-fiber membrane contactor for countercurrent/parallel [...] Read more.
A new landfill-gas-to-biomethane process prescribing decarbonation/desulfurization via gas–liquid membrane contactors and siloxane absorption using Selexol are presented in this study. Firstly, an extension for an HYSYS simulator was developed as a steady-state gas–liquid contactor model featuring: (a) a hollow-fiber membrane contactor for countercurrent/parallel contacts; (b) liquid/vapor mass/energy/momentum balances; (c) CO2/H2S/CH4/water fugacity-driven bidirectional transmembrane transfers; (d) temperature changes from transmembrane heat/mass transfers, phase change, and compressibility effects; and (e) external heat transfer. Secondly, contactor batteries using a countercurrent contact and parallel contact were simulated for selective landfill-gas decarbonation/desulfurization with water. Several separation methods were applied in the new process: (a) a water solvent gas–liquid contactor battery for adiabatic landfill-gas decarbonation/desulfurization; (b) water regeneration via high-pressure strippers, reducing the compression power for CO2 exportation; and (c) siloxane absorption with Selexol. The results show that the usual isothermal/isobaric contactor simplification is unrealistic at industrial scales. The process converts water-saturated landfill-gas (CH4 = 55.7%mol, CO2 = 40%mol, H2S = 150 ppm-mol, and Siloxanes = 2.14 ppm-mol) to biomethane with specifications of CH4MIN = 85%mol, CO2MAX = 3%mol, H2SMAX = 10 mg/Nm3, and SiloxanesMAX = 0.03 mg/Nm3. This work demonstrates that the new model can be validated with bench-scale literature data and used in industrial-scale batteries with the same hydrodynamics. Once calibrated, the model becomes economically valuable since it can: (i) predict industrial contactor battery performance under scale-up/scale-down conditions; (ii) detect process faults, membrane leakages, and wetting; and (iii) be used for process troubleshooting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Use of Wood/Wood Residues and Other Bioenergy Sources)
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17 pages, 1752 KiB  
Article
An Experimental Investigation of Hydrogen Production through Biomass Electrolysis
by Muhammad Umer, Caterina Brandoni, Mohammad Jaffar, Neil J. Hewitt, Patrick Dunlop, Kai Zhang and Ye Huang
Processes 2024, 12(1), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12010112 - 2 Jan 2024
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3136
Abstract
This work investigated hydrogen production from biomass feedstocks (i.e., glucose, starch, lignin and cellulose) using a 100 mL h-type proton exchange membrane electrolysis cell. Biomass electrolysis is a promising process for hydrogen production, although low in technology readiness level, but with a series [...] Read more.
This work investigated hydrogen production from biomass feedstocks (i.e., glucose, starch, lignin and cellulose) using a 100 mL h-type proton exchange membrane electrolysis cell. Biomass electrolysis is a promising process for hydrogen production, although low in technology readiness level, but with a series of recognised advantages: (i) lower-temperature conditions (compared to thermochemical processes), (ii) minimal energy consumption and low-cost post-production, (iii) potential to synthesise high-volume H2 and (iv) smaller carbon footprint compared to thermochemical processes. A Lewis acid (FeCl3) was employed as a charge carrier and redox medium to aid in the depolymerisation/oxidation of biomass components. A comprehensive analysis was conducted, measuring the H2 and CO2 emission volume and performing electrochemical analysis (i.e., linear sweep voltammetry and chronoamperometry) to better understand the process. For the first time, the influence of temperature on current density and H2 evolution was studied at temperatures ranging from ambient temperature (i.e., 19 °C) to 80 °C. The highest H2 volume was 12.1 mL, which was produced by FeCl3-mediated electrolysis of glucose at ambient temperature, which was up to two times higher than starch, lignin and cellulose at 1.20 V. Of the substrates examined, glucose also showed a maximum power-to-H2-yield ratio of 30.99 kWh/kg. The results showed that hydrogen can be produced from biomass feedstock at ambient temperature when a Lewis acid (FeCl3) is employed and with a higher yield rate and a lower electricity consumption compared to water electrolysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Use of Wood/Wood Residues and Other Bioenergy Sources)
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19 pages, 2449 KiB  
Article
Biochemical Characterization and Fuel Properties of Endemic Taurus Flowering Ash (Fraxinus ornus subsp. cilicica) Bark from Turkey
by Ali Umut Şen, Rita Simões, Cengiz Yücedağ, Isabel Miranda, Ângela Fernandes and Helena Pereira
Processes 2023, 11(9), 2774; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11092774 - 16 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1256
Abstract
Taurus flowering ash (Fraxinus ornus subsp. cilicica) is an endemic tree species in Turkey. The bark of the species was characterized for summative chemical composition, the monomeric composition of polysaccharides, phenolic content, in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant properties of hydrophilic [...] Read more.
Taurus flowering ash (Fraxinus ornus subsp. cilicica) is an endemic tree species in Turkey. The bark of the species was characterized for summative chemical composition, the monomeric composition of polysaccharides, phenolic content, in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant properties of hydrophilic extracts, the composition of lipophilic extractives and suberin, and thermal degradation. The bark has an elevated ash content (17%), primarily composed of calcium, and a noteworthy extractive content (38.9%), predominantly of hydrophilic compounds. The antioxidant activity of the bark extracts is moderate, with an IC50 value of 40 μg/mL and an EC50 value of 230 μg/mL by DPPH and TBARS methods. The lipophilic extractives principally contain fatty acids and diterpenoids. The suberin content is low (1%) and composed primarily of ω-hydroxy acids with 9,10,18 trihydroxyoctadecanoic acid as the major suberin monomer. The lignin content is low (9.8%), and polysaccharides represent 33%. The ignition temperature of the bark is 190 °C, the burnout temperature is 653 °C, and the activation energy in combustion is 29 kJ mol−1. A biorefinery concept was developed considering the bark’s chemical and thermal characteristics to convert approximately 90% of the bark mass into valuable chemicals, extracts, functional materials, and additives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Use of Wood/Wood Residues and Other Bioenergy Sources)
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