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Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability
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Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 65740

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fernando V. Lima

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA
Interests: process systems engineering methods for process design and intensification; advanced control and state estimation; modular energy systems and sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
Interests: sustainability evaluation; process systems engineering; supply chain design; organic waste management; nutrient pollution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growing worldwide demand for energy and resources, combined with the stringent environmental challenges and  regulations, means that the efficient, cost effective, and sustainable use of energy and material sources, including bio-based, has become increasingly important. The development and implementation of novel technologies for the improved and diversified utilization and reuse of such primary sources can be accelerated by the use of process systems engineering tools, such as process modeling, design, optimization, and control. This Special Issue will seek novel process systems contributions and applications associated with bioenergy systems, material management, and sustainability. The following topics are of particular interest:

  • Bioenergy production and biofuels
  • Bioenergy systems optimization and advanced control analysis
  • Sustainability, life cycle assessment, and life cycle inventory analyses associated with biosystems
  • Sustainable management and valorization of organic/biomass waste, including energy production
  • Techno-economic analysis of novel routes for the sustainable utilization and reuse of biomass and waste

In addition to theoretical contributions that address the state-of-the-art in process systems engineering and sustainability, submissions that involve industrial collaborations and experimental studies are also especially encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Fernando V. Lima
Dr. Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado
Guest Editors

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.

Keywords

  • biosystems
  • sustainability
  • control
  • optimization
  • energy technologies
  • material management

Published Papers (15 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

2 pages, 168 KiB  
Editorial
Special Issue on “Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability”
by Fernando V. Lima and Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado
Processes 2021, 9(4), 590; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9040590 - 29 Mar 2021
Viewed by 1223
Abstract
The growing worldwide demand for energy and resources, combined with the stringent environmental challenges and regulations, means that the efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable use of energy and material sources, including bio-based, has become increasingly important [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

13 pages, 945 KiB  
Article
Design of a Centralized Bioenergy Unit at Comarca Lagunera, Mexico: Modeling Strategy to Optimize Bioenergy Production and Reduce Methane Emissions
by José Alberto Silva-González, Inty Omar Hernández-De Lira, Antonio Rodríguez-Martínez, Grace Aileen Ruiz-Santoyo, Berenice Juárez-López and Nagamani Balagurusamy
Processes 2021, 9(8), 1350; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9081350 - 31 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1926
Abstract
A centralized bioenergy unit was simulated, focusing on optimizing the manure transport chain, installing a centralized biogas plant, operation costs of the process, biogas upgrading, organic fertilizer production, and economic analyses. Comarca Lagunera from northeast Mexico was chosen as a study zone due [...] Read more.
A centralized bioenergy unit was simulated, focusing on optimizing the manure transport chain, installing a centralized biogas plant, operation costs of the process, biogas upgrading, organic fertilizer production, and economic analyses. Comarca Lagunera from northeast Mexico was chosen as a study zone due to the existing number of dairy farms and livestock population (64,000 cattle heads). Two scenarios were analyzed: The first centralized scenario consisted of selecting one unique location for the anaerobic digesters for the 16 farms; the second decentralized scenario consisted of distributing the anaerobic digesters in three locations. Optimal locations were determined using mathematical modeling. The bioenergy unit was designed to process 1600 t/day of dairy manure. Results indicated that biomethane production was a more profitable option than generating electricity with non-purified methane. The amount of biomethane production was 58,756 m3/day. Economic analysis for centralized bioenergy unit scenario showed a net production cost of USD $0.80 per kg of biomethane with a profit margin of 14.4% within 10.7 years. The decentralized bioenergy unit scenario showed a net production cost of USD $0.80 per kg of biomethane with a profit of 12.9% within 11.4 years. This study demonstrated the techno-economical and environmental feasibility for centralized and decentralized bioenergy units. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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38 pages, 7074 KiB  
Article
Optimization of the Algal Biomass to Biodiesel Supply Chain: Case Studies of the State of Oklahoma and the United States
by Soumya Yadala, Justin D. Smith, David Young, Daniel W. Crunkleton and Selen Cremaschi
Processes 2020, 8(4), 476; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8040476 - 18 Apr 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3990
Abstract
The goal of this work is to design a supply chain network that distributes algae biomass from supply locations to meet biodiesel demand at specified demand locations, given a specified algae species, cultivation (i.e., supply) locations, demand locations, and demand requirements. The final [...] Read more.
The goal of this work is to design a supply chain network that distributes algae biomass from supply locations to meet biodiesel demand at specified demand locations, given a specified algae species, cultivation (i.e., supply) locations, demand locations, and demand requirements. The final supply chain topology includes the optimum sites to grow biomass, to extract algal oil from the biomass, and to convert the algae oil into biodiesel. The objective is to minimize the overall cost of the supply chain, which includes production, operation, and transportation costs over a planning horizon of ten years. Algae production was modeled both within the U.S. State of Oklahoma, as well as the entire contiguous United States. The biodiesel production cost was estimated at $7.07 per U.S. gallon ($1.87 per liter) for the State of Oklahoma case. For the contiguous United States case, a lower bound on costs of $13.68 per U.S. gallon ($3.62 per liter) and an upper bound of $61.69 ($16.32 per liter) were calculated, depending on the transportation distance of algal biomass from production locations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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19 pages, 5071 KiB  
Article
Estimation of Biomass Enzymatic Hydrolysis State in Stirred Tank Reactor through Moving Horizon Algorithms with Fixed and Dynamic Fuzzy Weights
by Vitor B. Furlong, Luciano J. Corrêa, Fernando V. Lima, Roberto C. Giordano and Marcelo P. A. Ribeiro
Processes 2020, 8(4), 407; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8040407 - 31 Mar 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2676
Abstract
Second generation ethanol faces challenges before profitable implementation. Biomass hydrolysis is one of the bottlenecks, especially when this process occurs at high solids loading and with enzymatic catalysts. Under this setting, kinetic modeling and reaction monitoring are hindered due to the conditions of [...] Read more.
Second generation ethanol faces challenges before profitable implementation. Biomass hydrolysis is one of the bottlenecks, especially when this process occurs at high solids loading and with enzymatic catalysts. Under this setting, kinetic modeling and reaction monitoring are hindered due to the conditions of the medium, while increasing the mixing power. An algorithm that addresses these challenges might improve the reactor performance. In this work, a soft sensor that is based on agitation power measurements that uses an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) as an internal model is proposed in order to predict free carbohydrates concentrations. The developed soft sensor is used in a Moving Horizon Estimator (MHE) algorithm to improve the prediction of state variables during biomass hydrolysis. The algorithm is developed and used for batch and fed-batch hydrolysis experimental runs. An alteration of the classical MHE is proposed for improving prediction, using a novel fuzzy rule to alter the filter weights online. This alteration improved the prediction when compared to the original MHE in both training data sets (tracking error decreased 13%) and in test data sets, where the error reduction obtained is 44%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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12 pages, 7815 KiB  
Article
Spatial Life Cycle Analysis of Soybean-Based Biodiesel Production in Indiana, USA Using Process Modeling
by Venkata Sai Gargeya Vunnava and Shweta Singh
Processes 2020, 8(4), 392; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8040392 - 27 Mar 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3503
Abstract
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has long been utilized for decision making about the sustainability of products. LCA provides information about the total emissions generated for a given functional unit of a product, which is utilized by industries or consumers for comparing two products [...] Read more.
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has long been utilized for decision making about the sustainability of products. LCA provides information about the total emissions generated for a given functional unit of a product, which is utilized by industries or consumers for comparing two products with regards to environmental performance. However, many existing LCAs utilize data that is representative of an average system with regards to life cycle stage, thus providing an aggregate picture. It has been shown that regional variation may lead to large variation in the environmental impacts of a product, specifically dealing with energy consumption, related emissions and resource consumptions. Hence, improving the reliability of LCA results for decision making with regards to environmental performance needs regional models to be incorporated for building a life cycle inventory that is representative of the origin of products from a certain region. In this work, we present the integration of regionalized data from process systems models and other sources to build regional LCA models and quantify the spatial variations per unit of biodiesel produced in the state of Indiana for environmental impact. In order to include regional variation, we have incorporated information about plant capacity for producing biodiesel from North and Central Indiana. The LCA model built is a cradle-to-gate. Once the region-specific models are built, the data were utilized in SimaPro to integrate with upstream processes to perform a life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). We report the results per liter of biodiesel from northern and central Indiana facilities in this work. The impact categories studied were global warming potential (kg CO2 eq) and freshwater eutrophication (kg P eq). While there were a lot of variations at individual county level, both regions had a similar global warming potential impact and the northern region had relatively lower eutrophication impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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21 pages, 5283 KiB  
Article
A Visualization and Control Strategy for Dynamic Sustainability of Chemical Processes
by Shuyun Li, Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado and Fernando V. Lima
Processes 2020, 8(3), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8030310 - 7 Mar 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3297
Abstract
Our societal needs for greener, economically viable products and processes have grown given the adverse environmental impact and unsustainable development caused by human activities, including chemical releases, exposure, and impacts. To make chemical processes safer and more sustainable, a novel sustainability-oriented control strategy [...] Read more.
Our societal needs for greener, economically viable products and processes have grown given the adverse environmental impact and unsustainable development caused by human activities, including chemical releases, exposure, and impacts. To make chemical processes safer and more sustainable, a novel sustainability-oriented control strategy is developed in this work. This strategy enables the incorporation of online sustainability assessment and process control with sustainability constraints into chemical process operations. Specifically, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s GREENSCOPE (Gauging Reaction Effectiveness for the ENvironmental Sustainability of Chemistries with a multi-Objective Process Evaluator) tool is used for sustainability assessment and environmental release minimization of chemical processes. The multivariable GREENSCOPE indicators in real time can be represented using a novel visualization method with dynamic radar plots. The analysis of the process dynamic behavior in terms of sustainability performance provides means of defining sustainability constraints for the control strategy to improve process sustainability aspects with lower scores. For the control task, Biologically Inspired Optimal Control Strategy (BIO-CS) is implemented with sustainability constraints so that the control actions can be calculated considering the sustainability performance. This work leads to a significant step forward towards augmenting the capability of process control to meet future demands on multiple control objectives (e.g., economic, environmental, and safety related). The effectiveness of the proposed framework is illustrated via two case studies associated with a fermentation system. The results show that the proposed control strategy can effectively drive the system to the desired setpoints while meeting a preset sustainability constraint and improving the transient sustainability performance by up to 16.86% in terms of selected GREENSCOPE indicators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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24 pages, 2620 KiB  
Article
Human Health Impacts of Aviation Biofuel Production: Exploring the Application of Different Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) Methods for Biofuel Supply Chains
by Zhizhen Wang, Patricia Osseweijer and John A. Posada
Processes 2020, 8(2), 158; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8020158 - 28 Jan 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4007
Abstract
The life cycle human health (HH) impacts related to aviation biofuels have been understood in a limited way. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods for assessing HH are often associated with a high level of uncertainty and a low level of consensus. As [...] Read more.
The life cycle human health (HH) impacts related to aviation biofuels have been understood in a limited way. Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods for assessing HH are often associated with a high level of uncertainty and a low level of consensus. As a result, it remains challenging to perform a robust assessment of HH impacts with a suitable LCIA method. This study aims to systematically compare six commonly used LCIA methods for quantifying HH impacts, in order to empirically understand the potential impacts of aviation biofuel production on HH and how the results are affected by the choice of methods. Three aviation biofuel production pathways based on different feedstocks (sugarcane, eucalyptus, and macauba) were analyzed and compared to fossil aviation biofuels, on the basis of a functional unit of 1 MJ aviation fuel. The majority of the LCIA methods suggest that, in respect to midpoint impacts, macauba-based biofuel is associated with the lowest impacts and eucalyptus-based biofuel the highest; whereas at endpoint level, the results are more scattered. The LCIA methods agree that biomass conversion into aviation biofuel, H2 production, and feedstock cultivation are major contributors to life cycle HH impacts. Additionally, we provide a guideline for determining an appropriate method for assessing HH impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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15 pages, 1500 KiB  
Article
Effect of Enzyme Interaction with Lignin Isolated from Pretreated Miscanthus × giganteus on Cellulolytic Efficiency
by Woochul Jung, Ratna Sharma-Shivappa and Praveen Kolar
Processes 2019, 7(10), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7100755 - 16 Oct 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2752
Abstract
The effect of binding between the lignin isolates from an alkali (NaOH)– and an acid (H2SO4)– pretreated Miscanthus and cellulolytic enzymes in Cellic® CTec2 was investigated. Additonally, cellobiose and Avicel were enzymatically hydrolyzed with and without lignin isolates [...] Read more.
The effect of binding between the lignin isolates from an alkali (NaOH)– and an acid (H2SO4)– pretreated Miscanthus and cellulolytic enzymes in Cellic® CTec2 was investigated. Additonally, cellobiose and Avicel were enzymatically hydrolyzed with and without lignin isolates to study how enzyme binding onto lignin affects its conversion to glucose. Three carbohydrate–lignin loadings (0.5:0.25, 0.5:0.5, and 0.5:1.0% (w/v)) were employed. The results indicated that β-glucosidase (BG) had a strong tendency to bind to all lignin isolates. The overall tendency of enzyme binding onto lignin isolate was similar regardless of pretreatment chemical concentration. Though enzyme binding onto lignin isolates was observed, hydrolysis in the presence of these isolates did not have a significant (p > 0.05) impact on glucose production from cellobiose and Avicel. Cellobiose to glucose conversion of 99% was achieved via hydrolysis at both 5 and 10 FPU/g carbohydrate. Hydrolysis of Avicel with 5 and 10 FPU/g CTec2 resulted in 29.3 and 47.7% conversion to glucose, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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31 pages, 4414 KiB  
Article
Mass and Heat Integration in Ethanol Production Mills for Enhanced Process Efficiency and Exergy-Based Renewability Performance
by Pablo A. Silva Ortiz, Rubens Maciel Filho and John Posada
Processes 2019, 7(10), 670; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7100670 - 27 Sep 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 13446
Abstract
This paper presents the process design and assessment of a sugarcane-based ethanol production system that combines the usage of both mass and heat integration (pinch analysis) strategies to enhance the process efficiency and renewability performance. Three configurations were analyzed: (i) Base case: traditional [...] Read more.
This paper presents the process design and assessment of a sugarcane-based ethanol production system that combines the usage of both mass and heat integration (pinch analysis) strategies to enhance the process efficiency and renewability performance. Three configurations were analyzed: (i) Base case: traditional ethanol production (1G); (ii) mass-integrated (1G2G); and (iii) mass and heat-integrated system (1G2G-HI). The overall assessment of these systems was based on complementary approaches such as mass and mass–heat integration, energy and exergy analysis, exergy-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and renewability exergy criteria. The performances of the three cases were assessed through five key performance indicators (KIPs) divided into two groups: one is related to process performance, namely, energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, and average unitary exergy cost (AUEC), and the other one is associated to environmental performance i.e., exergy-based CO2-equation emissions and renewability exergy index. Results showed a higher exergy efficiency of 50% and the lowest AUEC of all the systems (1.61 kJ/kJ) for 1G2G-HI. Furthermore, the destroyed exergy in 1G2G-HI was lower by 7% and 9% in comparison to the 1G and 1G2G cases, respectively. Regarding the exergy-based GHG emissions and renewability performance (λindex), the 1G2G-HI case presented the lowest impacts in terms of the CO2-equivalent emissions (94.10 gCO2-eq/MJ products), while λindex was found to be environmentally unfavorable (λ = 0.77). However, λindex became favorable (λ > 1) when the useful exergy of the byproducts was considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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21 pages, 5163 KiB  
Article
Effective Use of Carbon Pricing on Climate Change Mitigation Projects: Analysis of the Biogas Supply Chain to Substitute Liquefied-Petroleum Gas in Mexico
by Luis Alberto Díaz-Trujillo, Javier Tovar-Facio, Fabricio Nápoles-Rivera and José María Ponce-Ortega
Processes 2019, 7(10), 668; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7100668 - 27 Sep 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3015
Abstract
There is presently an urgent demand for efficient and/or renewable energy technologies to correct global warming. However, these energy technologies are limited mainly by political and economic constraints of high costs and the lack of subsidy. Carbon-pricing strategies, such as carbon-emission taxes and [...] Read more.
There is presently an urgent demand for efficient and/or renewable energy technologies to correct global warming. However, these energy technologies are limited mainly by political and economic constraints of high costs and the lack of subsidy. Carbon-pricing strategies, such as carbon-emission taxes and carbon-emission trading schemes, may reduce this gap between sustainable and unsustainable energy technologies. Therefore, this paper seeks to analyze both of these carbon-pricing instruments in the Mexican energy sector to promote upgrading biogas investment and to substitute liquified petroleum gas consumption using an optimization approach. Furthermore, we propose a multi-objective optimization approach to encourage investment in the biogas supply chain supported by an effective use of carbon-pricing schemes. A case study of the central western region of Mexico was made to analyze the performance of the proposed methodologies. The results show that carbon-emission taxes and carbon-emission trading systems stimulate, with some limitations, the investment in biogas projects for fossil fuel substitution. Nevertheless, using the proposed multi-objective optimization formulation leads the discovery of a more efficient use of the above-mentioned carbon-pricing schemes, thus reaching higher economic and environmental benefits than traditional carbon-pricing policies, with a lower cost/price per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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21 pages, 2767 KiB  
Article
Techno-Economic Analysis and Physicochemical Properties of Ceiba pentandra as Second-Generation Biodiesel Based on ASTM D6751 and EN 14214
by N.A.M. Jamaluddin, Teuku Meurah Indra Riayatsyah, Arridina Susan Silitonga, M. Mofijur, Abd Halim Shamsuddin, Hwai Chyuan Ong, Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia and S.M. Ashrafur Rahman
Processes 2019, 7(9), 636; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7090636 - 19 Sep 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4126
Abstract
Processing biodiesel from non-edible sources of feedstock seems to be thriving in recent years. It also has also gathered more attention than in the past, mainly because the biodiesel product is renewable and emits lower pollution compared to fossil fuels. Researchers have started [...] Read more.
Processing biodiesel from non-edible sources of feedstock seems to be thriving in recent years. It also has also gathered more attention than in the past, mainly because the biodiesel product is renewable and emits lower pollution compared to fossil fuels. Researchers have started their work on various kinds of biodiesel product, especially from a non-edible feedstock. Non-edible feedstocks such as Ceiba pentandra show great potential in the production of biodiesel, especially in the Southeast Asia region because the plants seem to be abundant in that region. Ceiba pentandra, also known as the Kapok tree, produces hundreds of pods with a length of 15 cm (5.9 in) and diameter 2–5 cm (1–2 in). The pods consist of seeds and fluff in the surrounding areas inside the pod, which itself contains yellowish fibre, a mixture of cellulose and lignin. The seeds of Ceiba pentandra can be used as feedstock for biodiesel production. The study for Ceiba pentandra will involve techno-economic, as well as a sensitivity analysis. Moreover, the study also shows that the techno-economic analysis of a biodiesel processing plant for 50 ktons Ceiba pentandra with a life span of 20 years is around $701 million with 3.7 years of the payback period. Besides that, this study also shows the differences in operating cost and oil conversion yield, which has the least impact on running cost. By improving the conversion processes continuously and by increasing the operational efficiency, the cost of production will decrease. In addition, the study also explains the differences of final price biodiesel and diesel fossil fuel, both showing dissimilar scenarios subsidy and taxation. Biodiesel has a subsidy of $0.10/L and $0.18/L with a total tax exemption of 15%. The value was obtained from the latest subsidy cost and diesel in Malaysia. Finally, further research is needed in order to fully utilize the use of Ceiba pentandra as one of the non-edible sources of biodiesel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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20 pages, 4850 KiB  
Article
Pelletization of Sunflower Seed Husks: Evaluating and Optimizing Energy Consumption and Physical Properties by Response Surface Methodology (RSM)
by Xuyang Cui, Junhong Yang, Xinyu Shi, Wanning Lei, Tao Huang and Chao Bai
Processes 2019, 7(9), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7090591 - 3 Sep 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6430
Abstract
Pelletization is a significant approach for the efficient utilization of biomass energy. Sunflower seed husk is a common solid waste in the process of oil production. The novelty of this study was to determine the parameters during production of a novel pellet made [...] Read more.
Pelletization is a significant approach for the efficient utilization of biomass energy. Sunflower seed husk is a common solid waste in the process of oil production. The novelty of this study was to determine the parameters during production of a novel pellet made from sunflower seed husk. The energy consumption (W) and physical properties (bulk density (BD) and mechanical durability (DU)) of the novel pellet were evaluated and optimized at the laboratory by using a pelletizer and response surface methodology (RSM) under a controlled moisture content (4%–14%), compression pressure (100–200 MPa), and die temperature (70–170 °C). The results show that the variables of temperature, pressure, and moisture content of raw material are positively correlated with BD and DU. Increasing the temperature and moisture content of raw materials can effectively reduce W, while increasing the pressure has an adverse effect on W. The optimum conditions of temperature (150 °C), pressure (180 MPa), and moisture content (12%) led to a BD of 1117.44 kg/m3, DU of 98.8%, and W of 25.3 kJ/kg in the lab. Overall, although the nitrogen content was slightly high, the novel manufactured pellets had excellent performance based on ISO 17225 (International Organization for Standardization of 17225, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016). Thus, sunflower seed husk could be considered as a potential feedstock for biomass pelletization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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11 pages, 1904 KiB  
Article
Synthetic Effect of EDTA and Ni2+ on Methane Production and Microbial Communities in Anaerobic Digestion Process of Kitchen Wastes
by Tingting Zhong, Yali Liu and Xiaorong Kang
Processes 2019, 7(9), 590; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7090590 - 3 Sep 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2684
Abstract
Batch tests were carried out to study the effect of simultaneous addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and Ni2+ (EDTA-Ni) on anaerobic digestion (AD) performances of kitchen wastes (KWs). The results indicated that the cumulative biogas yield and methane content were enhanced to 563.82 [...] Read more.
Batch tests were carried out to study the effect of simultaneous addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and Ni2+ (EDTA-Ni) on anaerobic digestion (AD) performances of kitchen wastes (KWs). The results indicated that the cumulative biogas yield and methane content were enhanced to 563.82 mL/gVS and 63.7% by adding EDTA-Ni, respectively, which were almost 1.15 and 1.07-fold of that in the R2 with Ni2+ addition alone. At the same time, an obvious decrease of propionic acid was observed after EDTA-Ni addition. The speciation analysis of Ni showed that the percentages of water-soluble and exchangeable Ni were increased to 38.8% and 36.3% due to EDTA-Ni addition, respectively. Also, the high-throughput sequencing analysis revealed that the EDTA-Ni promoted the growth and metabolism of Methanosarcina and Methanobacterium, which might be the major reason for propionic acid degradation and methane production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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13 pages, 2394 KiB  
Article
Spatial Variations of Bacterial Communities of an Anaerobic Lagoon-Type Biodigester Fed with Dairy Manure
by Marleny García-Lozano, Inty Omar Hernández-De Lira, David H. Huber and Nagamani Balagurusamy
Processes 2019, 7(7), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr7070408 - 1 Jul 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4743
Abstract
Anaerobic digestion technology is being widely employed for sustainable management of organic wastes generated in animal farms, industries, etc. Nevertheless, biodigester microbiome is still considered a “black box” because it is regulated by different physico-chemical and operational factors. In this study, the bacterial [...] Read more.
Anaerobic digestion technology is being widely employed for sustainable management of organic wastes generated in animal farms, industries, etc. Nevertheless, biodigester microbiome is still considered a “black box” because it is regulated by different physico-chemical and operational factors. In this study, the bacterial diversity and composition in different sites of a full-scale lagoon type biodigester (23,000 m3) fed with dairy manure, viz., the influent, beginning, middle, final and effluent were analyzed. The biodigester registered a total of 1445 OTUs, which demonstrated the complex microbial ecosystem in it. Of them, only six OTUs were shared among all the different sampling points. The most abundant phyla belonged to Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Latescibacteria and Thermotogae. The Simpson and Shannon index showed that the highest microbial diversity was observed in the beginning point of the biodigester, meanwhile, the lowest diversity was recorded in the middle. Based on the UniFrac distances, microbial communities with high similarity were recorded in the middle and final of the biodigester. It can be clearly observed that bacterial communities varied at the different points of the biodigester. However, based on metagenome predictions using PICRUSt, it was found that independent of the differences in taxonomy and location, bacterial communities maintained similar metabolic functions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

15 pages, 254 KiB  
Review
Bio-Resin Production through Ethylene Unsaturated Carbon Using Vegetable Oils
by Farah Ezzah A. Latif, Zurina Zainal Abidin, Francisco Cardona, Dayang R. Awang Biak, Khalina Abdan, Paridah Mohd Tahir and Liew Kan Ern
Processes 2020, 8(1), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8010048 - 1 Jan 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6790
Abstract
Bio-resins are bio-based materials derived from vegetable resources, especially from vegetable seed oils. It is widely known that bio-resources are renewable, highly available, and sustainable. Resins and most polymers are largely derived from petroleum-based sources that are known to pose chemical risks. Resins [...] Read more.
Bio-resins are bio-based materials derived from vegetable resources, especially from vegetable seed oils. It is widely known that bio-resources are renewable, highly available, and sustainable. Resins and most polymers are largely derived from petroleum-based sources that are known to pose chemical risks. Resins have practical applications in printing inks, plasticisers and diluents, as well as in coating materials. Vegetable oils possess a large number of oxirane groups, which are essential for epoxidation to occur, resulting in the production of bio-resins. This undeniably serves as a promising candidate for competing with fossil-fuel-derived petroleum-based products. Thus, the aim of this review paper is to highlight aspects related to the production of bio-resins, including the chemical route of vegetable oil epoxidation process and its influencing factors, the reaction kinetics, bio-resins and the physico-chemical and mechanical properties of bio-resins, along with their applications. The resins industry has seen some remarkable progress towards the commercialisation of several bio-resins originating from vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, castor oil, and linseed oil. This success has undoubtedly intensified further efforts in fields related to bio-resin applications. Research and development is ongoing with the aim of customising a feasible formulation for the synthesis of bio-resins with the desired properties for catering to various applications Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioenergy Systems, Material Management, and Sustainability)
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