Combining Waste Treatment with Biofuels/Bioenergy Production

A special issue of Fuels (ISSN 2673-3994).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1380

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Higher Institute of Education and Sciences (ISEC Lisboa), 1750-142 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: energy crop production; phytoremediation of contaminated soils and water
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
NOVA School of Science and Technology (FCT NOVA), 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
Interests: biomass production; energy crops; biomass feedstocks; bio-plastics; waste management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the instability of some of the countries that supply fossil resources, we have been witnessing successive increases in the prices of sraw materials and, especially, of finished goods, specifically fuel. These price increases as well as the association of fuel with climate change has resulted in the mobilization of the international community to achieve the development and increased use of renewable energy sources. However, the production of renewable energy tends to be focused on the production of electricity through the use of wind and solar resources, but the production of this energy is intermittent, and its consumption is immediate and only has the possibility of small-scale storage. In this regard, the production of biofuels constitutes an alternative to fossil fuels given that their production is not intermittent and they can be stored on a large scale for future use. Biofuels also have the advantage of not requiring significant modifications to energy conversion systems, making it possible to maintain the current conversion systems. Since the production of biofuels, whether by first- or second-generation conversion, is limited by agricultural production and cropland availability, it is paramount to find other ways of producing biofuels that do not compete for land with food crops. The use of bio-waste can represent a very significant resource that can be ued to increase the production of biofuels, ensuring the stability of the supply chain.

Dr. Jorge Costa
Dr. Ana Luisa Fernando
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. Fuels is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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

  • waste to energy
  • biofuel production
  • energy transition
  • waste recovery
  • supply chain security
  • biofuel production using marginal lands

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

28 pages, 2088 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Bioenergy Production from Chlorella via Salt-Induced Stress and Heat Pretreatment
by Themistoklis Sfetsas, Sopio Ghoghoberidze, Petros Samaras, Polycarpos Falaras and Thomas Kotsopoulos
Fuels 2025, 6(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/fuels6020023 - 27 Mar 2025
Viewed by 514
Abstract
This study presents an integrated strategy to optimize biofuel production from Chlorella sorokiniana (CSO) and Chlorella vulgaris (CVU) by combining salt-induced stress and thermal pretreatment. The microalgae were cultivated in anaerobic digestate effluent (ADE) under stress and non-stress conditions to evaluate nutrient availability’s [...] Read more.
This study presents an integrated strategy to optimize biofuel production from Chlorella sorokiniana (CSO) and Chlorella vulgaris (CVU) by combining salt-induced stress and thermal pretreatment. The microalgae were cultivated in anaerobic digestate effluent (ADE) under stress and non-stress conditions to evaluate nutrient availability’s impact on biomass composition. Salt stress significantly enhanced lipid accumulation, with CVU exhibiting a 51.6% increase. Thermal pretreatment of biomass at 90 °C for 10 h achieved the highest methane yield (481 mL CH4/g VS), with CVU outperforming CSO. Milder pretreatment conditions (40 °C for 4 h) were more energy-efficient for CSO, achieving a yield of 2.67%. Fatty acid profiles demonstrated species-specific biodiesel properties, with CSO rich in oleic acid (33.47%) offering enhanced oxidative stability and cold flow performance, while CVU showed a higher polyunsaturated fatty acid content. This research highlights the economic viability of using ADE as a low-cost cultivation medium and the potential for scalable thermal pretreatments. Future research should focus on reducing energy demands of pretreatment processes and exploring alternative stress induction methods to further enhance biofuel yields. These findings offer valuable insights for tailoring cultivation and processing strategies to maximize lipid and methane production, supporting sustainable and economically viable dual biofuel production systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Waste Treatment with Biofuels/Bioenergy Production)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop