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Journals
Fuels
Special Issues
Energy Crops for Biofuel Production
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Energy Crops for Biofuel Production

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2024) | Viewed by 5699

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Vanja Jurišić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Technology, Storage and Transport, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: renewable energy sources; biomass conversion; biofuels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy is one of the most important indicators of economic and social development. With a reduction in the use of conventional fossil fuels in mind, there is an aspiration for a safer, more sustainable, and more continuous energy supply, as well as future low carbon scenarios, it is expected that an increase in the production and consumption of RES will be even more present on a global level in the upcoming years. Moreover, decarbonizing transport will require a range of bio-based transport fuels, and especially advanced low carbon fuels which are suitable for long-haul transport applications including aviation. Therefore, it is expected that biomass will have the greatest contribution to achieving growth in the biofuel production sector, by introducing energy crops into the supply chain itself. Low requirements for fertilization and minimum application of herbicides makes energy crops environmentally friendly, but can also ensure the sustainability of the biomass supply, while using marginal lands for their growth. This makes both fuel output and climate benefits per unit of land important parameters, and, as such, life-cycle assessment is used to identify the aspects of the most important environmental impacts.

Therefore, authors are invited to contribute work related to the potential topics of this Special Issue, which include, but are not limited to, growing novel energy crops for biofuel production, analysis of biomass quality, biogas/ethanol production development processes, and advanced biofuels' production.

Dr. Vanja Jurišić
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. 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

  • biofuels
  • lignocellulosic biomass
  • annual energy crops
  • perennial energy crops
  • marginal lands
  • biochemical conversion
  • thermochemical conversion
  • ethanol
  • biogas
  • transport fuels
  • advanced biofuels
  • LCA

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4432 KiB  
Article
Co-Benefits of Eichhornia Crassipes (Water Hyacinth) as Sustainable Biomass for Biofuel Production and Aquatic Ecosystem Phytoremediation
by Kamrun Nahar and Sanwar Azam Sunny
Fuels 2024, 5(3), 317-333; https://doi.org/10.3390/fuels5030018 - 23 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1429
Abstract
The water hyacinth (WH), also known as Eichhornia crassipes, is Bangladesh’s fast-growing and rapidly expanding sustainable aquatic bioenergy feedstock. The WH, as an energy crop, has been harnessed as a phytoremediation agent to purify contaminated water and produce fuel and environmentally friendly [...] Read more.
The water hyacinth (WH), also known as Eichhornia crassipes, is Bangladesh’s fast-growing and rapidly expanding sustainable aquatic bioenergy feedstock. The WH, as an energy crop, has been harnessed as a phytoremediation agent to purify contaminated water and produce fuel and environmentally friendly products. A country’s economy relies on the availability of raw materials for energy production, cleaning life-supporting abiotic resources for consumption, and the innovation of cost-effective, eco-friendly products. The present study focuses on a three-in-one nexus using the WH to purify polluted water, the (post-purification) biomass to produce clean energy fuels (biogas and bioethanol), and for the manufacture of daily-use products. The ability of the WH, an aquatic macrophyte, to act as a phytoremediator to improve the quality of eutrophic lake water in a laboratory setting was investigated. Water samples were collected from four lakes surrounding the urban community in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The potential to remove salts and solutes and improve the physio-chemical properties of water, including pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDSs), turbidity, and NaCl concentration, were assessed. During the aquatic macrophyte treatment, a 100% WH survival rate was shown, with no visible toxicity symptoms observed in the biomass. The WH improved water quality after one week, as determined by a significant decrease in turbidity, EC, NaCl, and TDSs, and improved pH and DO levels. Here, we establish the WH’s proficiency in removing nutrients/solutes and improving water quality. In addition, we discuss the utilization of this invasive aquatic biomass to produce energy after remediation of water including cost-effective and eco-friendly products to incur daily life with environmental and socioeconomic benefits in Bangladesh. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Crops for Biofuel Production)
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19 pages, 2978 KiB  
Article
Ultrasonication Assisted Catalytic Transesterification of Ceiba Pentandra (Kapok) Oil Derived Biodiesel Using Immobilized Iron Nanoparticles
by Mithileth Pasawan, Shiao-Shing Chen, Bhanupriya Das, Hau-Ming Chang, Chang-Tang Chang, Thi Xuan Quynh Nguyen, Hong-Ming Ku and Yue-Fang Chen
Fuels 2022, 3(1), 113-131; https://doi.org/10.3390/fuels3010008 - 22 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2967
Abstract
The embedded immobilized enzymes (Rhizopus-oryzae) on the magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) is a new application for the sustainable production of high-quality biodiesel. In this study, biodiesel is derived from Kapok oil via ultrasonication (US)-assisted catalytic transesterification method. A [...] Read more.
The embedded immobilized enzymes (Rhizopus-oryzae) on the magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4-NPs) is a new application for the sustainable production of high-quality biodiesel. In this study, biodiesel is derived from Kapok oil via ultrasonication (US)-assisted catalytic transesterification method. A novel attempt is made to prepare magnetic nanoparticles embedded by an immobilized enzyme to solve the problem of enzyme denaturation. This innovative method resulted in optimum biodiesel conversion of 89 ± 1.17% under reactant molar ratio (methanol: oil) of 6:1, catalyst loading 10 wt% with a reaction time of 4 h at 60 °C. The kinetic and thermal study reveals that conversion of Kapok oil to biodiesel follows a pseudo first-order reaction kinetic with a lower ΔE of 30.79 kJ mol−1. The ΔH was found to be 28.06 kJ mol−1 with a corresponding ΔS of −237.12 J mol−1 K−1 for Fatty Acid Methyl Ester formation. The ΔG was calculated to be from 102.28 to 109.40 kJ mol−1 for temperature from 313 K to 343 K. The positive value of ΔH and ΔG is an indication of endothermic and non-spontaneous reaction. A negative ΔS indicates the reactant in the transition state possesses a higher degree of ordered geometry than in its ground state. The immobilized catalysts provided great advantages towards product separation and efficient biodiesel production. Highlights: 1. Effective catalytic transesterification assisted by the ultrasonication method was used for bi-odiesel production. 2. Magnetite nanoparticles synthesized by the co-precipitation method were used as heteroge-neous catalysts. 3. An immobilized enzyme (Rhizopus-oryzae) was embedded in the heterogeneous catalyst, as it is reusable and cost-effective. 4. The maximum biodiesel yield obtained from Kapok oil was 93 ± 1.04% by catalytic trans-esterification reactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Crops for Biofuel Production)
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