Process Intensification for Biomass Conversion to Next-Generation Biofuels

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2022) | Viewed by 5324

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Energy Technology, Åbo Akademi University, 20500 Turku, Finland
Interests: energy and process technology; chemical engineering; biomass gasification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Energy Technology, Åbo Akademi University, 20500 Turku, Finland
Interests: industrial equipment design; green chemistry; biomass conversion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biofuels play a vital role in the transition toward economies based on renewable raw materials. However, the major negative social impact of first-generation biofuels must be sorted. Next-generation biofuels could replace the fossil-based fuel supply without competing for food production. Another roadblock to overcome is the risks involving satisfying demand at retail prices while decreasing operating costs and environmental footprint. Process intensification is undoubtedly the way to turn novel advances into feasible technologies at an industrially relevant scale.

This Special Issue on “Process Intensification for Biomass Conversion to Next-Generation Biofuels” seeks high quality works focusing on the following topics:

  • Continuous biomass gasification;
  • Catalytic conversion of biomass;
  • Intensification strategies for renewable hydrogen production;
  • Second and third-generation bioethanol production;
  • Valorization of organic industrial waste or municipal solid waste.

Prof. Dr. Cataldo De Blasio
Dr. Gabriel Salierno
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • process intensification
  • reactor design
  • second-generation biofuels
  • gasification
  • hydrogen
  • lignocellulosic biomass
  • algae biomass
  • industrial organic waste
  • municipal solid waste

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 7738 KiB  
Article
Valuable Biodiesel Catalyst from Solvay Wastewater
by Mai Hassan Roushdy and Rana Adel Bayoumi
Processes 2022, 10(5), 1042; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10051042 - 23 May 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2324
Abstract
Biodiesel is considered a renewable, green fuel as it is derived from renewable living resources like animal fats or vegetable oils. This research is utilized to investigate the possibility of using Solvay wastewater as a source of biodiesel catalyst, which is CaO. CaCl [...] Read more.
Biodiesel is considered a renewable, green fuel as it is derived from renewable living resources like animal fats or vegetable oils. This research is utilized to investigate the possibility of using Solvay wastewater as a source of biodiesel catalyst, which is CaO. CaCl2 from Solvay wastewater reacts with CO2 to produce CaCO3. CaCO3 is then heated to produce pure CaO. Waste cooking oil, wastewater, and CO2, which are considered dangerous materials to the environment, are used to produce valuable products. This research has environmental and economic benefit benefits of using waste materials as a replacement for raw materials. The selected experimental parameters for the CaCO3 production step are stirring rate (500–1300) rpm, CO2 gas flow rate (900–2000) mL/min, amount of ammonia (15–35) mL, and glycerol volume (0–25) mL. The selected experimental parameters for the biodiesel production step are reaction time (2–6) h, methanol to oil ratio (9–15), catalyst loading (1–5) %, and reaction temperature (50–70) °C. The impact of reaction parameters on reaction responses was assessed using the response surface methodology technique. A formula that represents the reaction response as a function of all the independent factors has been created. The optimization of the process is done in two steps: the first one is for the CaCO3 process while the second one is biodiesel production optimization. The first optimization was done to get the CaCO3 with minimum particle size and yield. The second optimization was done to get the maximum amount of biodiesel using minimum energy and low reaction conditions. Process optimization resulted in another economic benefit for this research. The resulted biodiesel yield equals 95.8% biodiesel yield at 2 h reaction time, 15:1 molar ratio of methanol to oil, 56 °C reaction temperature, and 1% catalyst loading. Full article
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15 pages, 1888 KiB  
Article
Heterogeneous Biodiesel Catalyst from Steel Slag Resulting from an Electric Arc Furnace
by Mai Hassan Roushdy
Processes 2022, 10(3), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10030465 - 25 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2057
Abstract
Biodiesel is one of the most environmentally friendly and renewable fuels, as it is a non-polluting fuel and is made from living resources, such as vegetable oils. The steel industry generates a variety of solid wastes, including electric arc furnace slag (EAFS). The [...] Read more.
Biodiesel is one of the most environmentally friendly and renewable fuels, as it is a non-polluting fuel and is made from living resources, such as vegetable oils. The steel industry generates a variety of solid wastes, including electric arc furnace slag (EAFS). The synthesis of biodiesel from waste sunflower cooking oil was examined in this study, utilizing EAFS as a catalyst, which mainly contains ferric and ferrous oxides, calcium oxide, and silica. To evaluate their impact on biodiesel production, four independent variables were chosen: temperature (50–70 °C), catalyst loading (1–5%), methanol-to-oil (M:O) molar ratio (5–20), and time (1–4 h). The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to examine the impact of independent variables on reaction response, which is the biodiesel yield. This process was carried out using a design expert program by central composite design (CCD). A model was constructed, and showed that the biodiesel yield was directly proportional to all independent reaction parameters. The predicted model’s adequacy was investigated using analysis of variance (ANOVA), which showed that it is an excellent representative of the results. The optimization of reaction conditions was investigated in order to maximize biodiesel yield at minimal reaction temperature and time, achieving a 94% biodiesel yield at a 20:1 M:O molar ratio, 5% catalyst loading, 55.5 °C reaction temperature, and 1 h reaction time. Full article
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