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- Moncao, Maxwel, et al.
(author)
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A novel biorefinery concept based on marginally used halophyte biomass
- 2023
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In: Sustainable Energy & Fuels. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2398-4902. ; 7:16, s. 3902-3918
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Halophytes have major potential in biorefinery as these salt tolerant crops have prospects as an alternative biomass to meet energy demands and provide value-added products with reduced effects in terms of food security and environmental damage when compared to other crops. In this study, we investigated the effects of organosolv pretreatment process parameters on the fractionation of residual fibers from pressed Salicornia ramosissima and how it affects the fractions of cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses. Pretreated pulps contained as high as 48.95% w/w cellulose, a 2.9-fold increase from the untreated fibers. The delignification of pulp was as high as 75.01% and hemicellulose removal reached 96.38%. The hemicellulose fractions contained as high as 78.49% oligomers and we identified up to 30.4% linear xylooligosaccharides in the composition. The majority of the fragments of hemicelluloses had molecular weights lower than 1000 Da. Isolated lignin samples had in most cases very low sugar and ash contamination with a reduced molecular weight. The typical G-, S-, and H-type aromatic units were detected in the lignin, together with & beta;-O-4 & PRIME;, & beta;-5 & PRIME;, & beta;-& beta;& PRIME;, and dibenzodioxocine links. The results suggest a novel applicability of S. ramosissima in a biorefinery context with fractionation deriving building blocks for value added products.
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| 2. |
- Moncao, Maxwel, et al.
(author)
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Salicornia dolichostachya organosolv fractionation: towards establishing a halophyte biorefinery
- 2022
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In: RSC Advances. - : RSC Publishing. - 2046-2069. ; 12:44, s. 28599-28607
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Halophytes are a potential source of lignocellulosic material for biorefinery, as they can be grown in areas unsuitable for the cultivation of crops aimed at food production. To enable the viable use of halophytes in biorefineries, the present study investigated how different organosolv process parameters affected the fractionation of green pressed fibers of Salicornia dolichostachya. We produced pretreated solids characterized by up to 51.3% +/- 1.7% cellulose, a significant increase from 25.6% +/- 1.3% in untreated fibers. A delignification yield of as high as 60.7%, and hemicellulose removal of as high as 86.1% were also achieved in the current study. The obtained cellulose could be completely converted to glucose via enzymatic hydrolysis within 24 h. The lignin fractions obtained were of high purity, with sugar contamination of only 1.22% w/w and ashes below 1% w/w in most samples. Finally, up to 29.1% +/- 0.4% hemicellulose was recovered as a separate product, whose proportion of oligomers to total sugars was 69.9% +/- 3.0%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in which Salicornia fibers are shown to be a suitable feedstock for organosolv biomass fractionation. These results expand the portfolio of biomass sources for biorefinery applications.
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| 3. |
- Phounglamcheik, Aekjuthon, 1989-, et al.
(author)
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Biomass pyrolysis with bio-oil recycle to increase energy recovery
- 2017
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aims at increasing char yield by recycling bio-oil without negative impact on char qualities, i.e. carbon content and heating value. Pyrolysis experiments on spruce and birch chips were carried in a macro-thermogravimetric analyzer. To examine the effect of bio-oil recycle, dried raw woodchips, pure bio-oil, and woodchips impregnated with bio-oil (10, 20 and 25% on mass basis) were compared. The experiments were carried out by introducing sample into the reaction zone with the flow of N2 and at the temperature range of 300 to 600 ˚C. Pyrolysis of the bio-oil impregnated woodchip gave higher char yield than the pyrolysis of raw woodchip. By the 20% (m/m) bio-oil impregnation, char yield increased by 18.9% (spruce) and 19.1% (birch) on average from the raw woodchip pyrolysis. In addition, the char yield from bio-oil impregnated woodchips was higher than the interpolated char yield of raw woodchips and bio-oil, indicating that synergy effect exists by bio-oil impregnation compared with mere recycling of bio-oil. However, high heating rate corresponded to high temperature pyrolysis, i.e. above 400 ˚C, created cavities and breakages on woodchips, which minimized the secondary reaction. Neither carbon content nor heating value of char was influenced by bio-oil impregnation. Energy yield also showed improvement by increasing bio-oil recycling ratio. For example, energy yield of char from woodchips at the temperature of 340 ˚C increased from 48.4% with raw woodchips to 64.5% by woodchips with 25% of bio-oil impregnation.
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| 4. |
- Phounglamcheik, Aekjuthon, 1989-, et al.
(author)
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Increasing efficiency of charcoal production with bio-oil recycling
- 2018
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In: Energy & Fuels. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0887-0624 .- 1520-5029. ; 32:9, s. 9650-9658
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Charcoal from biomass is a promising alternative for fossil coal. Although its quality increases at high pyrolysis temperature, charcoal yield decreases, meaning lower economic performances of charcoal production processes. This work aims at demonstrating potential methods to increase charcoal yield while keeping its quality at satisfying levels. We suggested the recycling of bio-oil from pyrolysis process as a primary measure. In addition, we also investigated in detail the consequence of utilizing CO2 instead of N2 as reaction media under practical conditions (i.e. thick particles). An experimental investigation was carried out in a macro-thermogravimetric (macro-TG) reactor. Sample (woodchips, bio-oil, and woodchips embedded with bio-oil) was exposed to the reaction temperature either instantaneously (isothermal condition) or by slow heating (slow pyrolysis) in controlled gas flows of N2 and CO2. The results showed that char yield increases with the bio-oil recycling on wood chips at all pyrolysis temperatures (300–700 °C). By 20% of bio-oil embedding on wood chips, charcoal yield increased by 18.3% on average. The increase of charcoal yield was not only because of the increase in reactants, but also due to the synergetic effect between bio-oil and wood chips upon physical contact. Bio-oil recycling had negligible effects on the property of charcoal, such as carbon content and heating value. Although CO2 did not affect primary pyrolysis, it had effects on mass transfer processes. As a result, significantly higher char yield was obtained from pyrolysis in CO2 than in N2 by ensuring a good contact of volatiles and solid surface (i.e. usage of thick particles and slow heating). This study suggests that we can achieve high charcoal yield while maintaining the similar charcoal property by bio-oil recycling, CO2 purging, use of thick particles, and slow heating.
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