Abolghasem Shahbazi

Swine manure/crude glycerol co-liquefaction: physical properties and chemical analysis of bio-oil product.

The aim of this work was to investigate the principal structural and physico-chemical changes of bio-oils associated with liquefaction of swine manure with crude glycerol and its key fraction, free fatty acids. Bio-oils have been obtained from liquefaction processes at 340 °C. They were subjected to various physico-chemical characterization methods. FTIR data indicated a reduction in aliphatic structures and an increase in more oxidized and, probably, more polycondensed aromatic components resulting from the addition of crude glycerol to swine manure. GC-MS data indicated that the addition of crude glycerol facilitated the esterification reaction in sub-critical water to convert organic acids contained in bio-oil into various kinds of esters. The dynamic viscosity of bio-oil decreased dramatically by adding crude glycerol into the swine manure.

Dilute-sulfuric acid pretreatment of cattails for cellulose conversion

The use of aquatic plant cattails to produce biofuel will add value to land and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by replacing petroleum products. Dilute-sulfuric acid pretreatment of cattails was studied using a Dionex accelerated solvent extractor (ASE) varying acid concentration (0.1-1%), treatment temperature (140-180 °C), and residence time (5-10 min). The highest total glucose yield for both the pretreatment and enzyme hydrolysis stages (97.1% of the cellulose) was reached at a temperature of 180 °C, a sulfuric acid concentration of 0.5%, and a time of 5 min. Cattails pretreated with 0.5% sulfuric acid are digestible with similar results at enzyme loadings above 15 FPU/g glucan. Glucose from cattails cellulose can be efficiently fermented to ethanol with an approximately 90% of the theoretical yield. The results in this study indicate that cattails are a promising source of feedstock for advanced renewable fuel production.

Bioconversion of glycerol to ethanol by a mutant Enterobacter aerogenes

The main objective of this research is to develop, by adaptive evolution, mutant strains of Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC 13048 that are capable of withstanding high glycerol concentration as well as resisting ethanol-inhibition. The mutant will be used for high ethanol fermentation from glycerol feedstock. Ethanol production from pure (P-) and recovered (R-) glycerol using the stock was evaluated. A six-tube-subculture-generations method was used for developing the mutant. This involved subculturing the organism six consecutive times in tubes containing the same glycerol and ethanol concentrations at the same culture conditions. Then, the glycerol and/or ethanol concentration was increased and the six subculture generations were repeated. A strain capable of growing in 200 g/L glycerol and 30 g/L ethanol was obtained. The ability of this mutant, vis-à-vis the original strain, in utilizing glycerol in a high glycerol containing medium, with the concomitant ethanol yield, was assessed. Tryptic soy broth without dextrose (TSB) was used as the fermentation medium. Fermentation products were analyzed using HPLC.In a 20 g/L glycerol TSB, E. aerogenes ATCC 13048 converted 18.5 g/L P-glycerol and 17.8 g/L R-glycerol into 12 and 12.8 g/L ethanol, respectively. In a 50 g/L P-glycerol TSB, it utilized only 15.6 g/L glycerol; but the new strain used up 39 g/L, yielding 20 g/L ethanol after 120 h, an equivalence of 1.02 mol ethanol/mol-glycerol. This is the highest ethanol yield reported from glycerol bioconversion. The result of this P-glycerol fermentation can be duplicated using the R-glycerol from biodiesel production.

Lactic Acid Production from Cheese Whey by Immobilized Bacteria

The performance of immobilized Bifidobacterium longum in sodium alginate beads and on a spiral-sheet bioreactor for the production of lactic acid from cheese whey was evaluated. Lactose utilization and lactic acid yield of B. longum were compared with those of Lactobacillus helveticus. B. longum immobilized in sodium alginate beads showed better performance in lactose utilization and lactic acid yield than L. helveticus. In the spiral-sheet bioreactor, a lactose conversion ratio of 79% and lactic acid yield of 0.84 g of lactic acid/g of lactose utilized were obtained during the first run with the immobilized L. helveticus. A lactose conversion ratio of 69% and lactic acid yield of 0.51 g of lactic acid/g of lactose utilized were obtained during the first run with immobilized B. longum in the spiral-sheet bioreactor. In producing lactic acid L. helveticus performed better when using the Spiral Sheet Bioreactor and B. longum showed better performance with gel bead immobilization. Because B. longum is a very promising new bacterium for lactic acid production from cheese whey, its optimum fermentation conditions such as pH and metabolic pathway need to be studied further. The ultrafiltration tests have shown that 94% of the cell and cheese whey proteins were retained by membranes with a mol wt cutoff of 5 and 20 KDa.

Co-liquefaction of swine manure and crude glycerol to bio-oil: Model compound studies and reaction pathways

The reaction pathways of co-liquefaction of swine manure and crude glycerol to bio-oil (ester compounds) were investigated. Swine manure was hydrothermal treated (340 °C, 27.5 MPa, 15 min) with a number of model compounds in a high pressure batch reactor under inert atmosphere. The compounds were methanol, pure glycerol, mixture of pure glycerol, pure methanol and H(2)O, and commercial fatty acids (linoleic acid). The chemical composition of the bio-oil was analyzed by GC/MS. Glycerol, methanol and water showed synergistic effects on manure liquefaction, increasing the oil yield as high as 65%. A maximum oil yield of 79.96% was obtained when linoleic acid reacted with swine manure. Based on the results, the reaction pathways were proposed. Esterification reactions occurred not only because the crude glycerol have methanol, but also because methanol can be produced from hydrothermal reactions of glycerol.

Oil production from duckweed by thermochemical liquefaction.

Abstract Duckweed was treated over a temperature range 250–374°C, a retention time of 5–90 min, and a catalyst loading of 0–10 wt% by a high-pressure reactor. Operating temperature, retention time, and catalyst loading are all found to affect oil yield. The lower limit of reaction temperature for the production of heavy oil was found to be 260°C. The highest oil yields were obtained at 30% on an organic basis under the following conditions: reaction temperature of 340°C, retention time of 60 min, and operation without catalyst. The average heating value of the bio-oil product was estimated at 34 MJ/kg.

Pretreatment and Fractionation of Wheat Straw with Acetic Acid to Enhance Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Ethanol Fermentation

Abstract Acetic acid was used to pretreat and fractionate wheat straw. A 25% acetic acid solution at 160°C could remove all xylan and 26.2% of lignin in the wheat straw at a 10% solid concentration while recovering 94.2% of glucan. The glucan content of the pretreated wheat straw was 60.9% compared to 35.5% in the raw wheat straw. After the 6-day hydrolysis with a cellulase at a load of 15 FPU/g glucan, 67.6% of the glucan in the acetic acid-pretreated wheat straw was hydrolyzed into glucose, compared to 58.3, 26.0, and 24.4% for pure cellulose, wheat straw pretreated with hot water at 160°C, and raw wheat straw, respectively.

Lactic acid recovery from cheese whey fermentation broth using combined ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes.

The separation of lactic acid from lactose in the ultrafiltration permeate of cheese whey broth was studied using a cross-flow nanofiltration membrane unit. Experiments to test lactic acid recovery were conducted at three levels of pressure (1.4, 2.1, and 2.8 MPa), two levels of initial lactic acid concentration (18.6 and 27 g/L), and two types of nanofiltration membranes (DS-5DK and DS-5HL). Higher pressure caused significantly higher permeate flux and higher lactose and lactic acid retention (p<0.0001). Higher initial lactic acid concentrations also caused significantly higher permeate flux, but significantly lower lactose and lactic acid retention (p<0.0001). The two tested membranes demonstrated significant differences on the permeate flux and lactose and lactic acid retention. Membrane DS-5DK was found to retain 100% of lactose at an initial lactic acid concentration of 18.6 g/L for all the tested pressures, and had a retention level of 99.5% of lactose at initial lactic acid concentration of 27 g/L when the pressure reached 2.8 MPa. For all the test when lactose retention reached 99–100%, as much as 64% of the lactic acid could be recovered in the permeate.

Thermogravimetric and calorimetric characteristics during co-pyrolysis of municipal solid waste components

The thermogravimetric and calorimetric characteristics during pyrolysis of wood, paper, textile and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic in municipal solid wastes (MSW), and co-pyrolysis of biomass-derived and plastic components with and without torrefaction were investigated. The active pyrolysis of the PET plastic occurred at a much higher temperature range between 360°C and 480°C than 220-380°C for the biomass derived components. The plastic pyrolyzed at a heating rate of 10°C/min had the highest maximum weight loss rate of 18.5wt%/min occurred at 420°C, followed by 10.8wt%/min at 340°C for both paper and textile, and 9.9wt%/min at 360°C for wood. At the end of the active pyrolysis stage, the final mass of paper, wood, textile and PET was 28.77%, 26.78%, 21.62% and 18.31%, respectively. During pyrolysis of individual MSW components at 500°C, the wood required the least amount of heat at 665.2J/g, compared to 2483.2J/g for textile, 2059.4J/g for paper and 2256.1J/g for PET plastic. The PET plastic had much higher activation energy of 181.86kJ/mol, compared to 41.47kJ/mol for wood, 50.01kJ/mol for paper and 36.65kJ/mol for textile during pyrolysis at a heating rate of 10°C/min. H2O and H2 peaks were observed on the MS curves for the pyrolysis of three biomass-derived materials but there was no obvious H2O and H2 peaks on the MS curves of PET plastic. There was a significant interaction between biomass and PET plastic during co-pyrolysis if the biomass fraction was dominant. The amount of heat required for the co-pyrolysis of the biomass and plastic mixture increased with the increase of plastic mass fraction in the mixture. Torrefaction at a proper temperature and time could improve the grindability of PET plastic. The increase of torrefaction temperature and time did not affect the temperature where the maximum pyrolytic rates occurred for both biomass and plastic but decreased the maximum pyrolysis rate of biomass and increased the maximum pyrolysis rate of PET plastic. The amount of heat for the pyrolysis of biomass and PET mixture co-torrefied at 280°C for 30min was 4365J/g at 500°C, compared to 1138J/g for the pyrolysis of raw 50% wood and 50% PET mixture at the same condition.

Green biorefinery of fresh cattail for microalgal culture and ethanol production.

Green biorefinery represents an appropriate approach to utilize the fresh aquatic biomass, eliminating the drying process of conventional bioenergy-converting system. In this study, fresh cattails were homogenized and then filtered, whereby cattails were separated into a fiber-rich cake and a nutrient-rich juice. The juice was used to cultivate microalgae Chlorella spp. in different media. In addition, the solid cake was pretreated with the sonication, and used as the feedstock for ethanol production. The results showed that the cattail juice could be a highly nutritious source for microalgae that are a promising feedstock for biofuels. Sugars released from the cattail cake were efficiently fermented to ethanol using Escherichia coli KO11, with 8.6-12.3% of the theoretical yield. The ultrasonic pretreatment was not sufficient for pretreating cattails. If a dilute acid pretreatment was applied, the conversion ratio of sugars from cattails has the potential to be over 85% of the theoretical value.