Juan D Peña

Disponibilidad de Variedades de Pastos y Forrajes como Potenciales Materiales Lignocelulósicos para la Producción de Bioetanol en Colombia

A review on the most common species of grasses and forages in Colombia to determine their potential use as lignocellulosic materials for the production of fuels like bioethanol and biobutanol is presented. For this, location, production yield per hectare and per year, lignocellulosic composition and ethanol yield are considered as main characteristics for determining their potential use. As result, elephant grass and king grass, are presented as the most appropriate ones for their exploration in biofuel production processes with green forages yields per acre per year between 360 and 400 ton and between 240 and 360 ton, respectively. Furthermore based in its cellulose and hemicellulose concentration, theoretical ethanol yields of 466,9 L/dry ton of elephant grass and 449,7 L/dry ton of king grass are obtained.

Madera, un Potencial Material Lignocelulósico para la Producción de Biocombustibles en Colombia

The availability of woody resources in Colombia is studied for evaluating their potential for the production of ethanol as a fuel. The diversity of species, the planting and growth conditions of trees and the chemical composition of their woods were analyzed. The study shows that about half of the forested area for commercial purposes is formed by conifers, among which Pinus patula, Pinus caribaea and Eucalyptus grandis are the most abundant. Also, the species Pinus patula, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus grandis showed the highest yield and Pinus caribaea, Pinus patula and Eucalyptus camaldulensis with the highest cellulose content. Given the great technological and highly competitive commercial products derived from pine and eucalyptus, Colombia should take advantage of its situation and promote reforestation with these native species.

Efecto del Pretratamiento de Biomasa Maderera en el Rendimiento a Etanol

Wood samples from Pinus patula and Eucalyptus camaldulensis species were characterized according to procedures and protocols established by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA), to determine their composition. Then, chips from these woods were pretreated by steam explosion, alkaline delignification, ammonia wet soaking, ozonolysis, dilute acid hydrolysis and organic solvent techniques, to condition the raw materials for the enzymatic hydrolysis step. This step was carried out with the commercial enzymatic pull Accellerase 1500 from Genecor followed by fermentation of the hydrolyzate using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ethanol Red yeast in a simultaneous saccharification and fermentation configuration. The results of this step allowed selecting the better pretreatment method for woods. Alkaline delignification showed the best ethanol yields (2.17 g/L for Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and 2.61 g/L for Pinus patula).

Hidrogenación de Aceite Crudo de Jatropha para Aplicaciones Industriales

espanolSe estudio la hidrogenacion de aceite crudo de Jatropha usando dos catalizadores comerciales 3 niquel/silice y niquel/alumina. Se realizo un diseno experimental 2 , comprendiendo las variables temperatura, presion y contenido de catalizador. El aceite y sus productos de reaccion fueron caracterizados mediante la medicion de composicion y los indices de acidez, saponificacion y yodo. Los catalizadores se caracterizaron por area BET, FT-IR, TPR y TGA. Dentro de los resultados mas relevantes del presente trabajo estan: a) el catalizador niquel/silice mostro mayor actividad, debido posiblemente a su mayor area superficial, lo cual pudo favorecer la dispersion del niquel; b) se encontro una alta estabilidad a la oxidacion del catalizador niquel/silice, lo que le confiere un alto grado de reutilizacion; c) se obtuvo un producto con una hidrogenacion mayor al 98% con potenciales aplicaciones en lubricantes textiles, aditivos suavizantes, entre otros. EnglishHydrogenation of crude Jatropha oil using two commercial catalysts nickel/silica and nickel/alumina was studied. An experimental design 23 was carried out, including the variables temperature, pressure and content of catalyst. Oil and their reaction products were characterized by measuring composition and acid value, saponification and iodine. The catalysts were characterized by BET area, FT-IR, TPR and TGA. Among the most relevant results are: a) The catalyst nickel/silica showed higher activity, possibly due to its larger surface area, which could favor the dispersion of nickel; b) high stability to oxidation by catalyst nickel/silica was found, which gives a high degree of reuse; c) a product with hydrogenation greater than 98% with the potential to apply in textile lubricants, softening additives, among others.

Pretratamiento Alcalino de Pasto Elefante (Pennisetum sp) y King Grass (Pennisetum hybridum) Cultivados en Colombia para la Producción de Bioetanol

The effect of different alkaline pretreatment conditions with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on the recuperation of cellulosic fraction, lignin removal and ethanol production was evaluated through simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of elephant grass and king grass ((Pennisetum purpureum and Pennisetum hybridum). These types of grass are potential raw materials for bioethanol production from cellulosic fraction. Results obtained in ethanol production show that under pretreatment conditions of 120oC, 60 minutes, 2%(w/w) of NaOH and a liquid to solid ratio of 20 (w/w), the highest ethanol concentrations are obtained: 27.7 g/L and 26.1 g/L for king grass and elephant grass respectively, in 24 hours of fermentation. Furthermore, under the evaluated conditions it was observed that lignin removal was 88.4% for elephant grass and 94.0% for king grass. The detoxification stage eliminates inhibitors formed during pretreatment, which affects the hydrolysis and fermentation.