Thomas M. Attard

Pre-treatment and extraction techniques for recovery of added value compounds from wastes throughout the agri-food chain

The enormous quantity of food wastes discarded annually forces a look into alternatives for this interesting feedstock. Thus, food bio-waste valorisation is one of the current imperatives of society. This review is the most comprehensive overview of currently existing technologies and processes in this field. It tackles classical and innovative physical, physico-chemical and chemical methods of food waste pre-treatment and extraction for the recovery of added value compounds and detection by modern technologies and is an outcome of the COST Action EUBIS, TD1203 Food Waste Valorisation for Sustainable Chemicals, Materials and Fuels.

Impact of supercritical extraction on solid fuel wood pellet properties and off-gassing during storage

Biofuel pellets derived from wood raw material are an important carbon neutral source of energy. Their storage and bulk transportation can lead to serious hazards as a result of off-gassing (CO, CO2, CH4 combined with serious oxygen (O2) depletion). Herein, supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (scCO2) has been demonstrated as an efficient tool in significantly reducing these emissions from wood pellets. 84% of the lipids and resin acids have been removed from the sawdust prior to pelletisation. Crucially, this work reports the first off-gassing measurements associated with lipid autoxidation in wood pellets post scCO2 extraction of the sawdust. These off-gassing processes were considerably reduced for scCO2-extracted sawdust pellets, when compared to pellets prepared from virgin untreated sawdust (reference pellets). Significant reductions in the levels of CO, CO2 and CH4 (85, 85, and 94% respectively) were observed. A slight reduction in O2 concentration (20% to 19.3%) was observed for the scCO2-pellets, while an 8% decrease (reduction in O2 concentration from 20% to 12%) was observed for the reference. The results support a connection between the amount of lipids/resin acids and intermediate products of autoxidation (i.e. 71% reduction in aldehydes) and the off-gassing of CO, CO2 and CH4. Finally, there was low impact on the production, durability, calorific values and density of scCO2 pellets compared to the reference pellets. This work demonstrated that scCO2 extraction is effective as a pre-treatment technology for wood based pelletised fuels, considerably reducing the risks associated with off-gassing and oxygen depletion, while also highlighting potential chemicals and biofuels which could be generated from extracts.

Supercritical extraction as an effective first-step in a maize stover biorefinery

Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) has been investigated for the generation of valuable waxy compounds and as an added-value technology in a holistic maize stover biorefinery. ScCO2 extraction and fractionation was carried out prior to hydrolysis and fermentation of maize stover. Fractionation of the crude extracts by scCO2 resulted in wax extracts having different compositions and melting temperatures, enabling their utilisation in different applications. One such fraction demonstrated significant potential as a renewable defoaming agent in washing machine detergent formulations. Furthermore, scCO2 extraction has been shown to have a positive effect on the downstream processing of the maize stover. Fermentation of the scCO2 extracted maize stover hydrolysates exhibited a higher glucose consumption and greater potential growth for surfactant (in comparison with non-scCO2 treated stover) and ethanol production (a 40% increase in overall ethanol production after scCO2 pre-treatment). This work represents an important development in the extraction of high value components from low value wastes and demonstrates the benefits of using scCO2 extraction as a first-step in biomass processing, including enhancing downstream processing of the biomass for the production of 2nd generation biofuels as part of an integrated holistic biorefinery.

Microwave assisted extraction as an important technology for valorising orange waste

Microwave assisted extraction has been demonstrated as an efficient green technology for the recovery of D-limonene from orange waste. Microwave irradiation was shown to be a more efficient method when compared to conventional heating due to its high selectivity for D-limonene, significantly shortened extraction durations and D-limonene yields twice that of conventional heating. Kinetic analysis of the extraction process indicated a typical two-step diffusion process, an initial stage of extraction from the exterior of the cells (1st stage) and diffusion of solute across the membrane (2nd stage). Diffusion coefficients for the initial stage of extraction from the exterior of cells (1st stage) for both conventional and microwave extraction demonstrated similar trends and activation energies. Interestingly, trans-membrane diffusion coefficient for the microwave assisted extraction at 110 °C was significantly high. Crucially, this was not observed with conventional heating suggesting that microwave radiation favourably interacts with the sample during extraction, causing simultaneous cell rupture and diffusion, resulting in greater yield. This provides an important insight into the development of extraction processes for orange peel.

Economic Assessment of Supercritical CO2 Extraction of Waxes as Part of a Maize Stover Biorefinery

To date limited work has focused on assessing the economic viability of scCO2 extraction to obtain waxes as part of a biorefinery. This work estimates the economic costs for wax extraction from maize stover. The cost of manufacture (COM) for maize stover wax extraction was found to be €88.89 per kg of wax, with the fixed capital investment (FCI) and utility costs (CUT) contributing significantly to the COM. However, this value is based solely on scCO2 extraction of waxes and does not take into account the downstream processing of the biomass following extraction. The cost of extracting wax from maize stover can be reduced by utilizing pelletized leaves and combusting the residual biomass to generate electricity. This would lead to an overall cost of €10.87 per kg of wax (based on 27% combustion efficiency for electricity generation) and €4.56 per kg of wax (based on 43% combustion efficiency for electricity generation). A sensitivity analysis study showed that utility costs (cost of electricity) had the greatest effect on the COM.