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Biorefineries can upgrade waste lignocellulosic biomass (LB) into soluble (C5 and C6) sugars that can be fermented into second‐generation (2G) ethanol‐based biofuels and a range of valuable byproducts derived from lignin. Research advances made in various laboratories worldwide have not been easy to translate into large‐scale operations. Here, we performed a simple economic analysis of cellulosic ethanol production from a stand‐alone 100ton dry sugarcane bagasse per day process, from a Brazilian market perspective, based on current state‐of‐the‐art biorefinery process technologies. Economic analysis reveals that the cost of manufacturing (COM) of 2G ethanol in an annexed Brazilian facility is close to USD 1.33 L−1. Fixed and variable costs contributed 57% and 24% in COM of 2G ethanol with a high payback period of ~31 years and a negative net present value (NPV). Further cost reduction can be realized by continuous R&D efforts aiming for innovation in new processing paradigms for cellulosic biorefineries. The key market players (Poet‐DSM, DuPont, Abengoa, Beta Renewables, Raizen, Granbio, Praj, etc.) and other new emerging players (Global Yeast, Taurus Energy, Leaf, Mascoma‐Lallemand) working on ethanologen development, and cellulase producers (Novozyme, Metgen), should also develop partnerships / joint ventures to establish a sustainable business model to develop cost‐competitive 2G ethanol production from bagasse in Brazil. This paper presents additional commentary and analysis with pertinent information about the commercialization of integrated 2G ethanol biorefineries processing sugarcane bagasse, from a Brazilian perspective. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

-Glycerol is an important by-product of biodiesel production. It is used in many industrial segments, but the increasing production of this chemical has become an issue of concern. Many studies have been done to give new applicability to this product; a promising field is the usage of glycerol for energy production. Therefore, this study evaluates the technical and economic feasibility of a new and potential proposal at the national level, the generation of electricity and heat, through a cogeneration system using glycerol. The results demonstrate the viability of this proposal, since the payback on capital invested obtained was approximately 4 years, with the possibility of reduction to 3 years when installed in regions with low infrastructure.

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This study provides a preliminary contribution to the development of an industrial process for the UV/TiO(2) water treatment by introducing a novel support for TiO(2) immobilization. For the following study, Methylene Blue (MB) was chosen as the model dye to evaluate this novel immobilization system. The results showed that TiO(2) immobilized in a Ca-alginate bead retained its photoactivity during all of the experiments and the TiO(2)-gel beads presented good stability in water for maintaining its shape after several uses. When a proportion of 10% (v/v) of these beads was used, the configuration system demonstrated an improved mass transfer and consequently enhanced degradation efficiency. Experiments were also performed using 'recycled' beads. The results showed an increase in the degradation efficiency when the beads were reused, with an eventual 'self-destructive' effect. These studies showed great promise regarding the recyclable reagents with a reduction in waste at no greater cost or reduction in efficiency. Therefore, the potential of TiO(2)-gel beads as a simple and environmentally friendly catalyst for continuous use was developed.

An integrated biorefinery is designed for the production of a broad range of products (e.g., bioactive compounds, biofuel, heat and bioelectricity) via multiple conversion pathways and technologies, being supercritical technology applied for the recovery of bioactive compounds from natural sources. In this study, first the effects of the extraction conditions from Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia glomerata) roots including pressure (10-20 MPa), temperature (323-363 K) and CO2/ethanol proportion ratio (90:10 %, 50:50 % and 0:100 %, w/w) on the β-ecdysone content in the extracts was evaluated. Afterward, a stand-alone bioactive compounds production using supercritical CO2 with 10% ethanol as co-solvent (optimized conditions) is compared with integrated first and second generation ethanol production from sugarcane. Simulations were developed using the commercial simulator ASPEN PLUS ® to represent the different scenarios, which provided data for thermal and economic comparisons. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis was performed to identify the critical parameters of the proposed integrated biorefinery. Results show that the construction of a supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) plant inside or in close proximity to a sugarcane biorefinery is very promising, since the SFE plant could use directly the ethanol, CO2, heat and electricity already available, avoiding logistics costs. Another interesting point of this new proposal, which can be extended for other bioactive compounds sources besides Brazilian ginseng, is the possibility of the use of the cogeneration system of the sugarcane biorefinery to burn the leftover extracted material and its unused parts left in the field after harvesting, contributing to its integral valorization.