Valorization of agroindustrial solid residues and residues from biofuel production chains by thermochemical conversion: a review, citing Brazil as a case study

Abstract

-Besides high industrial development, Brazil is also an agribusiness country. Each year about 330 million metrics tons (Mg) of biomass residues are generated, requiring tremendous effort to develop biomass systems in which production, conversion and utilization of bio-based products are carried out efficiently and under environmentally sustainable conditions. For the production of biofuels, organic chemicals and materials, it is envisaged to follow a biorefinery model which includes modern and proven green chemical technologies such as bioprocessing, pyrolysis, gasification, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and other catalytic processes in order to make more complex molecules and materials on which a future sustainable society will be based. This paper presents promising options for valorization of Brazilian agroindustrial biomass sources and residues originating from the biofuel production chains as renewable energy sources and addresses the main aspects of the thermochemical technologies which have been applied.

Green chemistry, sustainable agriculture and processing systems: a Brazilian overview

“…Several papers discuss the feasibility of integrating 2G ethanol into conventional ethanol producing units [45][46][47][48][49], but as of yet, there are no commercial plants available. Among the reasons, the complexity of processes such as low yield, lack of effective complete hydrolysis, pentose, and phenolic acid biotransformation technologies, and also financial drawbacks result in lower capital returns [50,51].…”

“…Although coined as oil, the pyrolysis liquid does not mix with other liquid hydrocarbons due to its high oxygen content. In order to upgrade bio-oil to usual fuel such as gasoline and diesel, the samples need to be deoxygenated [51,65]. Several different biomasses have been tested for bio-oil production.…”

“…, and was built to produce bio-oil from elephant grass and sugarcane for industrial applications [51].…”

Pellets Evaluation Made from Tropical-Climate Agricultural and Forestry Crops of Costa Rica with a Domestic Stove

“…Presently, raw materials used in pellet production in temperate-climate countries are very diverse [6], whereas in countries with tropical climates, few crops-both agricultural and forestry-have been employed for the production of pellets [7,8].…”

Bio-Oil Production by Thermal Cracking in the Presence of Hydrogen

“…Biomass can be converted into bio-fuel by means of different processes, e.g., reductive combustion, liquefaction, pyrolysis and gasification [5]. The use of biomass is particularly interesting when it involves waste products such as waste vegetable oil, fruit seeds, sugarcane bagasse, sugarcane straw, rice husks, coconut fibers, and coffee grounds, which are also potential sources of energy [6][7][8].…”