An Overview of Biorefinery Technology

Sharara, Mahmoud A.; Clausen, Edgar C.; Carrier, Danielle Julie; Bergeron, Chantal; Ramaswamy, Shri

doi:10.1002/9780470976692.ch1

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Second, burning unprocessed biomass has a reputation of creating air pollution due to incomplete combustion in areas of high population density where large amounts of energy is required (Sanhueza et al, 2009). Figure 1.1: Types of biofuels, adapted from (Sharara et al, 2012) First generation biofuels make up the majority of the biofuels used today. First generation biodiesel and ethanol biofuels produced today use vegetable oils (e.g., corn oil) and animal fats as their source feedstock (Dillon et al, 2008).…”

Section: References………………………………………………………………………………………206mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, the production of third generation biofuels, using algal feedstock, remains today predominantly at the pilot scale (Christenson & Sims, 2011;Ribeiro et al, 2017). However, algae's ability to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2), produce relative large amounts of lipids, grow in variable conditions, and grow orders of magnitude faster than all terrestrial plants (including second generation feedstock) make it an ideal biomass source for biofuels (Sharara et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2014). Several researchers have indicated that algae has a significant role to play in future liquid biofuel development (Chisti, 2007;Christenson & Sims, 2011; United States of America Department of Energy, 2017).…”

Section: References………………………………………………………………………………………206mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3. 3: Analogy of a bio-refinery approach for algal biomass with a petroleum refinery, LPG liquefied petroleum gas, PUFApolyunsaturated fatty acids (Sharara et al, 2012) A bio-refinery is very similar to the petroleum refineries in operation today except with two key differences. First, petroleum refineries use crude oil, a fossil resource, whereas a bio-refinery would use biomass.…”

Section: References………………………………………………………………………………………206mentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Assessment Of Microalgal Biodiesel With Acetone, Butanol and Ethanol Using LIfe Cycle Assessment (LCA) Methodology

Dignan¹

2021

Preprint

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Canada, as one of the largest producers and consumers of fossil fuels per capita on the planet, is attempting to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In order to accomplish this, fuel alternatives, such as biofuel, are required. Accordingly, this study uses LCA methodology to quantify the GHG impact of a unique biofuel production model. This unique model produces biodiesel (BD), acetone, butanol and ethanol (ABE) from microalgae and assesses the process GHG impact against other microalgal BD production processes. This study’s microalgal BD and ABE production process produces 76 kgCO2e per functional unit, whereas other comparable microalgal BD production processes produce between 3.7 and 85 kgCO2e. Overall, this study clarifies that without the development of versatile infrastructure to accommodate biofuel production, LCA studies will continue to find renewable fuel production processes net GHG positive for the simple reason that fossil resources are still the primary energy source.

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Section: References………………………………………………………………………………………206mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: References………………………………………………………………………………………206mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: References………………………………………………………………………………………206mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An Assessment Of Microalgal Biodiesel With Acetone, Butanol and Ethanol Using LIfe Cycle Assessment (LCA) Methodology

Dignan¹

2021

Preprint

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“…Gasification is accomplished under elevated temperatures, between 600˚C to 1400˚C, using one or a combination of the following agents: air, oxygen, steam, carbon dioxide [9]. Air gasification is widely implemented since no costs are incurred with the purification or generation of the gasifying agent (unlike with oxygen, steam, or carbon dioxide).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Assessment of an Allothermal Auger Gasification System for On-Farm Grain Drying

Sadaka¹,

Sharara²,

Ubhi³

2014

JSBS

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Biomass gasification is a well-developed technology with the potential to convert agricultural residues to value-added products. The availability of on-farm gasifiers that can handle low-density agricultural wastes such as soybean residue, an underutilized feedstock, is limited. Therefore, the goal of this research was to install and assess an allothermal, externally heated, auger gasifier capable of converting agricultural wastes to combustible gas for on-farm grain drying. The system was used to convert soybean residues under different reactor temperature, i.e., 700˚C, 750˚C, 800˚C, and 850˚C. The results showed that increasing the reactor temperature from 700˚C to 850˚C increased the producer gas molar fractions of H2, CO, and CH 4 , from 1.1% to 1.5%, from 15.0% to 23.8%, and from 5.1% to 7.7%, respectively. The higher heating value of the producer gas reached 6.3 MJ/m 3 at reactor temperature of 850˚C. Specific gas yield increased from 0.32 to 0.58 m 3 /kg biomass while char and particulate yield decreased from 41.7% to 33.6% by increasing the reactor temperature from 700˚C to 850˚C. Maximum carbon sequestration achieved, in the form of biochar-carbon, was 32% of the raw feedstock carbon. Gasification of collectable soybean residues from 1 acre would be sufficient to dry 1132 kg of soybean seeds (the average yield from one acre) from moisture content of 20% to 13% (wet, weight basis). Furthermore, about 300 kg of biochar, a value-added soil conditioner, could be produced and applied to the soybean land as a bio-fertilizer.

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“…Unfortunately there is no clear technology winner and both conversion platforms have tradeoffs. The thermochemical platform is robust in terms of feedstock processing, but somewhat complicated in terms of the resulting product portfolio (Sharara et al 2012). On the other hand, the biochemical platform can successfully yield industrial chemicals or fuels, but is delicate in terms of feedstock deconstruction into monomeric sugars (Lynd et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%