Seaweed versatility for biorefinery: blessing or burden?

This short review covers the last two years of research and development initiatives covering aspects of biomass supply (e.g. mechanized cultivation and stabilization for storage), seaweed inundations and utilization, and recent advances and studies on seaweed biorefinery concepts covering hydrolysis methods, conversion and processing methods,...

Production of fuels and chemicals from macroalgal biomass: Current status, potentials, challenges, and prospects

Seaweed as a third-generation biofuel feedstock can provide fuels and chemicals to offset climate change caused by fossil fuel usage and support a cleaner and thriving sea and ocean environment. However, despite several advantages, there are significant challenges to deploying commercial-scale seaweed-based biorefineries, including low-cost and...

Biomass Pre-Extraction as a Versatile Strategy to Improve Biorefinery Feedstock Flexibility, Sugar Yields, and Lignin Purity

Feedstock flexibility is highly advantageous for the viability of (solvent-based) biorefineries but comes with the considerable challenge of having to cope with the varying nature and typically high abundance of nonlignocellulose compounds in the most readily available residual biomass streams. Here, we demonstrate that mild aqueous acetone...

Laboratory- to Pilot-Scale Fractionation of Lignocellulosic Biomass Using an Acetone Organosolv Process

Acetone organosolv fractionation of beech and birch wood at the lab-scale results in high sugar yields from the (hemi)cellulose and the isolation of a high-purity lignin. In this study, the process is scaled up to validate the technology at the pilot scale using industrial-size beech and birch wood chips and low liquid-to-solid ratios as a next...

Connecting gasification with syngas fermentation: comparison of the performance of lignin and beech wood

The integration of gasification with syngas fermentation is still in an early stage of development, where many questions exist concerning the syngas quality required. The challenge is to define the gasification conditions that will provide a H2:CO:CO2 ratio suitable for syngas fermentation, as well as to identify and remove the compounds that...

Development of a process for obtaining non-mutagenic madder root (Rubia tinctorum) extract for textile dyeing

Madder, used as a red dye, contains anthraquinones, and some of these can react with DNA possibly causing mutagenic effects. This is especially true for 1,3-dihydroxyanthraquinones with a hydroxymethyl (e.g., lucidin 6, ibericin 10) or methyl group (e.g., rubiadin 9) at C-2. In this research, a new process was developed through which the...

Driving on bark, building with nutshells

Our European Unravel project will demostrate a sustainable and economically feasible biorefinery for the conversion of second generation biomass, such as forestry and agricultural residues, into chemicals and building materials. The Fabiola fractionation process lies at the heart of our work.

Continuous flow study of isoeugenol to vanillin: A bio-based iron oxide catalyst

The use of a biorefinery co-product, such as humins, in combination with an iron precursor in a solvent-free method yields a catalytic material with potential use in selective oxidative cleavage reactions. In particular, this catalyst was found active in the hydrogen-peroxide assisted oxidation of a naturally extracted molecule, isoeugenol, to...

Techno-economic comparative assessment of novel lignin depolymerization routes to bio-based aromatics

This paper presents a techno-economic assessment of three novel routes for the production of bio-based aromatics from lignin. It aims to provide insights into their feasibility and hotspots at an early stage of development to guide further research and development and to facilitate commercialization. The lignin conversion routes are: (non...

Economic performance and GHG emission intensity of sugarcane- and eucalyptus-derived biofuels and biobased chemicals in Brazil

Biomass feedstock can be used for the production of biofuels or biobased chemicals to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Earlier studies about the techno-economic performance of biofuel or biobased chemical production varied in biomass feedstock, conversion process, and other techno-economic assumptions. This made a fair...

Recovery of protein from green leaves: verview of crucial steps for utilisation

Plant leaves are a major potential source of novel food proteins. Till now, leaf protein extraction methods mainly focus on the extraction of soluble proteins, like rubisco protein, leaving more than half of all protein unextracted. Here, we report on the total protein extraction from sugar beet leaves (Beta vulgaris L.) by a traditional thermal...

Quantitative iTRAQ secretome analysis of aspergillus niger reveals novel hydrolytic enzymes

The natural lifestyle of Aspergillus niger made them more effective secretors of hydrolytic proteins and becomes critical when this species were exploited as hosts for the commercial secretion of heterologous proteins. The protein secretion profile of A. niger and its mutant at different pH was explored using iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics...