Biomass conversion to liquid fuel by two-stage thermochemical cycle

SUMMARY Biomass conversion to ethanol as a liquid fuel by the thermophilic and anaerobic clostridia offers a potential partial solution to the problem of the world's dependence on petroleum for energy. Coculture of a cellulolytic strain and a saccharolytic strain of Clostridium on agricultural resources, as well as on urban and industrial cellulosic wastes, is a promising approach to an alternate energy source from an economic viewpoint. This review discusses the need for such a process, the cellulases of clostridia, their presence in extracellular complexes or organelles (the cellulosomes), the binding of the cellulosomes to cellulose and to the cell surface, cellulase genetics, regulation of their synthesis, cocultures, ethanol tolerance, and metabolic pathway engineering for maximizing ethanol yield.

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Biomass conversion into synthetic liquid fuel and electric energy: comparison of prospective technologies

Journal of Physics Conference Series ◽

10.1088/1742-6596/1565/1/012065 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1565 ◽

pp. 012065

Author(s):

E A Tyurina ◽

A S Mednikov ◽

P Yu Elsukov ◽

S N Sushko

Keyword(s):

Liquid Fuel ◽

Biomass Conversion ◽

Electric Energy ◽

Synthetic Liquid Fuel

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A Two-Stage DSS to Evaluate Optimal Locations for Bioenergy Facilities

Forests ◽

10.3390/f11090968 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 968

Author(s):

Sam Van Holsbeeck ◽

Sättar Ezzati ◽

Dominik Röser ◽

Mark Brown

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

Biomass Conversion ◽

Cost Model ◽

Forest Biomass ◽

Transportation Cost ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Transport Cost ◽

Two Stage ◽

Fuel Price ◽

Facility Locations

Research Highlights: A set of 128 potential bioenergy facility locations is established and evaluated based on the transport cost to select optimal locations. Background and Objectives: The identification of optimal facility locations to process recovered forest biomass is an important decision in designing a bioenergy supply chain at the strategic planning level. The result of this analysis can affect supply chain costs and the overall efficiency of the network, due to the low density and dispersed nature of forest biomass and the high costs associated with its logistics operations. In this study, we develop a two-stage decision support system to identify the optimal site locations for forest biomass conversion based on biomass availability, transport distance and cost. Materials and Methods: In the first stage, a GIS-based analysis is designed to identify strategic locations of potential bioenergy sites. The second stage evaluates the most cost-effective locations individually using a transportation cost model, based on the results from stage one. The sensitivity of inputs, such as maximum allowable transport cost, the distance of transport and their relations to the profit balance, and changes in fuel price are tested. The method is applied to a real case study in the state of Queensland, Australia. Results and Conclusions: The GIS analysis resulted in 128 strategic candidate locations being suggested for bioenergy conversion sites. The logistics analysis estimated the optimal cost and transportation distance of each one of the locations and ranked them according to the overall performance between capacities of 5 and 100 MW.

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