Use Of Sugarcane Biomass In Brazil

Recently, the use of biomass energy has been growing worldwide on an accelerated trajectory, with the prospect of staying among the main renewable energy sources for the coming decades, along with wind and solar energy. Brazil is the largest producer of sugarcane on the planet and the second-largest producer of ethanol. But in addition to sugar, first-generation ethanol, and vinasse (for ferti-irrigation), other by-products and process residues from the plants (such as bagasse, filter cake, vinasse, straw, and sugarcane tip) can be used for the production of thermal and electric energies and also second-generation ethanol and biogas fuels. In this context, this paper presents the current scenario of sugarcane biomass in Brazil, discussing issues involving the use of sugar-alcohol by-products for bioenergy and biofuel production. Furthermore, a study on the reuse of sugarcane bagasse fibers for the production of eco-composite material is also presented. Finally, the concepts of biomass energy are described from a bibliographic survey and the previous experiences of the authors.

Novel Eco-Friendly Kinetic Hydrate Inhibitors

Amid concerns over negative the environmental impacts of offshore chemicals, Baker Hughes explored new chemistries to develop environmentally friendly kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHI). Our efforts were focused on improving biodegradability and toxicity of KHIs to meet environmental protection requirements, as well as mitigating challenges in field applications. A novel KHI design with branched polymers containing sugar alcohol ester groups as linkages, was proposed and synthesized. The new KHI polymer demonstrated > 20% biodegradability and >100 mg/L toxicity to seawater algae, and it also exhibited competitive or even better KHI performance to traditional non-biodegradable KHI products. Additionally, new KHI showed improved stability in water/brine at elevated temperatures as compared to traditional KHI products, which might mitigate concerns on polymer deposition at high temperatures.

Metabolic engineering of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica PO1f for production of erythritol from glycerol

Background Sugar alcohols are widely used as low-calorie sweeteners in the food and pharmaceutical industries. They can also be transformed into platform chemicals. Yarrowia lipolytica, an oleaginous yeast, is a promising host for producing many sugar alcohols. In this work, we tested whether heterologous expression of a recently identified sugar alcohol phosphatase (PYP) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae would increase sugar alcohol production in Y. lipolytica. Results Y. lipolytica was found natively to produce erythritol, mannitol, and arabitol during growth on glucose, fructose, mannose, and glycerol. Osmotic stress is known to increase sugar alcohol production, and was found to significantly increase erythritol production during growth on glycerol. To better understand erythritol production from glycerol, since it was the most promising sugar alcohol, we measured the expression of key genes and intracellular metabolites. Osmotic stress increased the expression of several key genes in the glycerol catabolic pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway. Analysis of intracellular metabolites revealed that amino acids, sugar alcohols, and polyamines are produced at higher levels in response to osmotic stress. Heterologous overexpression of the sugar alcohol phosphatase increased erythritol production and glycerol utilization in Y. lipolytica. We further increased erythritol production by increasing the expression of native glycerol kinase (GK), and transketolase (TKL). This strain was able to produce 27.5 ± 0.7 g/L erythritol from glycerol during batch growth and 58.8 ± 1.68 g/L erythritol during fed-batch growth in shake-flasks experiments. In addition, the glycerol utilization was increased by 2.5-fold. We were also able to demonstrate that this strain efficiently produces erythritol from crude glycerol, a major byproduct of the biodiesel production. Conclusions We demonstrated the application of a promising enzyme for increasing erythritol production in Y. lipolytica. We were further able to boost production by combining the expression of this enzyme with other approaches known to increase erythritol production in Y. lipolytica. This suggest that this new enzyme provides an orthogonal route for boosting production and can be stacked with existing designs known to increase sugar alcohol production in yeast such as Y. lipolytica. Collectively, this work establishes a new route for increasing sugar alcohol production and further develops Y. lipolytica as a promising host for erythritol production from cheap substrates such as glycerol.

CHARACTERISTICS AND ANALYTICAL METHODS OF MANNITOL: AN UPDATE

Mannitol is an organic compound, a widely distributed natural sugar alcohol in nature. It is found in various plant species and produced by many microorganisms. Mannitol is about 50% as sweet as sucrose, has a low glycaemic index and inert nature, making it suitable to be used in many food products. Mannitol is an osmotic diuretic administering through the iv route and having many clinical usages and is one of the well-known excipients in many different types of formulations. This is also used to increase the dissolution of drugs having solubility problems. Mannitol can be used as a drug and excipient. The goal of this work was to summarize the important physicochemical properties, mechanism of action, production, applications, incompatibilities, polymorphism, and particularly the analytical methodologies published in the last five decades for quantification. Relevant articles related to analytical methods were identified through a search of the English-language literature indexed in Medline, PubMed, ScienceDirect and google scholar from 1970 to till date. The search terms were benign estimation of mannitol, determination of mannitol, methods for determination of mannitol, HPLC and Spectrophotometry method for estimation of mannitol. The methods described in USP, IP, and BP are also described. The presented review also outlines the further scope of research in the field of development of analytical methods.

The physicochemical effect of sugar alcohol plasticisers on oxidised nanocellulose gels and extruded filaments

Oxidised nanocelluloses have previously shown promise for the production of extruded filaments with high tensile strength properties. However, they also exhibit poor wet strength due to swelling upon immersion in water. This has resulted in the use of chemical cross-linkers, or co-extrusion with multivalent cations, or cationic polymers, to inhibit this. Here, we report on the effect of incorporating sugar alcohols (glycerol, sorbitol and maltitol) in an oxidised nanocellulose gel before extrusion. Whilst their presence weakens the initial gel, they enable the continuous wet spinning of filaments that are stable in aqueous media without the need for post extrusion processing. We conclude that the relative hydrophilicity of the sugar alcohol and its ability to protonate surface carboxyl groups upon drying are key parameters regarding the physicochemical effects observed.

Gut Microbiota Prevents Sugar Alcohol-Induced Diarrhea

While poorly-absorbed sugar alcohols such as sorbitol are widely used as sweeteners, they may induce diarrhea in some individuals. However, the factors which determine an individual’s susceptibility to sugar alcohol-induced diarrhea remain unknown. Here, we show that specific gut bacteria are involved in the suppression of sorbitol-induced diarrhea. Based on 16S rDNA analysis, the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae bacteria increased in response to sorbitol consumption. We found that Escherichia coli of the family Enterobacteriaceae degraded sorbitol and suppressed sorbitol-induced diarrhea. Finally, we showed that the metabolism of sorbitol by the E. coli sugar phosphotransferase system helped suppress sorbitol-induced diarrhea. Therefore, gut microbiota prevented sugar alcohol-induced diarrhea by degrading sorbitol in the gut. The identification of the gut bacteria which respond to and degrade sugar alcohols in the intestine has implications for microbiome science, processed food science, and public health.

MARCO LEGAL PARA COMÉRCIO DE ENERGIA EM USINA SUCROALCOOLEIRA SOLAR HÍBRIDA

MARCO LEGAL PARA COMÉRCIO DE ENERGIA EM USINA SUCROALCOOLEIRA SOLAR HÍBRIDA ALCIR MONTEIRO COLLAÇO1, PEDRO HENRIQUE SILVA BEZERRA2, RENAN DE SOUZA CARVALHO3, CELSO LINS DE OLIVEIRA4 1Professor. Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes, Campus Villa-Lobos. Av. Imperatriz Leopoldina, 550, Vila Leopoldina. 05305-060. São Paulo, SP, Brasil. E-mail:[email protected] 2Professor Adjunto. Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso “Carlos Alberto Reyes Maldonado”, Campus de Nova Mutum. Av. das Garças, 1192, Jardim das Orquídeas. 78450-000. Nova Mutum, MT, Brasil. E-mail: [email protected] 3Mestre em Tecnologia da Energia. Instituto de Energia e Ambiente. Universidade de São Paulo. Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 1289, Butantã. 05508-010. São Paulo, SP, Brasil. E-mail: [email protected] 4Professor Titular no Departamento Engenharia de Biossistemas. Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos. Av. Duque de Caxias Norte, 225, Campus Pirassununga. 13635-900. Pirassununga, SP, Brasil. E-mail: [email protected] RESUMO: A utilização de fontes de energias renováveis em sistemas agroindustriais, têm sido uma alternativa no processo de transição energética. No mercado de energia, o principal quesito para a seleção do tipo de geração ainda é o custo. O objetivo deste trabalho, foi demonstrar o desempenho energético de 4 modelos de sistemas heliotérmicos híbridos, acoplados a uma usina sucroalcooleira, atuando no atual mercado de energia por meio do comércio da energia gerada excedente ao consumo. O software System Advisor Model (SAM), foi utilizado nas simulações para a obtenção do desempenho energético e do custo nivelado da energia gerada (LCoE). Os casos foram dimensionados a atender a carga de consumo de uma usina sucroalcooleira, operando em resposta ao recurso solar. A hibridização de sistemas (Concentrated Solar Power) CSP de geração com biomassa disponível durante parte do ano contribui para um bom fator de capacidade. Sistemas de geração, que operam com duas fontes distintas, possibilitam mais segurança de entrega e minimizam riscos, o que contribuiu na formulação do contrato de energia. Os entraves do mercado de energia são possíveis de serem solúveis por meio da aplicação de políticas públicas energéticas, de forma a alavancar a competitividade da tecnologia CSP em relação às demais. Palavras-chave: energia solar concentrada, geração híbrida, usina sucroalcooleira, mercado de energia, contrato de energia. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENERGY TRADE IN HYBRID SOLAR SUGAR ALCOHOL POWER PLANT ABSTRACT: The use of renewable energy sources in agro-industrial systems has been an alternative in the energy transition process. In the energy market, the main issue for selecting the type of generation still the cost. This paper aimed to demonstrate the energy performance of 4 models of hybrid heliothermic systems, coupled to a sugar and alcohol power plant, operating in the current energy market through the trade of energy generated in excess of consumption. To obtain the energy performance and the leveled cost of energy (LCoE), simulations were carried on the software System Advisor Model (SAM). The cases were sized to meet the consumption load of a power plant, operating in response to the solar resource. The hybridization of CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) systems with biomass available during part of the year can increase the capacity factor. Generation systems, which operate from two sources, provide more secure delivery of energy and minimize risks, which contributed to the formulation of the energy contract. The obstacles in the energy market are possible to be solved through the application of public energy policies, in order to leverage the CSP technologies’ competitiveness regarding other green technologies. Keywords: concentrated solar power, hybrid generation, sugar/alcohol power plant, energy market, energy contract.