Lignin polymer is biologically and chemically stable and requires highly vigorous conditions for de-polymerization, and subsequent stabilization of the monomeric conversion products to prevent re-polymerization and char production. The Lignin-to-Liquid (LtL) process is a solvolytic conversion of lignin with formic acid. Formic acid has been shown to both catalyze the de-polymerization and supply hydrogen that stabilizes the de-polymerization products. In this paper, lignin from Eucalyptus wood was used as the feedstock, and the LtL-process was performed in both aqueous and ethanolic solvent systems. The experimental variables were different levels of loading in the reactor, stirred and non-stirred conditions, and different reaction temperatures. The bio-oil consisted mostly of phenolic compounds, and the bio-oil yields differed with type of the solvent used, level of loading in the reactor, stirring condition, and operating temperature. More than 55 wt.% of the lignin was recovered as bio-oil at 320 °C at stirred conditions when the reactor was loaded at high level. Overall, the ethanolic solvent together with maximum level of loading in the reactor under stirred condition resulted in the highest bio-oil yield. Elemental balance data for bio-oil and char yields and the molecular composition of the bio-oils were also investigated using, respectively, elemental analysis and GC-MS. Finally, principal component analysis was used as well to systematically explore the relationship between the bio-oil and char yields and the reaction conditions.
{"title":"Stirred and non-stirred lignin solvolysis with formic acid in aqueous and ethanolic solvent systems at different levels of loading in a 5-L reactor","authors":"S. Ghoreishi, T. Barth, Hailegebrel Derribsa","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2019.6.1.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2019.6.1.5","url":null,"abstract":"Lignin polymer is biologically and chemically stable and requires highly vigorous conditions for de-polymerization, and subsequent stabilization of the monomeric conversion products to prevent re-polymerization and char production. The Lignin-to-Liquid (LtL) process is a solvolytic conversion of lignin with formic acid. Formic acid has been shown to both catalyze the de-polymerization and supply hydrogen that stabilizes the de-polymerization products. In this paper, lignin from Eucalyptus wood was used as the feedstock, and the LtL-process was performed in both aqueous and ethanolic solvent systems. The experimental variables were different levels of loading in the reactor, stirred and non-stirred conditions, and different reaction temperatures. The bio-oil consisted mostly of phenolic compounds, and the bio-oil yields differed with type of the solvent used, level of loading in the reactor, stirring condition, and operating temperature. More than 55 wt.% of the lignin was recovered as bio-oil at 320 °C at stirred conditions when the reactor was loaded at high level. Overall, the ethanolic solvent together with maximum level of loading in the reactor under stirred condition resulted in the highest bio-oil yield. Elemental balance data for bio-oil and char yields and the molecular composition of the bio-oils were also investigated using, respectively, elemental analysis and GC-MS. Finally, principal component analysis was used as well to systematically explore the relationship between the bio-oil and char yields and the reaction conditions.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44274322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The long term use of pure vegetable oil in diesel engines should be thoroughly evaluated from different perspectives including engine performance, deposit formation, etc. to ensure its compatibility. In line with that, the trilateral correlation of spray characteristics, combustion parameters, and deposit formation in the injector hole of a high-speed, 4-stroke, direct injection diesel engine fueled with pure Jatropha oil and diesel fuel (DF) was studied. Jatropha oil was investogated at room temperature 30 oC (PSJO30) and in preheated form at 90 oC (PSJO90). The expertimental tests were conducted in two phases: (i)- investigation of the spray characteristics of the fuels including cone angle and penetration length at 200 bar of injection pressure, (ii)- investigation of the combustion characteristics (i.e., thermal efficiency and engine emissions) and deposits formation in the injector hole of the diesel engine at 0 h and 300 h of operation. The results obtained showed large differences between the spray characteristics of PJO30 and the other fuels investigated. Moreover, this fuel led to significant reductions in NOx emissions (14.69-20.30%) and thermal efficiency (3.04-4.41%) but large increases in CO emissions (26.36-77.57%), HC emissions (48.98-77.85%), and smoke (58.43-131.71%). It also resulted in huge deposits formed in the injector hole after 300 h of the endurance test compared to DF and PJO90 as revealed by optical observations using scanning electron microscopy analysis. Overall and compared to DF, PSJO30 cannot be recommemded for long term use in diesel engines while PSJO90 may only be considered as an alternative fuel in the short term.
{"title":"Trilateral correlation of spray characteristics, combustion parameters, and deposit formation in the injector hole of a diesel engine running on preheated Jatropha oil and fossil diesel fuel","authors":"A. Hoang, A. Le","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2019.6.1.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2019.6.1.2","url":null,"abstract":"The long term use of pure vegetable oil in diesel engines should be thoroughly evaluated from different perspectives including engine performance, deposit formation, etc. to ensure its compatibility. In line with that, the trilateral correlation of spray characteristics, combustion parameters, and deposit formation in the injector hole of a high-speed, 4-stroke, direct injection diesel engine fueled with pure Jatropha oil and diesel fuel (DF) was studied. Jatropha oil was investogated at room temperature 30 oC (PSJO30) and in preheated form at 90 oC (PSJO90). The expertimental tests were conducted in two phases: (i)- investigation of the spray characteristics of the fuels including cone angle and penetration length at 200 bar of injection pressure, (ii)- investigation of the combustion characteristics (i.e., thermal efficiency and engine emissions) and deposits formation in the injector hole of the diesel engine at 0 h and 300 h of operation. The results obtained showed large differences between the spray characteristics of PJO30 and the other fuels investigated. Moreover, this fuel led to significant reductions in NOx emissions (14.69-20.30%) and thermal efficiency (3.04-4.41%) but large increases in CO emissions (26.36-77.57%), HC emissions (48.98-77.85%), and smoke (58.43-131.71%). It also resulted in huge deposits formed in the injector hole after 300 h of the endurance test compared to DF and PJO90 as revealed by optical observations using scanning electron microscopy analysis. Overall and compared to DF, PSJO30 cannot be recommemded for long term use in diesel engines while PSJO90 may only be considered as an alternative fuel in the short term.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43705225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In-situ catalytic pyrolysis of biomass has been extensively studied in recent years for cost-competitive production of high quality bio-oil. To achieve that, numerous catalysts have been studied to facilitate in-situ upgrading of low-grade condensable vapors (bio-oil) by converting oxygenated compounds and large-molecule species. In this review, these catalysts are categorized in different families and a systematic evaluation of the catalyst effects on pyrolysis products and their characteristics is carried out with respect to the scale of the experimental setup. Among these catalysts, microporous zeolites are considered as most promising in terms of performance and the potential to tailor the desired bio-oil properties. More specifically, the prominent advantages of zeolites include efficient deoxygenation and molecular weight reduction of the resultant bio-oil, while the main drawbacks are decreases in the yield of bio-oil’s organic phase and catalyst deactivation by coke deposition. In addition to the zeolite-based catalysts, other catalysts including mesoporous aluminosilicates, a widely-applied class of catalysts used for deoxygenation of bio-oil as well as alkaline compounds are also reviewed and discussed herein. The research on the latter has not been extensive but the preliminary results have revealed their potential for deoxygenation of bio-oil, production of hydrocarbons, and reduction of undesired compounds. Nevertheless, these catalysts need to be further investigated systematically. Overall, further development of dedicated catalysts for selective deoxygenation and cracking of bio-oil would be essential for scaling up the existing pyrolysis technologies to achieve commercial production of biofuels through pyrolysis.
{"title":"An overview of catalysts in biomass pyrolysis for production of biofuels","authors":"A. A. Imran, E. Bramer, K. Seshan, G. Brem","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.2","url":null,"abstract":"In-situ catalytic pyrolysis of biomass has been extensively studied in recent years for cost-competitive production of high quality bio-oil. To achieve that, numerous catalysts have been studied to facilitate in-situ upgrading of low-grade condensable vapors (bio-oil) by converting oxygenated compounds and large-molecule species. In this review, these catalysts are categorized in different families and a systematic evaluation of the catalyst effects on pyrolysis products and their characteristics is carried out with respect to the scale of the experimental setup. Among these catalysts, microporous zeolites are considered as most promising in terms of performance and the potential to tailor the desired bio-oil properties. More specifically, the prominent advantages of zeolites include efficient deoxygenation and molecular weight reduction of the resultant bio-oil, while the main drawbacks are decreases in the yield of bio-oil’s organic phase and catalyst deactivation by coke deposition. In addition to the zeolite-based catalysts, other catalysts including mesoporous aluminosilicates, a widely-applied class of catalysts used for deoxygenation of bio-oil as well as alkaline compounds are also reviewed and discussed herein. The research on the latter has not been extensive but the preliminary results have revealed their potential for deoxygenation of bio-oil, production of hydrocarbons, and reduction of undesired compounds. Nevertheless, these catalysts need to be further investigated systematically. Overall, further development of dedicated catalysts for selective deoxygenation and cracking of bio-oil would be essential for scaling up the existing pyrolysis technologies to achieve commercial production of biofuels through pyrolysis.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44562185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial Board","authors":"","doi":"10.18331/brj2018.5.4.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/brj2018.5.4.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46346206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
An experimental study was carried out on a large stationary compression ignition engine to evaluate the long-term compatibility and durability issues associated with the use of crude palm oil as fuel. Two different preheating temperatures (60 and 80 °C) were adopted to assess the potential improvements related to lower fuel viscosity. The results obtained, in terms of in-cylinder carbon deposits and engine wear, were compared with the results obtained using ordinary diesel fuel. For each fuel and preheating temperature, the engine was operated for 300 consecutive h, during which several engine lubricant samples were collected and analysed to determine soot and fuel contaminations, viscosity alterations, and the presence of different wear-related metals (measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy). At the end of each 300 h endurance test, the carbon deposits were scraped from engine cylinders and examined through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that the use of crude palm oil caused a remarkable increment of in-cylinder deposits formation compared with ordinary diesel. The lubricant analysis also revealed a faster viscosity degradation and consequent stronger engine wear, above all with the lower preheating temperature. The results obtained confirmed that continuous engine operation (i.e., without a complete lubricant change) should be carefully reduced when fuelling with crude palm oil. Moreover, the findings obtained herein confirmed the favourable impacts of fuel preheating at 80 °C compared to 60 °C, i.e., reduced carbon deposits by 27% and extended engine operation time by 30%.
{"title":"An experimental investigation on the long-term compatibility of preheated crude palm oil in a large compression ignition diesel engine","authors":"E. Pipitone, Antonio Costanza","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.5","url":null,"abstract":"An experimental study was carried out on a large stationary compression ignition engine to evaluate the long-term compatibility and durability issues associated with the use of crude palm oil as fuel. Two different preheating temperatures (60 and 80 °C) were adopted to assess the potential improvements related to lower fuel viscosity. The results obtained, in terms of in-cylinder carbon deposits and engine wear, were compared with the results obtained using ordinary diesel fuel. For each fuel and preheating temperature, the engine was operated for 300 consecutive h, during which several engine lubricant samples were collected and analysed to determine soot and fuel contaminations, viscosity alterations, and the presence of different wear-related metals (measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy). At the end of each 300 h endurance test, the carbon deposits were scraped from engine cylinders and examined through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It was found that the use of crude palm oil caused a remarkable increment of in-cylinder deposits formation compared with ordinary diesel. The lubricant analysis also revealed a faster viscosity degradation and consequent stronger engine wear, above all with the lower preheating temperature. The results obtained confirmed that continuous engine operation (i.e., without a complete lubricant change) should be carefully reduced when fuelling with crude palm oil. Moreover, the findings obtained herein confirmed the favourable impacts of fuel preheating at 80 °C compared to 60 °C, i.e., reduced carbon deposits by 27% and extended engine operation time by 30%.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44159093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Here we report on a static, algebraic, spreadsheet-implemented modeling approach to estimate the costs, energy inputs and outputs, and global warming potential of biomass feedstocks. Inputs to the model included literature sourced data for: environmental factors, crop physiological-parameters such as radiation use efficiency and water use efficiency, and crop cost components. Using an energy-input-output life-cycle-assessment approach, we calculated the energy associated with each cost component, allowing an estimate of the total energy required to produce the crop and fuel alongside the energy return on investment. We did this for crop scenarios in the upper Midwest US and Far West US (for algae). Our results suggested that algae are capable of the highest areal biomass production rates of 120 MG/(ha·a), ten times greater than Maize. Algal fuel systems had the highest costs, ranging from 28 to 65 US $/GJ, compared to 17 US $/GJ for Maize ethanol. Algal fuel systems had the lowest energy returns on investment, nearly 0, compared to 25 for Switchgrass to ethanol. The carbon equivalent emissions associated with the production schemes predictions ranged from 40 (Maize) to 180 (algae PBR) CO2eq/GJnet. The promise of low cost fuel and carbon neutrality from algae is demonstrated here to be extremely challenging for fundamental reasons related to the capital-intensive nature of the cultivation system.
{"title":"First-order estimates of the costs, input-output energy analysis, and energy returns on investment of conventional and emerging biofuels feedstocks","authors":"K. Christiansen, D. R. Raman, Guiping Hu, R. Anex","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.4","url":null,"abstract":"Here we report on a static, algebraic, spreadsheet-implemented modeling approach to estimate the costs, energy inputs and outputs, and global warming potential of biomass feedstocks. Inputs to the model included literature sourced data for: environmental factors, crop physiological-parameters such as radiation use efficiency and water use efficiency, and crop cost components. Using an energy-input-output life-cycle-assessment approach, we calculated the energy associated with each cost component, allowing an estimate of the total energy required to produce the crop and fuel alongside the energy return on investment. We did this for crop scenarios in the upper Midwest US and Far West US (for algae). Our results suggested that algae are capable of the highest areal biomass production rates of 120 MG/(ha·a), ten times greater than Maize. Algal fuel systems had the highest costs, ranging from 28 to 65 US $/GJ, compared to 17 US $/GJ for Maize ethanol. Algal fuel systems had the lowest energy returns on investment, nearly 0, compared to 25 for Switchgrass to ethanol. The carbon equivalent emissions associated with the production schemes predictions ranged from 40 (Maize) to 180 (algae PBR) CO2eq/GJnet. The promise of low cost fuel and carbon neutrality from algae is demonstrated here to be extremely challenging for fundamental reasons related to the capital-intensive nature of the cultivation system.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45995087","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A sustainable chitosan (CS)-derived magnetic solid acid catalyst (CS-Fe3O4@SO3H) incorporated by Lewis and Bronsted acid sites was synthesized in an eco-friendly manner through the preloading of iron on CS and one-pot low-temperature carbonization/sulfonation. The carbonization/sulfonation of CS-Fe3O4 using p-Toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA) at 140 oC resulted in the loss of ammonia in some extent and provided bifunctional sites on the catalyst. This heterogeneous catalyst was found to be highly selective for the conversion of xylose and arabinose to furfural (FF) and subsequent tri(furyl)methane (TFM) formation by the condensation with furan in the same reaction vessel without any purification. The outcome of optimization under different reaction parameters showed that only 20 wt.% of CS-Fe3O4@SO3H catalyst resulted in 81% TFM yield from xylose while arabinose gave a 70% TFM yield in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO):water with high selectivity. This green protocol provides an easy isolation of products and minimizes the formation of polymerized by-products. The catalyst can be readily recovered and efficiently reused for three consecutive catalytic cycles without any significant loss on product yields.
{"title":"Novel synthesis of Lewis and Bronsted acid sites incorporated CS-Fe3O4@SO3H catalyst and its application in one-pot synthesis of tri(furyl)methane under aqueous media","authors":"Priyanka Raju Thombal, S. Han","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2018.5.4.3","url":null,"abstract":"A sustainable chitosan (CS)-derived magnetic solid acid catalyst (CS-Fe3O4@SO3H) incorporated by Lewis and Bronsted acid sites was synthesized in an eco-friendly manner through the preloading of iron on CS and one-pot low-temperature carbonization/sulfonation. The carbonization/sulfonation of CS-Fe3O4 using p-Toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA) at 140 oC resulted in the loss of ammonia in some extent and provided bifunctional sites on the catalyst. This heterogeneous catalyst was found to be highly selective for the conversion of xylose and arabinose to furfural (FF) and subsequent tri(furyl)methane (TFM) formation by the condensation with furan in the same reaction vessel without any purification. The outcome of optimization under different reaction parameters showed that only 20 wt.% of CS-Fe3O4@SO3H catalyst resulted in 81% TFM yield from xylose while arabinose gave a 70% TFM yield in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO):water with high selectivity. This green protocol provides an easy isolation of products and minimizes the formation of polymerized by-products. The catalyst can be readily recovered and efficiently reused for three consecutive catalytic cycles without any significant loss on product yields.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46774816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gholamreza Salehi Jouzani, R. Sharafi, Saeed Soheilivand
Biodiesel has huge potentials as a green and technologically feasible alternative to fossil diesel. However, biodiesel production from edible oil crops has been widely criticized while nonedible oil plants are associated with some serious disadvantages, such as high cost, low oil yield, and unsuitable oil composition. The next generation sequencing (NGS), omics technologies, and genetic engineering have opened new paths toward achieving high performance-oil plants varieties for commercial biodiesel production. The intent of the present review paper is to review and critically discuss the recent genetic and metabolic engineering strategies developed to overcome the shortcoming faced in nonedible plants, including Jatropha curcas and Camelina sativa, as emerging platforms for biodiesel production. These strategies have been looked into three different categories. Through the first strategy aimed at enhancing oil content, the key genes involved in triacylglycerols (TAGs) biosynthesis pathway (e.g., diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase), and glycerol‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD1)), genes affecting seed size and plant growth (e.g., transcription factors (WRI1), auxin response factor 19 (ARF19), leafy cotyledon1 (LEC1), purple acid phosphatase 2 (PAP2), G-protein c subunit 3 (AGG3), and flowering locus T (FT)), as well as genes involved in TAGs degradation (e.g., sugar-dependent protein 1 triacylglycerol lipase (SDP1)) have been deliberated. While through the second strategy targeting enhanced oil composition, suppression of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of linoleic acids (e.g., fatty acid desaturase (FAD2), fatty acid elongase (FAE1), acyl-ACP thioesterase (FATB), and ketoacyl-ACP synthase II (KASII)), suppression of the genes encoding toxic metabolites (curcin precursor and casbene synthase (JcCASA)), and finally, engineering the genes responsible for the production of unusual TAGs (e.g., Acetyl-TAGs and hydroxylated fatty acids (HFA)) have been debated. In addition to those, enhancing tolerance to biotic (pest and disease) and abiotic (drought, salinity, freezing, and heavy metals) stresses as another important genetic engineering strategy to facilitate the cultivation of nonedible oil plants under conditions unsuitable for food crops has been addressed. Finally, the challenges faced prior to successful commercialization of the resultant GM oil plants such have been presented.
{"title":"Fueling the future; plant genetic engineering for sustainable biodiesel production","authors":"Gholamreza Salehi Jouzani, R. Sharafi, Saeed Soheilivand","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2018.5.3.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2018.5.3.3","url":null,"abstract":"Biodiesel has huge potentials as a green and technologically feasible alternative to fossil diesel. However, biodiesel production from edible oil crops has been widely criticized while nonedible oil plants are associated with some serious disadvantages, such as high cost, low oil yield, and unsuitable oil composition. The next generation sequencing (NGS), omics technologies, and genetic engineering have opened new paths toward achieving high performance-oil plants varieties for commercial biodiesel production. The intent of the present review paper is to review and critically discuss the recent genetic and metabolic engineering strategies developed to overcome the shortcoming faced in nonedible plants, including Jatropha curcas and Camelina sativa, as emerging platforms for biodiesel production. These strategies have been looked into three different categories. Through the first strategy aimed at enhancing oil content, the key genes involved in triacylglycerols (TAGs) biosynthesis pathway (e.g., diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase), and glycerol‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD1)), genes affecting seed size and plant growth (e.g., transcription factors (WRI1), auxin response factor 19 (ARF19), leafy cotyledon1 (LEC1), purple acid phosphatase 2 (PAP2), G-protein c subunit 3 (AGG3), and flowering locus T (FT)), as well as genes involved in TAGs degradation (e.g., sugar-dependent protein 1 triacylglycerol lipase (SDP1)) have been deliberated. While through the second strategy targeting enhanced oil composition, suppression of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of linoleic acids (e.g., fatty acid desaturase (FAD2), fatty acid elongase (FAE1), acyl-ACP thioesterase (FATB), and ketoacyl-ACP synthase II (KASII)), suppression of the genes encoding toxic metabolites (curcin precursor and casbene synthase (JcCASA)), and finally, engineering the genes responsible for the production of unusual TAGs (e.g., Acetyl-TAGs and hydroxylated fatty acids (HFA)) have been debated. In addition to those, enhancing tolerance to biotic (pest and disease) and abiotic (drought, salinity, freezing, and heavy metals) stresses as another important genetic engineering strategy to facilitate the cultivation of nonedible oil plants under conditions unsuitable for food crops has been addressed. Finally, the challenges faced prior to successful commercialization of the resultant GM oil plants such have been presented.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48895148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
P. Waghmare, R. Khandare, Byong-hun Jeon, S. Govindwar
Biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is considered to be energy-efficient and cost-effective. In the present study, sorghum husk was biologically pretreated with a white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium (MTCC 4955) under submerged static condition. Ligninolytic enzymes like lignin peroxidase (0.843 U/mL) and manganese peroxidase (0.389 U/mL) played an important role in the biological pretreatment of sorghum husk. Activities of different hydrolytic enzymes such as endoglucanase (57.25 U/mL), exoglucanase (4.76 U/mL), filter paperase (0.580 U/mL), glucoamylase (153.38 U/mL), and xylanase (88.14 U/mL) during biological pretreatment of sorghum husk by P. chrysosporium were evaluated. Enzymatic hydrolysis of untreated sorghum husk and biologically pretreated sorghum husk produced 20.07 and 103.0 mg/g reducing sugars, respectively. This result showed a significant increase in reducing sugar production in the biologically pretreated sorghum husk as compared to its untreated counterpart. Biologically pretreated sorghum husk hydrolysate was further fermented for 48 h using Saccharomyces cerevisiae (KCTC 7296), Pachysolen tannophilus (MTCC 1077), and their co-culture resulting in ethanol yields of 2.113, 1.095, and 2.348%, respectively. The surface characteristics of the substrate were evaluated after the delignification and hydrolysis, using FTIR, XRD, and SEM, confirming the effectiveness of the biological pretreatment process.
{"title":"Enzymatic hydrolysis of biologically pretreated sorghum husk for bioethanol production","authors":"P. Waghmare, R. Khandare, Byong-hun Jeon, S. Govindwar","doi":"10.18331/BRJ2018.5.3.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/BRJ2018.5.3.4","url":null,"abstract":"Biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is considered to be energy-efficient and cost-effective. In the present study, sorghum husk was biologically pretreated with a white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium (MTCC 4955) under submerged static condition. Ligninolytic enzymes like lignin peroxidase (0.843 U/mL) and manganese peroxidase (0.389 U/mL) played an important role in the biological pretreatment of sorghum husk. Activities of different hydrolytic enzymes such as endoglucanase (57.25 U/mL), exoglucanase (4.76 U/mL), filter paperase (0.580 U/mL), glucoamylase (153.38 U/mL), and xylanase (88.14 U/mL) during biological pretreatment of sorghum husk by P. chrysosporium were evaluated. Enzymatic hydrolysis of untreated sorghum husk and biologically pretreated sorghum husk produced 20.07 and 103.0 mg/g reducing sugars, respectively. This result showed a significant increase in reducing sugar production in the biologically pretreated sorghum husk as compared to its untreated counterpart. Biologically pretreated sorghum husk hydrolysate was further fermented for 48 h using Saccharomyces cerevisiae (KCTC 7296), Pachysolen tannophilus (MTCC 1077), and their co-culture resulting in ethanol yields of 2.113, 1.095, and 2.348%, respectively. The surface characteristics of the substrate were evaluated after the delignification and hydrolysis, using FTIR, XRD, and SEM, confirming the effectiveness of the biological pretreatment process.","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41352093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editorial Board","authors":"","doi":"10.18331/brj2018.5.3.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18331/brj2018.5.3.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46938,"journal":{"name":"Biofuel Research Journal-BRJ","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":13.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45908192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}