Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery最新文献

Seafood processing effluent can significantly impact aquatic ecosystems by introducing high levels of organic matter, nutrients, and contaminants, leading to oxygen depletion. Effective treatment is essential to mitigate these effects and promote healthier marine environments. This study investigated the bioremediation potential of a fungal strain isolated from effluent collected at a seafood processing facility in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Among the isolates, FSE-07 exhibited the highest bioremediation efficiency, achieving a 75.33% reduction in absorbance when 1% starch was used as a carbon source. Optimization under varying pH and temperature conditions revealed that the greatest reduction occurred at pH 7 and 35 °C, resulting in significant decreases in BOD (66.67%), COD (52.60%), nitrogen (60.37%), nitrite (53.2%), and nitrate (42.86%). In addition, toxicity assessments revealed no chromosomal damage in the FSE-07 treated effluent. FT-IR analysis confirmed changes in the chemical composition of the effluent, indicating the degradation of hazardous compounds. Molecular characterization using 18S rRNA gene sequencing identified strain FSE-07 as Aspergillus niger. Post-treatment analysis of the effluent revealed notable improvements in physicochemical variables, including reductions in total dissolved solids, total solids, suspended solids, and oil and grease contents. These findings underscore the potential of Aspergillus niger FSE-07 as an effective and eco-friendly solution for treating seafood processing effluent, contributing to environmental sustainability.

This study explores the potential of Bougainvillea as a natural colorant for cotton and wool fabrics. The unique aspect of this research lies in the extraction of Bougainvillea in three different media: distilled water, 5% acetic acid aqueous, and 50:50 v/v ethanol-water solutions. The extracted solutions and the extracted floral bracts were then characterized by UV-Vis analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The fabrics were treated in these extracted solutions, with the aid of copper sulfate as a mordant agent. The color parameter analysis revealed acceptable color differences for the fabrics after coloring with Bougainvillea-extracted solutions. The color difference values are 9.167, 11.512, and 11.792 for the cotton fabrics dyed in acetic acid, ethanol, and water-extracted Bougainvillea solutions, respectively. For wool fabrics, the color difference values are in the range of 33.188–42.032. The color difference values increased for cotton and wool fabrics after coloring in Bougainvillea-extracted solutions with the addition of mordant. The color fastness against to water, washing, and rubbing were also experimented. The fastness degrees are found to be in the range of 4–4/5 in general. Further, the results were improved by one and/or half degrees with the help of mordant. In conclusion, this study not only demonstrates the potential of Bougainvillea as a natural coloring agent for textiles but also provides promising results in terms of eco-friendly and sustainable production.

The development of sustainable extraction processes for valuable bioactive compounds from biomass is gaining increasing attention. This study introduces, for the first time, an ultrasound-assisted extraction method using hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (HDESs) for the efficient extraction of triterpenoids from Forsythiae Fructus. Various green solvents were evaluated, with menthol-valeric acid proving highly effective in extracting betulinic acid, oleanolic acid, and ursolic acid. Response surface methodology identified the optimal extraction conditions as a Val-to-Men ratio of 1.25 mol/mol, a liquid-to-solid ratio of 26.3 mL/g, an extraction time of 42 min, and an extraction temperature of 70 °C, yielding a triterpenoid extraction efficiency of 12.93 ± 0.08 mg/g. A second-order kinetic model was further applied to elucidate the extraction mechanism, revealing a diffusion-controlled process with an activation energy of 9.51 kJ/mol. Triterpenoids were successfully recovered from the extracts via solid–liquid extraction using macroporous resins, achieving a recovery efficiency of 91.44% and a triterpenoid content of 61.29%. Process sustainability was confirmed through the recyclability of both the solvent and the resins over three successive extraction–recovery cycles. Additionally, the greenness of the proposed extraction method achieved a high AGREEprep score of 0.80. These findings provide pioneering insights into the application of HDESs for triterpenoid extraction from Forsythiae Fructus, contributing to the advancement of greener extraction strategies.

Graphical Abstract

In this work, Micropus erectus L fibers were used as a source of lignin and the extracted lignin was chemically functionalized with polyethyleneimine (PEI). The resulting materials were analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric (TGA), and, Differential thermogravimetric analyses (DTG). The resulting materials were further used for the elimination of Acid red 183 (AR183) and Acid blue 25(AB25) from a synthetic aqueous medium. SEM micrographs showed that the functionalized lignin was rough and presented several hollows. FT-IR data of the functionalized lignin displayed new absorption peak at 1651–1670 cm^-1 confirming amino groups grafting. XRD diffractograms indicated the amorphous structure of lignin. Lignin displayed three stages of degradation; the first event occurred at 59.4 °C, the second event happened at 267.6 °C, and the last one occurred at 543.1 °C. Compared to the raw material, the functionalized lignin samples exhibited four main decomposition stages. This change in thermal behavior evidenced the chemical modification of lignin. The adsorption process depended on several studied experimental factors (pH, time, initial dye concentration, and temperature). The maximum adsorption amounts were attained using lignin-PEI (5%) and they were equal to 173 mg/g and 119 mg/g for AB25 and AR183, respectively, at optimum adsorption conditions (time = 60 min, pH = 5, and T = 21 °C), The adsorption process fitted well to the pseudo second order kinetic equation and Freundlich isotherm. The negative values of the enthalpy indicated that the adsorption process was exothermic. However, the negative values of the entropy suggested the decrease in the disorder during the adsorption phenomenon.

Hydrogen production from renewable biomass offers a pathway toward low-carbon energy systems. This study presents a techno-economic assessment of hydrogen generation from lignocellulosic biomass through an integrated pyrolysis, gasification, and reforming process modeled in Aspen Plus V10. The process design applies the Peng-Robinson equation of state for thermodynamic predictions and integrates methane steam reforming and water gas shift reactions to enhance hydrogen yield. Simulation results show a hydrogen yield of 0.0742 kg H₂ per kg biomass with a purity of 99.91%, representing a 40.5% improvement over standalone gasification. Pinch analysis demonstrates a 20% reduction in energy consumption through heat recovery. Economic evaluation estimates a capital cost of USD 14.8 million and an operating cost of USD 5.9 million per year, yielding a payback period of 5.52 years, an internal rate of return of 39.16%, and a net present value of USD 166.31 million. Integration of CO₂ capture reduces emissions by approximately 50% compared to conventional steam methane reforming. These results confirm the technical and economic feasibility of the process and its relevance for sustainable hydrogen production.

Corncob, an agricultural based lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) feedstock is wasted during the collection of corn grains in agro-industries, despite containing 15–20% of lignin, a potential renewable source of chemical and fuels. The isolation of lignin from the LCB in high purity and less condensed form is a major challenge. This study focuses on the optimization of the organosolv process (OS) for lignin isolation from corncob using THF-H₂O solvent mixture. The design of experiment (DoE) based machine learning driven regression model was employed by considering reaction time, temperature, THF: H₂O ratio, solid: liquid ratio as degrees of freedom. A combination of Central Composite Design (CCD) and SOBOL sampling ensured uniform coverage of the experimental space. Ridge regression modeling was used to identify optimal conditions for maximum lignin yield. The optimized lignin isolation conditions (reaction time: 95 min, temperature: 230 °C, THF: H₂O: 4:1, solid: liquid: 0.0801:1) yielded 47.4% lignin with 81.3% purity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to study the impact of the interaction of process parameters on lignin yield based on the p-value. The isolated lignin was characterized by elemental analysis (CHNSO), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) methods. The characterization results confirmed that the OS lignin is amorphous in nature, thermally stable and contains aromatic, aliphatic, C-C moieties, and β-O-4 linkages including other linkages similar to kraft lignin. Comparison of characterization results with kraft lignin (KL) ensures the efficacy of the OS extraction method for isolation of the high-quality lignin from corncob.

This study aims to explore the innovative use of a non-pathogenic bacterium, Streptococcus spp., isolated from camel smen for the extracellular biosynthesis of silver chloride nanoparticles (AgClNPs) and evaluate their biological activities. Biosynthesized AgClNPs exhibit a maximum absorbance at 369 nm within the UV-Vis range. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicates that the nanoparticles have a cubic structure, with a crystallinity of 43.49% and an average crystallite size of 17.94 nm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersion analysis (FE-SEM) shows a spherical structure with an average particle size of 5.29 nm. Energy-dispersed X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) confirms the elemental composition. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis identifies the bioactive functions associated with AgClNPs. A surface charge of -34.8 mV and an average hydrodynamic diameter of 381.1 nm were also measured. AgClNPs biosynthesized demonstrated a total antioxidant capacity of 131.12 ± 0.15 µg AAE/mg at a concentration of 100 µg/mL; 27.93 µg/mL of AgClNPs reduced 50% the initial DPPH concentration. The biosynthesized AgClNPs exerted bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties on the studied strains Bacillus subtilis ATCC6633, Micrococcus luteus ATCC9314, and Salmonella enterica ATCC6017 at concentrations ranging from 15.62 to 125 µg/mL. AgClNPs, at an MIC concentration, were able to eradicate more than 50% of mature biofilms formed by the studied strains. These results highlight the potential of Streptococcus spp. in the biosynthesis of AgClNPs, thus reinforcing the ability of this technique to offer an innovative, inexpensive, reliable and eco-friendly alternative. In addition, these nanoparticles can be effective alternatives and considered as a solution to the problems of biofilms formed by pathogenic bacteria in many fields, including medicine, food and agriculture where they could be used as antibacterial and antibiofilm agents.

Zinc chloride-modified (PP-Z), potassium hydroxide-modified (PP-K), and zinc chloride/potassium hydroxide composite-modified (PP-ZK) biochars were prepared from pomelo peels for the adsorption of Congo red (CR). The pyrolytic properties, specific surface area, surface morphology, and atomic ratio of the biochar were obtained via characterization techniques including TGA, EA, SEM, BET, XRD, and FT-IR, and the effects of pH and adsorption time on the adsorption of CR were investigated by adsorption tests. The results showed that the specific surface area of biochar PP-ZK reached 1393.29 m²/g, with good porosity and rich surface functional groups (-COOH, -OH, etc.). The adsorption of CR by PP-ZK under the same conditions reached 71.6 mg/g (2.93 times higher than that of the unactivated biochar), and the removal rate of CR was 94.7% at an initial CR concentration of 300 mg/L, pH 6, and an adsorption dosage of 2 g/L. The adsorption of CR by PP-ZK was more in line with the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the adsorption of CR was more in line with the Langmuir isotherm model. The adsorption process of PP-ZK on CR was more in line with the Langmuir isotherm model and quasi-secondary kinetic model, which was monomolecular layer adsorption, and subject to the combined effect of physical adsorption and chemisorption. Moreover, the adsorption of CR was a reversible and spontaneous heat absorption process, and the warming up could help the adsorption. These results confirm that the composite-modified biochar PP-ZK is an effective adsorbent for CR removal from aqueous solutions.

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Furfural is one of the substances that has various applications in different industries, and therefore, there is a possibility of its entry into the environment through industrial wastewater discharge. This study was conducted to remove furfural from synthetic aqueous solutions through the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) using persulfate (PS) as the oxidizing agent. In this experiment, zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) were used to activate PS and generate sulfate radicals. Additionally, to obtain the properties of nZVI, FE-SEM, FTIR and XRD analysis were conducted on them. A spectrophotometer establish at a wavelength of 277 nm, was used to measure the absorption of furfural. The best values for pH, nZVI, PS, initial concentration of furfural and contact time were determined to be 3, 0.1 g/L, 0.1 g/L, 20 mg/L and 75 min, respectively. The synergistic effect of combining nZVI with PS has been determined to be 94.5%. The kinetics of furfural oxidation followed a pseudo-first-order kinetic model (R²: 0.9636) and the percentage of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was found to be 76% under optimum conditions. Based on the results of the studies, it is possible to achieve high furfural removal efficiencies from aqueous solutions by applying the advanced oxidation process in which persulfate acts as the oxidation agent and nZVI acts as the persulfate activator.