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Nowadays, the microalgae have been gaining importance due to their different applications in the biofuel, food, and pharmaceutical industries. One of the applications that is commonly proposed for microalgae oil is the transformation into biodiesel through transesterification. This biodiesel is a biofuel that present energy yields similar to traditional diesel, generating an alternative to replace a fuel from petrochemical origin. The objective of this work is to analyze deeply a process for biodiesel production from microalgae oil. The process includes the cultivation, harvesting, and extraction stages for the oil. In this case, the software Aspen Plus is employed for simulation. From the results obtained (mass and energy balances), the energy, exergy, and economic and environmental analysis of the process are carried out through the development of different scenarios. Last allow to evaluate the energy, economic and environmental viability of this type of processes. As a result, this work shows the challenges to be overcome to make possible the real introduction of microalgae fuels.

The development of the biorefinery concept is based on the techno-economic feasibility of the proposed process considering raw materials, process options, mass and energy integration, market constraints, etc. Nevertheless, along with all these considerations, the environmental assessment must be taken into account at the same time, and concepts like sustainability, land uses, environmental impacts, and other related issues must be included in the biorefinery design since the first moment. This work summarizes the main methodologies and aspects concerning the environmental assessment of biorefineries. Different case studies covering a wide range of raw materials and products are also presented.

During last decades, there has been a growing interest of decreasing the environmental impact generated by humans. This situation has been approached from different perspectives being the integral use of raw materials as one of the best alternatives. It was estimated that 3.7 × 109 tonnes of agricultural residues are produced annually worldwide. Then, the integral use of feedstocks has been studied through the biorefinery concept. A biorefinery can be a promissory option for processing feedstocks in rural zones aiming to boost the techno-economic and social growth. However, many plants produced at small scale in rural zones without high industrial use contribute with residues usually not studied as raw materials for other processes. Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) is a plant grown extensively in tropical regions. Nigeria, China, and Ghana are the main producers with 1.3, 1.18, and 0.9 million tonnes/year, respectively. In Colombia, there are no technified crops, but it is used where it is grown mainly as animal feed. This plant consists of leaves, stem, and a tuber but the use is generally limited to the leaves, discarding the other parts. These discarded parts have great potential (lignocellulose and starch). This work proposes different processing schemes using the parts of the plant to obtain value-added products, and their techno-economic and environmental assessment. The simulation was performed with Aspen Plus and the economic package was used for the economic assessment. For the environmental assessment, Waste Algorithm Reduction of the U.S. EPA was implemented. The obtained results showed that the integral use of plants under a biorefinery scheme allows obtaining better techno-economic and environmental performance and that small-scale biorefineries can be a promissory option for boosting rural zones.

The biorefinery concept is based on the fractionation of biomass into different products, where according to the physical and chemical nature of raw materials, the performance and costs can vary considerably. Additionally, biorefinery involves assessing technologies for the separation of biomass into basic components such as triglycerides, proteins, and carbohydrates. Biorefineries have applications in different fields including bioengineering, polymer chemistry, and agriculture. The use of oleochemical raw materials has increased in both applications for food industries and industrial purposes, where waste obtained from the extraction can reach the proportion of energy and food. Among edible oils most used in the world are soybean, palm, sunflower, peanut, and cotton. Extraction industry of palm oil produces a large amount of solid waste of lignocellulosic biomass. Fresh fruit bunches are sterilized and stripped, generating waste palm oil mill and empty fruit bunches.

This work assesses the economic and social performance of energy production through two biorefineries based on Coffee Cut-Stems (CCS). The economic assessment was carried out to determine the effect of the processing scale on the Net Present Value (NPV). The social analysis was performed to evaluate the social effects of the possible biorefineries implementation. Thus, a set of indicators were calculated as metrics of the social impact. The economic assessment shows that the base case biorefinery is infeasible in any processing scale. Meanwhile, the alternative solution I presents a positive economic behavior at scales higher than 17 ton h−1, this configuration presents a positive economic behavior. The social assessment indicates that the first biorefinery is infeasible because the astronomic resources requirements to reach economic feasibility. Meanwhile, the second biorefinery does not have high social risk in most of the social indicators being best configuration from the economic and social perspectives.

Este trabajo desarrolla un método para comparar los gastos energéticos entre las configuraciones secuencial (reacción-separación) y simultánea (destilación reactiva), analizando los flujos internos y externos de un proceso. Como ejemplo se utilizó una reacción tipo: A + B D C + D; con temperaturas de saturación: TCσ

During the cultivation and processing of coffee different residues can be obtained, such as, coffee cut-stems, coffee silverskin, spent coffee grounds, coffee pulp, and coffee husk. In the last years, some research has demonstrated that this type of biomass can be a good source of bioproducts through its transformation using stand-alone processes or biorefineries. In this sense, this chapter shows a description of coffee grain and an overview of the world production, consumption, and processing stages to obtain the by-products. In order to know the potential and identify the important compounds in the coffee processing, the physicochemical composition of by-products is analyzed. Thus, an analysis of possibilities of integral valorization of by-products as raw materials to obtain antioxidants, biofuels, bioenergy, bioproducts, and biofertilizers is performed. Finally, the biorefinery concept is considered to generate biochemicals and added-value products from the abovementioned residues, taking into account the design of biorefineries, the production scale, and a technical and economic assessment.

Este trabajo desarrolla un metodo para comparar los gastos energeticos entre las configuraciones secuencial (reaccion-separacion) y simultanea (destilacion reactiva), analizando los flujos internos y externos de un proceso. Como ejemplo se utilizo una reaccion tipo: A + B D C + D; con temperaturas de saturacion: T C s

Se discuten los aspectos básicos de la producción de biocombustibles, como alcohol carburante y biodiesel, incluyendo sus principales ventajas y desventajas, materias primas, tecnologías, perspectivas de desarrollo y retos, para su correcta implementación en el contexto nacional e internacional. Adicionalmente, se analiza de manera resumida los impactos de los biocombustibles en el medio ambiente como principal aporte a la movilidad sostenible. Se plantea también una estrategia diseñada con la FAO para evaluar el impacto de los biocombustibles en la seguridad alimentaria de un país. / The basic aspects of liquid biofuels (biodiesel and fuel ethanol) production are discussed, including advantages and disadvantages, raw materials, technologies, prospects of development and challenges for their successful implementation in the national and international context. The article also provides a brief analysis of the biofuels impact on the environment as the main contribution to sustainable mobility. This work additionally describes a strategy designed together with FAO to assess the impact of biofuels on food security.

A pelletization process was designed which produces cylindrical pellets ∼8 mm in length and 4 mm in diameter. These ones were manufactured using a blend of Pinus Patula and Cypress sawdust and coal in proportions of 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30% v/v of coal of rank sub-bituminous extracted from the Nechi mine (Amaga-Antioquia). For this procedure, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was used as binder at three different concentrations. The co-gasification experiments were carried out with two kinds of mixtures, the first one was composed of granular coal and pellets of 100% wood and the second one was composed of pulverized wood and granular coal pellets. All samples were co-gasified with steam by using an electrical heated fluidized-bed reactor, operating in batches, at 850 °C. The main components of the gaseous product were H2, CO, CO2, CH4, and N2 with approximate quantities of 59%, 6.0%, 20%, 5.0%, and 9.0% v/v, respectively, and the higher heating values ranged from between 7.1 and 9.5 MJ/Nm3.

Section I Fundamentals of Engineering Analysis and Design of Bioenergy Production Systems Genetic Engineering of Bioenergy Crops toward High Biofuel Production Guosheng Xie and Liangcai Peng Novel Cropping Technologies and Management Applied to Energy Crops Lorenzo Barbanti Mathematical Modeling in Biomass and Bioenergy Systems Lijun Wang, Samuel Asomaning Agyemang and Abolghasem Shahbazi Life-Cycle Assessment of Bioenergy Systems Reinout Heijungs and Edi Iswanto Wiloso Sustainability of Bioenergy Systems Lucas Reijnders Section II Sustainable Biomass Production and Supply Logistics Production and Supply Logistics of Microalgae as an Energy Feedstock Helena M. Amaro, F. Xavier Malcata, and I. Sousa-Pinto Production and Supply Logistics of Switchgrass as an Energy Feedstock Marty R. Schmer and Igathinathane Cannayen Production and Supply Logistics of Sweet Sorghum as an Energy Feedstock Sergio O. Serna-Saldivar and William L. Rooney Production and Supply Logistics of Sugarcane as an Energy Feedstock Jose Goldemberg, Suani T. Coelho, Plinio M. Nastari, and Patricia Guardabassi Crop Residues as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Dong Jiang, Dafang Zhuang, and Yaohuan Huang Woody Biomass as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Birger Solberg Animal Wastes as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Hui Wang and Lijun Wang Municipal Solid-Waste Management Strategies for Renewable Energy Options Richa Kothari, Virendra Kumar, N.L. Pawar, and V.V. Tyagi Food Processing Wastes as an Energy Feedstock: Availability and Sustainability Lijun Wang Section III Sustainable Bioenergy Processing Fermentation in Transportation Alcohols Jonathan Moncada, Luis A. Toro, and Carlos A. Cardona Biodiesel Production from Waste Feedstock Dennis Y.C. Leung and Xuan Wu Biomass Gasification and Syngas Utilization Ajay Kumar, Ashokkumar Sharma, and Pushpak Bhandari Biomass Pyrolysis and Bio-oil Utilization Lijun Wang and Dan Cheng Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Biomass Nor Aishah Saidina Amin, Javaid Akhtar, and Selhan Karagoz Anaerobic Digestion of Organic Wastes Bo Zhang and Lijun Wang Combined Heat and Power Generation from Biomass Hao Liu and Rabah Boukhanouf Section IV Sustainable Biorefinery Systems Biorefinery Principles, Analysis, and Design Zheng Liu and Mario Richard Eden Lignocellulosic Feedstock Biorefinery Karin Arens and Shijie Liu Whole-Crop Biorefinery Apostolis A. Koutinas, Carol Lin, Chenyu Du, and Colin Webb Green Biorefinery H.S. Shekhar Sharma and Michael Mandl

The prediction of thermodynamic properties can be considered as the first stage of the mitigation processes proposals. In this paper, the influence of phase equilibrium calculations over separation performance was analyzed, using Greenhouse Gases (GHG) mixtures. Eleven GHG mixtures (CO2-CO-N2O-SO2) were analyzed through the Peng-Robinson, Predictive Soave-Redlich-Kwong and Perturbed Chain – Statistical Associating Fluid Theory thermodynamic models. After, topologic thermodynamics tool and conceptual design were used to predict the results of distillation separation.The thermodynamic analysis was completed with the calculations of binary and ternary phase equilibrium. The results showed the carbon monoxide concentration as issue in simulation procedure and, therefore, it affected separation calculations. La predicción de las propiedades termodinámicas de los Gases de Efecto Invernadero (GEI) es el primer paso para proponer rutas de transformación de estos compuestos en productos de valor agregado. En el presente documento se analiza la influencia del modelo termodinámico en el cálculo del equilibrio de fases sobre los resultados en la predicción de la separación de GEI’s. Las ecuaciones de estado empleadas para el cálculo del equilibrio de fases de 11 mezclas (CO2-CO-N2O-SO2), todas correspondientes a los gases obtenidos en procesos de combustión, fueron la ecuación de Peng-Robinson, Predictive Soave-Redlich-Kwong y Perturbed Chain – Statistical Associating Fluid Theory. Con el fin de complementar el análisis se calculó el equilibrio de fases de las mezclas binarias y ternarias que resultan de la combinación de los cuatro componentes. Posteriormente, se utiliza el diseño conceptual y las herramientas de termodinámica topológica para predecir los resultados de la separación de las mezclas, por destilación, empleando los tres modelos termodinámicos nombrados anteriormente.Los resultados indicaron que la presencia y concentración de monóxido de carbono en las mezclas de GEI fueron factores determinantes a la hora de predecir el equilibrio de fases, los cuales afectaron los cálculos de la etapa de separación.

Fuel ethanol industry presents different problems during bioreactors operation. One of them is the unexpected variation in the output ethanol concentration from the bioreactor or a drastic fall in the productivity. In this paper, a compilation of concepts and relevant results of several experimental and theoretical studies about dynamic behavior of fermentation systems for bioethanol production with Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis is done with the purpose of understanding the stability phenomena that could affect the productivity of industries producing fuel ethanol. It is shown that the design of high scale biochemical processes for fuel ethanol production must be done based on stability studies.

La industria creciente de los biocombustibles genera grandes cantidades de residuos que tienen alto potencial para la obtención de productos con alto valor agregado. En el presente documento se lleva a cabo el análisis de ciclo de vida (ACV) para el glicerol y el bagazo de caña de azúcar durante su producción y para su uso como materia prima en cuatro procesos diferentes. El objetivo fue determinar el impacto ambiental de los cuatro procesos, por medio de la cuantificación de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) asociados al ciclo de vida. Los resultados indican que las emisiones de GEI asociadas a los procesos que utilizan el glicerol como materia prima son mayores que las emisiones de GEI para los procesos que involucran bagazo de caña de azúcar, pero que el aprovechamiento del glicerol podría considerarse más eficiente, ya que las emisiones por unidad de masa en el uso del glicerol son 75% inferiores a las emisiones calculadas para los procedimientos utilizando bagazo de caña como materia prima.

International audience; Dans le cadre de notre projet, nous nous concentrons sur les étapes d'extraction et de purification de la lignine ainsi que de sa valorisation dans des produits finis, particulièrement des élastomères à base de lignine. La disponibilité de la lignine et la capacité des bioraffineries à produire de la lignine sont analysées à grande échelle avec une cartographie des acteurs, pour identifier les risques d'approvisionnement au sein de la filière innovante.