Biofuels (Energy)

Production of biodiesel by esterification or transesterification of long-chain fatty acids is a well known process, but the fuel product has characteristics making it not fully compatible with petroleum diesel engines. A better option is to convert fatty acid molecules to hydrocarbons by removing...

The objective of this work is to use thermal pretreatment to separate the complex bio-oil mixture to produce less complex vapor streams of products from 1. light oxygenates (small aldehydes, acids) , 2. furan derivatives, and 3. phenolics. The selective production of products by thermal treatment...

Some processes aimed to biofuels production, use lignocellulosic wastes as feedstocks for fermentative conversion. If this is the case, pretreatment is required to make these resources fully digestible. Among a wide range of pretreatment options, this study focuses and compares oxidative-alkaline...

Efficient breakdown of ligno-cellulosic material prior to fermentation for bio-fuel production is a key step in optimizing bio-fuel production. Current industrial practice involves chemical pretreatment and acid or enzymatic saccharification to prepare ligno-cellulosic biomass for fermentation. The...

The main objective of this study was to investigate the power controlled effect on microwave-accelerated simultaneous extraction and transesterification (in situ transesterification) of dry algal biomass. Experimental runs were designed using a response surface methodology and the process...

Understanding and modeling the depolymerization mechanisms of cellulosic and lignocellulosic substrates by cellulase cocktails is a critical step towards further optimizing the production of monosaccharides from biomass. The Spezyme CP cellulase cocktail combined with the Novo 188 b-glucosidase...

Corresponding author: Shulin Chen. Tel: 509-335-3743; Fax: 509-335-2722 E-mail: chens@wsu.edu An increasing attention has been paid to anaerobic digestion (AD) for converting the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) to renewable energy and reducing environmental impact. Since OFMSW is...

Due to the recent surge in energy costs and uncertainties in fuel prices, there is significant interest in seeking alternative sources of energy particularly from renewable such as biomass. Indirect liquefaction of biomass (via the thermo-chemical conversion to syngas followed by liquefaction via...

Microalgae harvest contributes a large portion of cost for microalgae-to-biofuels production. Most current harvest technologies including chemical and mechanical methods are only economically feasible for production of high-value products due to the costs. In this work, we are describing a new...

The current vision of biomass (e.g. plant, algae) conversion technologies is focused on developing the reactive intermediates platform for biofuels and chemicals production. A key challenge in using biomass as a renewable resource is its incredibly diverse polymeric structure. Sugars, furfural, HMF...