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...
Much of the process complexity and high capital costs associate with cellulosic ethanol (dilute acid hydrolysis as a pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of cellulose) results from side products such as furfural, acetate, and soluble lignin compounds that inhibit the biocatalysts. Inhibitor...
Saccharification of fermentable sugars is one of the most critical steps in producing bio-ethanol from lignocellulosics through Consolidate Bioprocessing (CBP). However, the extreme pH and ethanol concentration are commonly considered to be the potential inhibitory factors for the application of...
Papers on challenges and opportunities in hydrogen from renewable resources. The U.S. Dept of Energy Hydrogen Program: Status and Performance Gaps of On-board Hydrogen Storage Technologies · Ammonia and Metal Ammines for High Density Hydrogen Storage ·<span style="&'font:" 7pt="" 'times=""...
The Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) is a promising technology for the future use of coal to provide energy. During this process, many of the trace elements present in coal are volatilized, and remain in the gas phase through the gas turbine, only to be released in the flue gas. Trace...
The 2010 Danckwerts lecture is concerned with explaining the emerging field of Industrial Ecology (IE) and why it represents a new and important area for application of the skills of the chemical engineer. Wikipedia, defines Industrial Ecology (IE) as “a ‘systems-based, multidisciplinary discourse...
Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and PoroGen Corporation are jointly developing a novel hybrid membrane – absorption process for pre- and post-combustion CO2 capture (Carbo-Lock™ process). The novel Carbo-Lock™ process combines advantageous features of both absorption and membrane processes to...
Lab-scale pyrolysis experiments have been performed to gain insight in the mechanisms influencing the metal behavior during carbonization of chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated wood chips. To this end a fixed bed low temperature pyrolysis reactor and a thermogravimetric (TG) analyser have been...
Refineries using Canadian Crude as feed stock are experiencing high emulsion wastewater from Desalter mud wash operation. This waste is high in COD /BOD loading and will exert shock to the aeration system by scavenging dissolved oxygen and resulting in misoperation and NPDES exceedences. Emulsion...
Hybrid energy processes are an attractive avenue towards a more sustainable energy future due to their flexibility in converting multiple types of inputs into a consistent range of products. For the transportation sector, Fischer-Tropsch synfuels can be generated from a diverse of feedstock inputs...
The potential of partial ammonia (NH 3 ) substitution to improve the safety of hydrogen (H 2 ) use was evaluated, using premixed NH 3 /H 2 /air flames at normal temperature and pressure generated on a tube type burner. The effects of NH 3 substitution on the stability limits and nitrogen oxide (NO...
The University of Kentucky, Center for Applied Energy Research is investigating oxygen carriers (OC) for chemical looping combustion (CLC) with the goal of developing a pressurized chemical looping combustion/gasification process for generating electricity from coal. An important issue in the...
Many issues face coal fired utilities with respect to environmental demands, some based on regulations and others based on local pressures. These include increasingly stringent control of criteria pollutants, anticipated federal and state requirements for mercury control, issues revolving around...
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...
In this work, we propose a supporting framework for the design of chemical process integrating computer-aided process engineering (CAPE) and life cycle assessment (LCA) tools. LCA has been a useful tool for quantifying the environmental impacts from existing product life cycle and its application...