11^th World Bioenergy Congress and Expo July 02-04, 2018 Golden Tulip Berlin – Hotel Hamburg, Berlin, Germany

Ibai Funcia has a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from the University of Navarra (UPNa), Spain; pursued a course in Pedagogical Aptitude from the same university and a Project Management Interuniversity Master's Degree by the University of La Rioja (Spain). He is currently developing his PhD thesis at the UPNa on Science and Industrial Technologies PhD Program. Since 2004 he has been working in Biomass Department, National Renewable Energy Centre, Spain as a Biomass Researcher in the following main lines: 1. Thermo-chemical route: biomass torrefaction, biomass combustion (ash behavior at high temperature) and biomass gasification (tar cleaning, sampling and analysis). 2. Biochemical route: biomass pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. 3. Biomass and Bio-fuel characterization. 4. Chromatography methods development. 5. Laboratory quality and assurance procedures implementation.

Thermochemical modeling seems a promising tool in the biomass combustion field to avoid ash-related problems during combustion: slagging, fouling and corrosion. Several authors have used thermochemical software packages to understand and validate their experimental results in different biomass combustion studies, focusing directly on ash composition or ash streams composition. Besides, most of these studies are focused on operational issues, especially on those concerning de-fluidization phenomena, in pilot scale combustion plants. In this work, a thermochemical model was developed to predict inorganic elements’ released during combustion and the melting behavior and composition of the fly ash in the downstream, allowing to evaluate the effect of biofuel composition on the ash composition and behavior. With the aid of experimental data obtained by common techniques, previously used in other studies, such as chemical fractionation and chemical analysis to understand elements distribution during combustion, the model could be validated by comparison with real data. The results obtained with the model presented in this work, reveal the importance of the S/Cl molar ratio to reduce ash deposition problems during gas cooling in the combustion of wheat straw using large scale vibrating grate technologies.

Shun Chang Yen, PhD received his BS Degree from Republic of China Air Force Academy, Taiwan in 1992 and MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan in 1998 and 2003 respectively. He is a Full Professor of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Department at the National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan. His researches cover fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, combustion technology, chemically reacting flows and related fields.

In this study, astral-type bluff bodies were placed on a burner to control flow fields, enhance the combustion efficiency of the burner and achieve energy conservation. In the experiment, the astral-type bluff bodies were placed on a burner when fluids passed the bluff bodies. The axial kinetic energy of the flow field was transformed into radial kinetic energy. The radial motion created a vortex flow structure that increased heat release and improved combustion efficiency. Furthermore, the astral-type mechanism was utilized to improve the mixing between fuel and air, and then reduce the formation of hydrocarbon. The experimental methods such as thermocouples and photography techniques were used to obtain the characteristic flame patterns, flame heights, temperature distribution, heat release rate, and the concentration of combusted exhaust gases. In this study, four bluff bodies (disk-shaped, concentric, three astral- type, and six astral-type) were utilized. The flame fields were divided into the following modes: jet flame, flickering flame, swirling flame, and lifted flame. The six- astral-type bluff body increased heat release by 44%, 35% increase by the concentric bluff body and 12.4% increase by the three astral-type bluff body. A gas analyzer was used to measure the concentration of exhaust gases (O2, CO2, C3H8, CO and NO) in the burner region. In comparison to that of a concentric bluff body, a 23% lower carbon monoxide (CO) concentration was generated when a six astral-type bluff body was used, whereas 40% CO was generated for a three astral-type bluff body.

Eleni Gomes is a Professor at Ibilce Unesp – Sao Paulo State University, Brazil. She has her expertise in industrial microbiology and has been working with prospecting microorganisms for bioenergy application. She has her experience in research with cellulases, xylanase end pectinase production by thermophilic fungi and sugar obtainment from lignocellulosic biomass for bioethanol and byproducts production.

The hydrolysis of polysaccharides from lignocellulosic biomass releases high quantity of pentoses, when fermented to ethanol could be a complement obtained by fermentation of glucose from cellulose saccharification (2G ethanol). Moreover, the use of pentoses as a substrate for obtaining value-added bioproducts is an alternative to ethanol. This work proposes the xylose assimilating yeast isolation focused on metabolites generated from the use of xylose as carbon source. Among the isolated strains Pichia kluyveri G1.1; Hanceniaspora sp. G4.1; Hanceniaspora sp. G7.1; Candida oleophila G10.1; Metschnikowia koreensis G18 were selected based on their good assimilation of xylose. The Hanceniaspora sp. G4.1, Hanceniaspora sp. G7.1 and C. oleophila G10.1 consumed 100% of xylose from the culture medium in 120 h. Mucilaginibacter koreensis G18 consumed approximately 70% in 96 h and P. kluyveri G1.1 was the strain that presented the lowest xylose consumption rate (50% in 120 h). Qualitative evaluation of the organic acids secreted by strains in these cultures revealed the presence of oxalic, citric, maleic, tartaric, malic, pyruvic, lactic, fumaric, acetic, propionic, isobutyric, and butyric acid. In cultivation using culture media with different initial pH values and concentrations of xylose it was observed that the factors which influence the production of organic acids by M. koreensis G18, however, were not significant for other yeasts.

Masud Rana is currently pursuing PhD program in the Department of Environment and Energy Engineering at Chonnam National University (CNU), Gwangju, Republic of South Korea. Before joining at CNU, he graduated from the University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. During that period, he worked on catalytic chemistry. His ongoing research focuses on bio-oil production from lignocellulosic biomass and also upgrading the bio-oil using green technologies.

In recent years, the research interests in biomass conversion to high value-added chemicals and fuels have drawn much attention in view of current problems such as high oil prices, food crisis, global warming, and other geopolitical scenarios. In this report, an SBA-15 supported molybdenum catalyst (Mo/SBA-15) was explored for the depolymerization of kraft lignin in hydrothermal liquefaction process. Experiments were carried out at 300°C in a batch reactor under the N2 atmosphere at two different solvents (H2O and 0.5% NaOH) system. The catalysts were characterized by XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), HR-TEM (High-resolution transmission electron microscopy)and BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) experiments analysis. Incorporation of molybdenum has increased the average pore sizes (from 5.74 to 5.82 nm) into SBA-15 which was confirmed by BET experiment analysis. XPS results revealed that spinel structures are detectable after the thermal treatment of Mo/SBA-15, which could be attributed mainly to the Mo3O4 formation. The highest crude bio-oil yield (46 wt.% oil yield) and lowest gas formation were observed in subcritical water condition than 0.5% NaOH (44 wt. % oil yield) system with 10 wt.% synthesized catalyst loading. The GC-MS analysis of the produced bio-oil shows that the major products in crude bio-oil were phenolic type monomers such as guaiacols (40.99% peak area), catechols (36.45% peak area) and traces of nitrogenized compounds in subcritical water. Alternatively, catechols (77.90 % peak area) were the main product in the basic solvent system. This is might be due to demethylation of guaiacols to low molecular weight phenolic monomers like catechol. Phenols (5 % peak area) were also produced as a result of the hydrogenation reaction of either guaiacols or catechols. The effective delignification nature associated with Mo/SBA-15 catalyst resulted in significant reduction in the oxygen-carbon ratio (O/C) from 0.32 to 0.29 in basic subcritical water. The decrease in oxygen content and increase in carbon and hydrogen contents increased the calorific value of the produced bio-oil, with higher heating value (HHV) of 32.09 MJ/Kg.

Seong Jae Park graduated from Chonnam National University, Republic of South Korea in the second half of 2015 and majored in Chemical Engineering. Before graduation, he studied the principle, characteristics and sensitivity mechanism of fluorescent pH sensor. He is interested in the field of environment. After graduation, he worked as a Research Assistant at the same university and entered the Graduate School of Environmental Energy Engineering in 2017. For the first time, he conducted a variety of studies on soil and red clay in the field of soil environment. Through this knowledge, we are actively studying the upgrading of lignin through the catalytic transformations using red-mud, activated red-mud and various other catalysts.

Improving the quality of bio-oil from hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process is very important in bio-refinery. Because, the produced bio-oil cannot be utilized as fuel-oil due to its deteriorated properties such as high viscosity, low stability, strong acidity and lower heating value. In this study, we selected red-mud (RM) and activated red-mud (ARM) to investigate their catalytic efficiency on upgrading of crude bio-oils produced from HTL process. Experiments were performed in a batch reactor at 350°C and bio-oils were analyzed by GC–MS (Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry) and elemental analysis. The catalysts were characterized by BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) and SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) analysis. The GC–MS results showed that crude bio-oil composition was altered to the upgraded bio-oil when ARM was used in the catalytic upgrading process. Hydrogen-carbon (H/C) ratios escalated from 0.08 to 0.19 % and higher heating values (HHVs) of bio- oils obtained from the crude bio-oil increased from 28.93 to 31.09 MJ/kg in the presence of 10 wt% calcined ARM catalyst. The results of upgraded crude bio-oil with ARM catalysts indicated that this catalyst favored the oxygen removal process (from 24.09 to 21.01%) and reduced the nitrogen content (from 0.15 to 0.08 %) in the upgraded bio-oil. Moreover, it is worth noting that the major components in the upgraded bio-oil were mostly aromatic compounds which might be ascribed to the further depolymerization of oligomers (derived from lignin) during upgrading process. From different results, it was also noticeable that, the light component proportion of ARM upgraded bio-oils was higher than that of bio-oils obtained with RM and without catalyst.

Debajyoti Kundu is currently pursuing PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. He is working in the area of food biotechnology and bioenergy production from food wastes.

Rapid industrialization, modern civilization and heavy load in transport sector leads to the huge consumption of crude oil. In 2013, 89 million barrels crude oil was consumed in world basis and it is expected to rise to 115 million barrels/day in 2040, which represent about 63% increment of total liquid fuel consumption. It is predicted that only in the transport sector consumption of fuel will be increased by 57% in 2040. Inevitable depletion of fossil fuel and increment of oil price forced us to search alternative sources for the production of non-petroleum based fuel. Utilization of agro-residual substrate rather than any food substrate for liquid fuel (ethanol) production is a promising approach which can also nullify the food vs fuel controversy. Fruit wastes are good sources of fermentable soluble sugars, cellulose and hemicellulose. This suitable composition coupled with abundant supply makes fruit waste as an excellent source for ethanol production. Among all the fruits, citrus fruits holds top position in production and financial aspects. More than 115 million tonnes per annum citrus fruits are produced worldwide. After US and Brazil, India is the third largest producer of citrus. Approximately 30 million tons of citrus fruits are used for juice production from which 50% are generated as waste. North-east region in India is associated with large-scale production of citrus fruits, which leads to accumulation of their waste. Biotechnological conversion of these wastes not only facilitate ethanol production but also provide safe environmental practices. In this regard an attempt has been made to exploit the citrus fruit waste for the production of bioethanol. In this present work partial simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (pSSF) (with yeast as inoculum) was carried out for bioethanol production. Different factors viz. solid loading, incubation time, temperature, inoculum volume and inoculum’s age were taken into consideration for bioethanol production, where 167.76 g/L bioethanol was obtained. After fermentation, residual solid also can be valorized as biomanure for application in farmyard practices.

Mohan Das is currently pursuing PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. He is working in the area of Food Biotechnology.

Globally, the demand of energy from sustainable sources is a growing issue. Energy generation from petroleum and coal is gradually depleting due to scarcity of natural resources. On the contrary, generation of waste bioresources are increasing at an alarming rate. Apart from this, generation of organic waste leads to the production of Greenhouse Gases like methane in abundance. To combat such global issues conversion of waste biomasses to the production of energy in a sustainable manner is a smart choice for the researchers. In this scenario, the present research work focuses on utilization of waste broken rice for bioethanol production. The USP of this work is the utilization of starchy rich damaged grains which makes the process cost effective as the price of broken rice is ten times less than the fine grade rice. Production of bioethanol gets initiated by liquefaction of broken rice to release the components of starch (amylose and amylopectin) into the media. Thereafter, simultaneous conversion to reducing sugar and its utilization through fermentation occurs for bioethanol production. This integrative approach reduces a step and also the processing time to 15 h. The reason behind such reduction in processing time is due to the use of a novel hyper-active α-amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens used for saccharification. For optimizing the process, process parameters viz., solid loading, inoculum volume, enzyme concentration, incubation period were considered. After performing the experiments an ethanol concentration of 13.6% (v/v) was obtained. Bioethanol produced bears the potential to replace gasoline and can be used in food industries. Further, research has also been carried out using the residual fermented biomass (also known as dried distillery grain with solubles) for its value-added application in other industries.

Pintu Buda is currently pursuing PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel produced from a range of feedstocks such as vegetable oils, animal fats, microbial lipids etc. Although a wide variety of substrates have been exploited but still majority of the production is met with vegetable oils and hence is not cost competitive in comparison with the conventional petro-diesel. The reason behind the high cost may be attributed to the expensive vegetable oils which accounts to 70-80% of the production cost. In this scenario, waste trap grease (WTG) obtained from the grease traps of restaurants can be utilized for biodiesel production. An added advantage of channelizing grease for biodiesel production will meet the objective of recapture and recycling of waste streams produced from food industries and at the same time will resolve the food vs. fuel issue. In the present work, the waste trap grease was initially characterized to probe into its applicability towards biodiesel production. Transesterification of waste trap grease to biodiesel was carried by lipase which was produced from Rhizopus oryzae. Selection of various transesterification process parameters such as temperature, reaction time, oil to solvent molar ratio and agitation speed was performed to study its effect on biodiesel production through one variable at a time approach (OVAT). The maximum conversion of grease to biodiesel was observed at temperature (40°C), incubation time (48 h), oil to methanol ratio (1:2, v/v) and agitation speed (200 rpm) respectively. The above study indicated the potential of WTG as a viable biodiesel feedstock owing to its high lipid (42% w/w) and free fatty acids (63.94% w/w) content.