Current status and future prospects of biological routes to bio-based products using raw materials, wastes, and residues as renewable resources

The production of six regionally important cellulosic biomass feedstocks, including pine, eucalyptus, unmanaged hardwoods, forest residues, switchgrass, and sweet sorghum, was analyzed using consistent life cycle methodologies and system boundaries to identify feedstocks with the lowest cost and environmental impacts. Supply chain analysis models were created for each feedstock calculating costs and supply chain requirements for the production 453,592 dry tonnes of biomass per year. Cradle-to-gate environmental impacts from these supply systems were quantified for nine mid-point indicators using SimaPro 7.2 LCA software. Conversion of grassland to managed forest for bioenergy resulted in large reductions in GHG emissions, due to carbon sequestration associated with direct land use change. However, converting forests to energy cropland resulted in large increases in GHG emissions. Production of forest-based feedstocks for biofuels resulted in lower delivered cost, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and lower overall environmental impacts than the studied agricultural feedstocks. Forest residues had the lowest environmental impact and delivered cost per dry tonne. Using forest-based biomass feedstocks instead of agricultural feedstocks would result in lower cradle-to-gate environmental impacts and delivered biomass costs for biofuel production in the southern U.S.

Biomass feedstock can be used for the production of biofuels or biobased chemicals to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Earlier studies about the techno‐economic performance of biofuel or biobased chemical production varied in biomass feedstock, conversion process, and other techno‐economic assumptions. This made a fair comparison between different industrial processing pathways difficult. The aim of this study is to quantify uniformly the factory‐gate production costs and the GHG emission intensity of biobased ethanol, ethylene, 1,3‐propanediol (PDO), and succinic acid, and to compare them with each other and their respective fossil equivalent products. Brazilian sugarcane and eucalyptus are used as biomass feedstock in this study. A uniform approach is applied to determine the production costs and GHG emission intensity of biobased products, taking into account feedstock supply, biobased product yield, capital investment, energy, labor, maintenance, and processing inputs. Economic performance and net avoided GHG emissions of biobased chemicals depend on various uncertain factors, so this study pays particular attention to uncertainty by means of a Monte Carlo analysis. A sensitivity analysis is also performed. As there is uncertainty associated with the parameters used for biobased product yield, feedstock cost, fixed capital investment, industrial scale, and energy costs, the results are presented in ranges. The 60% confidence interval ranges of the biobased product production costs are 0.64–1.10 US$ kg−1 ethanol, 1.18–2.05 US$ kg−1 ethylene, 1.37–2.40 US$ kg−1 1,3‐PDO, and 1.91–2.57 US$ kg−1 succinic acid. The cost ranges of all biobased products partly or completely overlap with the ranges of the production costs of the fossil equivalent products. The results show that sugarcane‐based 1,3‐PDO and to a lesser extent succinic acid have the highest potential benefit. The ranges of GHG emission reduction are 1.29–2.16, 3.37–4.12, 2.54–5.91, and 0.47–5.22 CO2eq kg−1 biobased product for ethanol, ethylene, 1,3‐PDO, and succinic acid respectively. Considering the potential GHG emission reduction and profit per hectare, the pathways using sugarcane score are generally better than eucalyptus feedstock due to the high yield of sugarcane in Brazil. Overall, it was not possible to choose a clear winner, (a) because the best performing biobased product strongly depends on the chosen metric, and (b) because of the large ranges found, especially for PDO and succinic acid, independent of the chosen metric. To quantify the performance better, more data are required regarding the biobased product yield, equipment costs, and energy consumption of biobased industrial pathways, but also about the production costs and GHG emission intensity of fossil‐equivalent products. © 2019 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biorefining published by Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The U.S. Bioeconomy: Charting a Course for a Resilient and Competitive Future

An overview of green processes and technologies, biobased chemicals and products for industrial applications

Science and Business Developments

Biofuels, Bioenergy and the Bioeconomy in North and South.

INTRODUCTION TO RENEWABLE RESOURCES IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY PLANTS AS BIOREACTORS: PRODUCTION AND USE OF PLANT-DERIVED SECONDARY METABOLITES, ENZYMES, AND PHARMACEUTICAL PROTEINS Introduction Renewable Resources in the Chemical Industry Fine Chemicals and Drugs Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals WORLD AGRICULTURAL CAPACITY Petrochemicals Today Renewable Chemicals Agricultural Production Supplying the Chemical Industry Summary LOGISTICS OF RENEWABLE RAW MATERIALS Introduction Determining Factors for the Logistics of Industrial Utilization Chains for Renewable Raw Materials Processing Steps of Renewable Raw Material Logistic Chains Design and Planning of Renewable Raw Material Logistic Chains Summary and Conclusions EXISTING VALUE CHAINS Industrial Biotechnology Today - Main Products, Substrates, and Raw Materials White Biotechnology - Future Products from Today's Raw Materials? Effects of Feedstock and Process Technology onthe Production Cost of Chemicals New Raw Materials for White Biotechnology Case Studies: Lignocellulose as Raw Material and Intermediates Case Studies: SCOs as Raw Material and Intermediate Conclusions FUTURE BIOREFINERIES Introduction Current and Future Outlook for Biofuels Chemicals from Renewable Resources The Role of Clean Technologies in Biorefineries The Size of Future Biorefineries Conclusions ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE INDUSTRIAL USE OF RENEWABLE RAW MATERIALS Introduction Biorefinery Industry and the Development of EU Rural Areas From Analytic to Systemic Modeling Methodology of the Biorefinery Industry Stakeholders' Perceptions of Biorefinery in Rural Areas: Issues and Lessons from the South of Italy Concluding Remarks BIOBASED PRODUCTS - MARKET NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES Introduction Definition Basic Technology for the Conversion of Renewable Raw Materials Classes of Bioproducts Current Status Outlook and Perspectives LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS OF BIOBASED PRODUCTS Introduction: Why Life-Cycle Analysis of Biobased Products? The Methodological Framework of LCA Specific Methodological Aspects for LCA for Biobased Products LCA Studies for Biobased Products: Major Findings and Insights Conclusions CONCLUSION

Bioprospecting microbial hosts to valorize lignocellulose biomass – Environmental perspectives and value-added bioproducts

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing an unprecedented global health crisis and socio-economic upheavel and led to severe consequences well beyond previous crises of the last decades, which mostly were related to financial issues. COVID-19 caused sudden economic, psychological and parlty physical shocks to markets, social sub-systems (e.g. education, food, health), and people. As a direct consequence, today, food security and resilience are at stake. The effects on biobased products and bioenergy (in particular, biofuels) vary and their role in the recovery (with possible changes in customer’s behavior) could differ as well. The linkages of the bioeconomy to post-pandemic recovery with regard to impacts and possible responses are currently being discussed by many institutions and initiatives, even though there is currently limited data on the impact of the pandemic on the bioeconomy. This report presents preliminary results based on initial analysis from the authors on knowledge synthesis on the EU bioeconomy system, trends, and perspectives of the future development towards 2030 and 2050.

The development of new biotechnology methods can solve public concerns especially on global warming and environmental pollution. This can be achieved by using integrated biorefinery bioprocesses to introduce biomass as a very best renewable source, to replace petroleum and to develop new bio-based products in an industrial scale. Genetic engineering of organisms and improving bioreactors is currently substantial approaches to increase biorefinery yields. The use of various feedstocks in new-generation biorefinery requires a flexible route with the lowest limitations. Biological approaches have attracted substantial interest in the conversion of biomass into biomaterial and biofuel. As a result of increase in valuable products due to the biomass conversion, the interest on biorefinery is higher than that of petroleum. Biotechnology is an integral aspect of new biology. Through genetic and metabolic engineering, bio-based products can be generated from living cells such as microalgae, bacteria and fungi. Greenhouse gas emission and CO2 can be released from the biomass feedstocks by chemical and thermochemical processes, while it can be reduced by increasing the use of biotechnological approach in biorefinery system. In order to manage our waste and at the same time produce valuable products, biotechnology approaches are very favorable and applicable than conventional methods. Collectively, the integration of biological routes with conventional routes can decrease operation cost by using waste materials, preventing environmental pollution, and, therefore, producing valuable by-products.

The modern concept of “biorefinery” is dominantly based on chemical pulp mills to create more value than cellulose pulp fibres, and energy from the dissolved lignins and hemicelluloses. This concept is characterized by the conversion of biomass into various bio-based products. It includes thermochemical processes such as gasification and fast pyrolysis. In thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) mills, the feedstock available to the gasification-based biorefinery is significant, including logging residues, bark, fibre material rejects, bio-sludges and other available fuels such as peat, recycled wood and paper products. On the other hand, mechanical pulping processes consume a great amount of electricity, which may account for up to 40% of the total pulp production cost. The huge amount of purchased electricity can be compensated for by self-production of electricity from gasification, or the involved cost can be compensated for by extra revenue from bio-transport fuel production. This work is to study co-production of bio-automotive fuels, bio-power, and steam via gasification of the waste biomass streams in the context of the mechanical pulp industry. Ethanol and substitute natural gas (SNG) are chosen to be the bio-transport fuels in the study. The production processes of biomass-to-ethanol, SNG, together with heat and power, are simulated with Aspen Plus. Based on the model, the techno-economic analysis is made to evaluate the profitability of bio-transport fuel production when the process is integrated into a TMP mill.The mathematical modelling starts from biomass gasification. Dual fluidized bed gasifier (DFBG) is chosen for syngas production. From the model, the yield and composition of the syngas and the contents of tar and char can be calculated. The model has been evaluated against the experimental results measured on a 150KWth Mid Sweden University (MIUN) DFBG. As a reasonable result, the tar content in the syngas decreases with the gasification temperature and the steam to biomass (S/B) ratio. The biomass moisture content is a key parameter for a DFBG to be operated and maintained at a high gasification temperature. The model suggests that it is difficult to keep the gasification temperature above 850 ℃ when the biomass moisture content is higher than 15.0 wt.%. Thus, a certain amount of biomass or product gas needs to be added in the combustor to provide sufficient heat for biomass devolatilization and steam reforming.For ethanol production, a stand-alone thermo-chemical process is designed and simulated. The techno-economic assessment is made in terms of ethanol yield, synthesis selectivity, carbon and CO conversion efficiencies, and ethanol production cost. The calculated results show that major contributions to the production cost are from biomass feedstock and syngas cleaning. A biomass-to-ethanol plant should be built over 200 MW.In TMP mills, wood and biomass residues are commonly utilized for electricity and steam production through an associated CHP plant. This CHP plant is here designed to be replaced by a biomass-integrated gasification combined cycle (BIGCC) plant or a biomass-to-SNG (BtSNG) plant including an associated heat & power centre. Implementing BIGCC/BtSNG in a mechanical pulp production line might improve the profitability of a TMP mill and also help to commercialize the BIGCC/BtSNG technologies by taking into account of some key issues such as, biomass availability, heat utilization etc.. In this work, the mathematical models of TMP+BIGCC and TMP+BtSNG are respectively built up to study three cases: 1) scaling of the TMP+BtSNG mill (or adding more forest biomass logging residues in the gasifier for TMP+BIGCC); 2) adding the reject fibres in the gasifier; 3) decreasing the TMP SEC by up to 50%.The profitability from the TMP+BtSNG mill is analyzed in comparison with the TMP+BIGCC mill. As a major conclusion, the scale of the TMP+BIGCC/BtSNG mill, the prices of electricity and SNG are three strong factors for the implementation of BIGCC/BtSNG in a TMP mill. A BtSNG plant associated to a TMP mill should be built in a scale above 100 MW in biomass thermal input. Comparing to the case of TMP+BIGCC, the NR and IRR of TMP+BtSNG are much lower. Political instruments to support commercialization of bio-transport fuel are necessary.

A distinguishing feature of the sustainable bioeconomy is multi-product biomass processing in the form of a closed circulation of matter and energy, in addition to a life cycle assessment that includes end-of-life options of a product and restitution of the environment. This approach is in-line with the good practice principles of sustainable development. However, the market of bio-based products grows faster than its legal regulation. Gaps in the regulations pertaining to standardisation, certification and labelling mean that bio-based products and their processing technologies may not adhere to the guidelines of sustainable development (“greenwashing”). In the European Union, the only standard addressing criteria of sustainable development with respect to bio-based products is the standard CEN-TC411 EN 16751:2016. In the context of anaerobic fermentation and its products as an option of the end-of-life phase of a bio-base product, the applicable regulations are contained in the technical report CEN-TC411 TR 16957:2016, Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, and several intermediate regulations concerning the utilisation of water, energy efficiency, agricultural production and processing, circulation of nitrogen in the environment, storage and disposal, and others.

Multi-scale exploration of the technical, economic, and environmental dimensions of bio-based chemical production

Towards aromatics from biomass: Prospective Life Cycle Assessment of bio-based aniline

Sustainability, industrial ecology, eco-efficiency, and green chemistry are guiding the development of the next generation of materials, products, and processes. Biodegradable plastics and bio-based polymer products based on annually renewable agricultural and biomass feedstock can form the basis for a portfolio of sustainable, eco-efficient products that can compete and capture markets currently dominated by products based exclusively on petroleum feedstock. Natural/Biofiber composites (Bio-Composites) are emerging as a viable alternative to glass fiber reinforced composites especially in automotive and building product applications. The combination of biofibers such as kenaf, hemp, flax, jute, henequen, pineapple leaf fiber, and sisal with polymer matrices from both nonrenewable and renewable resources to produce composite materials that are competitive with synthetic composites requires special attention, i.e., biofiber–matrix interface and novel processing. Natural fiber–reinforced polypropylene composites have attained commercial attraction in automotive industries. Natural fiber—polypropylene or natural fiber—polyester composites are not sufficiently eco-friendly because of the petroleum-based source and the nonbiodegradable nature of the polymer matrix. Using natural fibers with polymers based on renewable resources will allow many environmental issues to be solved. By embedding biofibers with renewable resource–based biopolymers such as cellulosic plastics; polylactides; starch plastics; polyhydroxyalkanoates (bacterial polyesters); and soy-based plastics, the so-called green bio-composites are continuously being developed.