Depletion Of Fossil Resources Research Articles

An example to illustrate the role of R&D in the emerging industrial hydrogen economy

The global warming awareness, the reduction of fossil resources, the demand for well-being of industrialized societies, geopolitical upheavals and tomorrow perhaps the biodiversity crisis are powerful drivers to forster a change in the means of production and use of energy. In this context, the idea of a “hydrogen economy” emerged at the turn of the century (Brandon and Kurban, 2017) around the relatively new notion of hydrogen as an “energy carrier”. However, all concepts even if very appealing, become concrete achievements. Conditions for the emergence of an “industrial sector” (Stoffaës, 1980) need to be fulfilled, i.e. at least a viable market, robust technologies for production and use technologies and logistics. In the following, the authors attempt to illustrate the conditions for the emergence of an industrial hydrogen-energy sector, in particular the role of R&D that underpins this process. There is first a cognitive barrier. The physico-chemical properties of hydrogen are particularly well known, and means are available to produce it in large quantities (Brandon and Kurban, 2017). The risks are also known but are well under control in the industry. Socio-economic actors may find this reassuring. The second element is societal. Mature industrial sectors represent considerable fixed capital. Even if research has already shown that it would be possible to produce hydrogen differently, there is little reason for these well-established sectors to evolve without additional incentives. The societal “drivers” mentioned above (climate change, depletion of fossil resources, etc.) have prompted Europe to take increasingly restrictive measures on the consumption of fossil resources (carbon tax, anti-pollution standards). The effect is a paradigm shift, particularly for the mobility sector, which is now investing heavily in electric and hydrogen vehicles. The third element is techno-economic. If hydrogen appears as a possibility, it is because preliminary R&D work has developed key technologies: fuel cells, very high pressure tanks and created “demonstrators”. But the production technologies and the supply chain need to be developed. European regulations require the provision of hydrogen (produced in a renewable way) up to 3T per day every 150 km by 2030 (European parliament; 2021), which suggests a tight network of the territory. One option is local production either through water electrolysis or biomass gasification. QAIROS Energies identified a business model that can link significant local hydrogen use to favorable agricultural conditions. Technologies are available to grow the biomass, to pyrolyze/ gasify it and to turn the gases in hydrogen (Cao et al., 2020), which offers a range of possible processes. The economic equilibrium requires that the gasification yield be 75-125 kg H2 / ton of biomass with a minimum consumption of utilities (water, energy, consumables,...) and requires also as little residues and toxics as possible, the gas treatment costs being quickly prohibitive. Based on these constraints, QAIROS-Energies set up an R&D team aggregating skills in agronomy to select the most suitable crops, biomass pre-treatment (drying, grinding) and pyrogasification and gas treatment. The objective is to remove the obstacles and to demonstrate the feasibility of the project. For the pyro-gasification and gas treatment steps, a pilot was quickly set up (Figure 4) showing a certain resemblance to the future industrial units, which goes beyond academic habits.

Enabling rural electrification through a grid-interactive microgrid system with photovoltaic-battery integration

The increasing electrification of daily life and the growing number of sensitive or critical loads have led to a rising demand for high-quality electricity and overall energy consumption. Customer demands for increased generating capacity and efficient energy production, distribution, and utilization are driven by the global increase in energy consumption and the depletion of fossil resources. The concept of the microgrid holds promise for addressing significant issues arising from the widespread use of distributed generation in distribution networks. To ensure successful microgrid operation, an appropriate control strategy is essential. MATLAB and other software can be used for simulating and evaluating various load models. This article provides an overview of the previous research on microgrids.

Techno-economic and environmental sustainability analysis of filament-winding versus pultrusion based glass-fiber composite technologies.

In the era of sustainable development, glass-fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites have made their way into modern engineering, construction, and building sectors due to their exponential characteristics. While considering the rapid growth and development in this sector, this research has assessed the relative environmental and techno-economic sustainability of two sorts of GFRP composite technologies: (a) filament winding and (b) pultrusion to effectively appraise their application, merits, and demerits. This study will help low-middle-income countries like Pakistan toward cleaner production, environmental management, and sustainable industrial development. The techno-economic sustainability is determined by using life cycle costing and techno-economic indicators, i.e., benefit-cost (B/C) ratio, net present value (NVP), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period. The B/C ratio depicts the relationship between the relative cost and benefits of a technology, and NVP expresses the calculated present value of the future payback stream of a technological investment, while the IRR is an effective techno-economic indicators which can predict the efficacy of an investment, and the payback period is the time forecast for a technology to recover its investments. These techno-economic analytics showed that the net life-cycle cost performance, B/C ratio, and IRR are 5%, 7%, and 15% higher respectively for filament winding-based GFRP technology than the pultrusion-based manufacturing technology, whereas overall net life cycle benefits are about 80% greater for filament winding. Similarly, the payback time is shorter for filament winding compared to pultrusion. The environmental sustainability is determined, by employing a relative life cycle analysis (LCA) for both technologies. The system boundary for the study is "gate to gate," i.e., manufacturing phase, where these technologies are assessed for their environmental externalities. The functional unit of "1kg finished product," i.e., manufactured by pultrusion and filament winding technology, and eight life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) categories; climate change potential (CCP), terrestrial eco-toxicity potential (TETP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), fossil resource depletion potential (FDP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), particulate matter (PM) formation, and water consumption potential (WCP) have been selected. The significant ecological impact scores are determined in the categories of CCP (kg CO2 eq.) as 10.8E + 00 and 5.01E + 00 and ETP (kg. 2,4-D eq.) as 1.26E-02 and 9.47E-03 and FDP (kg Oil eq.) as 3.96E + 00 and 2.59E + 00 for filament winding and pultrusion-based GFRP technologies, respectively. These LCIA results depicted that the ecological performance of filament winding technology is specifically better than pultrusion technology in the categories of EP, PM, and WCP, while, for all other life cycle impact categories, the pultrusion technology has depicted significantly lower impact potential and is environmentally more sustainable. The outcomes of this research will be greatly assistive for researchers, developers, manufacturers, and policymakers to effectively appraise the externalities and selection of a more sustainable GFRP technology.

Functional polyesters via ring-opening copolymerization of α–hydroxy–γ–butyrolactone and ε-caprolactone: La[N(SiMe3)2]3 as an efficient coordination-insertion catalyst

The growing awareness of environmental concerns and the fossil resources depletion have raised the need to develop sustainable and degradable polymers such as aliphatic polyesters. γ-Lactone-based polyesters are of great interest today due to their ability to depolymerize. The introduction of functional groups appeared also useful to tune the properties of such polyesters. This can be addressed by the use of functional monomers such as the sugar-based α-hydroxy-γ-butyrolactone (HBL). In this study, the synthesis of random copolyesters of HBL and ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) was investigated via ring-opening copolymerization in the presence of La[N(SiMe3)2]3 as a catalyst. High polymerization temperature (80 °C) was required for fast and high monomer conversions. The characterization of the copolyesters and kinetic investigations provided better insight into the polymerization mechanism and formation of various HBL monomer units (cyclic, linear and branched). La[N(SiMe3)2]3 catalyst afforded high HBL conversion ratio (over 85 %) for the copolymerization reaction enabling the synthesis of copolyesters with a ratio of HBL units ranging from 9 to 63 %.

Novel Challenges on the Catalytic Synthesis of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from Real Feedstocks

The depletion of fossil resources makes the transition towards renewable ones more urgent. For this purpose, the synthesis of strategic platform-chemicals, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), represents a fundamental challenge for the development of a feasible bio-refinery. HMF perfectly deals with this necessity, because it can be obtained from the hexose fraction of biomass. Thanks to its high reactivity, it can be exploited for the synthesis of renewable monomers, solvents, and bio-fuels. Sustainable HMF synthesis requires the use of waste biomasses, rather than model compounds such as monosaccharides or polysaccharides, making its production more economically advantageous from an industrial perspective. However, the production of HMF from real feedstocks generally suffers from scarce selectivity, due to their complex chemical composition and HMF instability. On this basis, different strategies have been adopted to maximize the HMF yield. Under this perspective, the properties of the catalytic system, as well as the choice of a suitable solvent and the addition of an eventual pretreatment of the biomass, represent key aspects of the optimization of HMF synthesis. On this basis, the present review summarizes and critically discusses the most recent and attractive strategies for HMF production from real feedstocks, focusing on the smartest catalytic systems and the overall sustainability of the adopted reaction conditions.

Catalytic Hydropyrolysis of Lignin for the Preparation of Cyclic Hydrocarbon-Based Biofuels

The demand for biomass utilization is increasing because of the depletion of fossil resources that are non-renewable in nature. Lignin is the second most renewable organic carbon source, but currently it has limited scope for application in the chemical and fuel industries. Lignin is a side product of the paper and pulp, sugar, and 2G bioethanol industries. Many research groups are working on the value-addition of lignin. Among the lignin depolymerization methods, catalytic hydropyrolysis is gaining attention and is playing a crucial role in developing biorefinery. The hydropyrolysis of lignin was conducted at a higher temperature in the presence of H2. The hydropyrolysis of lignin results in the selective formation of non-oxygenated cyclic hydrocarbons in a shorter reaction time. It is possible to use the cyclic hydrocarbons directly as a fuel or they can be blended with conventional gasoline. This review focuses on the prior art of pyrolysis and hydropyrolysis of lignin. Possible products of lignin hydropyrolysis and suitable synthetic routes to obtain non-oxygenated cyclic hydrocarbons are also discussed. The influence of various process parameters, such as type of reactor, metal catalyst, nature of catalytic supports, reaction temperature, and H2 pressure are discussed with regard to the hydropyrolysis of lignin to achieve good selectivity of cyclic hydrocarbons.

A Review of the Emulsification Method for Alternative Fuels Used in Diesel Engines

Diesel engines are one of the most popular reciprocating engines on the market today owing to their great thermal efficiency and dependability in energy conversion. Growing concerns about the depletion of fossil resources, fluctuating prices in the market, and environmental issues have prompted the search for renewable fuels with higher efficiencies compared with conventional fuels. Fuel derived from vegetable oils and animal fats has comparable characteristics to diesel fuel, but is renewable, despite being manufactured from various feedstocks. Nevertheless, the direct use of these fuels is strictly prohibited because it will result in many issues in the engine, affecting engine performance and durability, as well as emissions. To make biofuels as efficient as fossil fuels, it is essential to alter their characteristics. The use of emulsification techniques to obtain emulsified biofuels is one of the many ways to modify the fuel characteristics. Emulsification techniques allow for a decrease in viscosity and an increase in atomisation during injection. To date, emulsification techniques have been studied less thoroughly for use with vegetable oils and animal fats. This article will discuss the preparation and characterisation of emulsified biofuels made from vegetable oils and animal fats. This current paper reviewed research studies carried out on different emulsification techniques for biofuels used in diesel engines.

Interfacial Wettability Regulation Enables One-Step Upcycling of the End-of-Life Polymeric Microfiltration Membrane

Polymeric membranes, which are typically synthesized from fossil-based polymers, will reach their end of life (EOL) and then be replaced, due to the inevitable accumulation of membrane fouling even though the periodic cleaning is applied. The conventional disposal methods of the EOL membranes are landfilling and incineration, which will lead to additional carbon emission and fossil resource depletion. Herein, we proposed a surfactant-regulated interfacial polymerization strategy, by adding sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) in the piperazine (PIP) aqueous solution, for the one-step upcycling of the EOL polymeric microfiltration membrane to obtain a thin-film composite polyamide (PA) nanofiltration (NF) membrane. Revealed by the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation analysis and molecular dynamics simulation, the presence of SDBS reduced interfacial tension (IFT) and regulated interfacial wettability, thereby facilitating adequate and uniform uptake of PIP monomers. The resulting upcycled NF membrane with 4 critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SDBS addition exhibited a favorable pure water permeance (20.1 ± 0.6 L m–2 h–1 bar–1) and a satisfactory Na2SO4 rejection of 98.6 ± 0.4% owing to the formation of a continuous PA layer with high cross-linking degree (89.3 ± 0.5%). The Na2SO4 permeability of the 4 CMC upcycled NF membrane was more than 1 magnitude lower than that of the upcycled NF membrane without SDBS addition. This study provides a facile, rapid, and cost-effective method for the one-step upcycling of EOL polymeric membranes, which thus improves the sustainability of membrane technology.

Improving coating and prepressing performance of soy protein-based adhesive by constructing a dual-bionic topological structure

Developing efficient and sustainable green adhesives to replace aldehyde-based adhesives has become an important strategy to address fossil resources depletion, environmental pollution, and clean production. Soy protein is a raw material-rich, renewable biomass material that can be used to prepare environmental-friendly adhesives. However, the weak interfacial adhesion of soy protein-based (SP) adhesives leads to poor coating and prepressing properties, thus limiting the large-scale application of the SP adhesives. In this study, a bionic "bond-stitch" molecular topology was designed and constructed in SP matrix to prepare a strong multifunctional adhesive. Inspiring by the strong adhesion of mussel, urushiol (U) with natural catechol structure and acrylamide were polymerized in situ into poly(urushiol-co-acrylamide) (PUAM) as stitching polymer, which was entangled with the SP network to form a bond-stitch molecular topology. The hydroxyapatite was used to construct an organic-inorganic hybridization in the SP matrix mimicking the tough cohesion of oysters. The resultant dual-bionic SP adhesive exhibited excellent coating performance, prepressing intensity (0.45 MPa), flame retardancy (the limiting oxygen index was 39.4%), mildew resistance (10 d), low volatile organic compounds release, and good antibacterial activity (the antibacterial rates against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans were 89.55%, 78.59%, and 99.91%, respectively.). The wet shear strength of the prepared SP adhesive was increased from 0.35 MPa to 1.17 MPa. This study provides a new strategy for the design and preparation of high-performance, sustainable, low-carbon footprint bio-adhesives and composites.

Threshold effects of renewable energy consumption by source in U.S. economy

• We established a threshold model for data from REC by source in U.S. • Nonlinear relationship b/w REC by source and GDP. • The effect of REC on GDP depends REC by source used. • Effect is positive if U.S. use REC by source above a threshold. • Effect is negative if U.S. use REC by source below a threshold. With the climate challenges and the depletion of fossil resources, the renewable energy option seems to be a wise choice; this renews the debate on the relationship between renewable energy sources consumption and economic growth. This study relies on a threshold effects regression model to explore and evaluate the non-linear relationship between the series in the United States during the period 1984Q1–2021Q3. Using the threshold detection method proposed by Hansen and Seo (2002), the results of this method show that the renewable energy sources consumption/GDP relationship is non-linear. They also reveal, for all the different sources, an optimal renewable energy sources consumption/GDP threshold of 5.535; 2.715; 1.988 and 8.925% for BIO, GEO, Solar and HPower, respectively. The results indicate the presence of mixed directions of causality between the renewable energy sources consumption and GDP, using the Threshold Vector Error Correction model (TVECM). The findings of this paper suggest that if the United States aim to realize positive economic growth from their investment to renewable energy, they need to surpass a certain threshold of renewable energy sources consumption.

Green-in-green biohybrids as transient biotriboelectric nanogenerators

Green self-powered devices based on biodegradable materials have attracted widespread attention. Here, we propose the construction of the transient biotriboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) using green-in-green bionanocompoites. The green-in-green nanocomposites, cellulose nanocrystal (CNC)/polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), are prepared with a high-pressure molding method. The CNC promotes the degradation and enhances the dielectric constant of CNC/PHB. It further allows for the significant improvement of the triboelectric output of CNC/PHB-based TENG. The voltage output and current output of CNC/PHB-based TENG are 5.7 and 12.5 times higher than those of pristine PHB-based TENG, respectively. Also, the bio-TENG exhibits admirable signal stability in over 20000 cycles. Despite the high hardness of CNC/PHB, a soft but simple-structured arch sensor is successfully assembled using CNC/PHB-based TENG. It can attain the precise real-time monitoring of various human motions. This study may provide new insights into the design/fabrication of green functional materials, and initiate the next wave of innovations in eco-friendly self-powered devices.

Frontier science for industrial biotechnology

With the increasing concerns on depletion of fossil resources and climate challenges, industrial biotechnology is considered a promising alternative to address the pressing issues including energy and resource shortage as well as climate change, so as to achieve sustainable development of the society. Owning to the theoretical advances, technological breakthroughs, and multidisciplinary convergence, the past two decades have seen rapid development of industrial biotechnology driven by the disruptive advances of life sciences, the merging of multidisciplinary technologies and concepts, and the commercial and industrial demands. This article briefly illustrated the history and the recent breakthroughs of industrial biotechnology and prospected a long-term perspective for its future direction.

Polymer Composites in Green Technology: A Review

Rapid depletion of fossil resources, high demand for energy and global warming together encourage us to look for renewable polymer items with low carbon. ‘Green monomers’ could be derived from bio-refineries, biowastes or renewable oil, plastics-waste. The polymer obtained from such green monomers are renewable and can display good characteristics equivalent to the traditional polymers or sometimes better than the existing polymers. Green technology is a global movement to create vibrant and sustainable cities. Green technology addresses social, economic and environmental values and creates a green economy. Green technology is based on the process of using waste materials for beneficial purposes by managing, and recycling the waste. This technology involves the waste treatment, incineration and management. Many materials prepared form green composites are cost effective in-terms less consumption of electricity, and water, at the same time a significant decrease in CO2 emission, and solid waste generation. The present review presents the effective techniques, difficulties, applications & information on bio-polymers, natural fiber reinforcements, properties of the different green composites and recommendations.

Determination of Rational Values of the Parameters of an Unventilated Trombe Wall Using the Method of Multicriteria Optimization for the Climatic Conditions of Uzbekistan

The energy demands of the construction sector are expected to multiply over the next decade, driven by population growth, rising incomes, accelerating urbanization and changes in consumption patterns. This process is also dramatically affected by the depletion of fossil resources and high specific energy consumption for heating buildings. Under these conditions, it is necessary to develop comprehensive energy efficiency measures in these areas to meet the energy demands of residential, commercial and administrative buildings. In this work, using the methods of degree-day, multicriteria optimization and regression analysis, the optimal combinations of factors for an unventilated Trombe wall are determined: the orientation of the building, the thermal support of the translucent enclosure of the unventilated Trombe wall and the ratio of the surface of the unventilated Trombe wall to the surface of the building facade. The calculations were performed for three levels of thermal protection for buildings in the climatic conditions of the city of Tashkent (Uzbekistan). A typical one-storey three-room house was chosen as the object. As the calculation results show, within the considered range of values, the relative dominances of the factors are as follows: orientation - 5.37%; thermal support of translucent barriers - 72.95%; and area ratio - 21.68%. Using the optimal values, the specific energy consumption of buildings for heating can be reduced from an average of 12.9-14.8% to 52.6-65.3%. Additionally, the CO2 emissions are reduced from 5621.8 kg to 12435.5 kg per year. The discounted payback period, depending on the investment, ranges from 18.7 to 40.9 years. Regression equations are proposed for three levels of thermal protection of the considered object, making it possible to determine the specific energy consumption for heating.

Engineering synthetic microbial consortium for cadaverine biosynthesis from glycerol.

1,5-pentanediamine (cadaverine) is a C5 platform chemical, also an important raw material for bio-polyamide PA5X. With increasing concerns about the depletion of fossil resources and global environmental protection, cadaverine bio-production has attracted more attentions. Here, a microbial consortium consisting of Corynebacterium glutamicum cgl-FDK and Escherichia coli BL-ABST-Spy was constructed to de novo synthesize cadaverine utilizing glycerol as the sole carbon resource. The glycerol utilization pathway was initially constructed in C. glutamicum cgl-FDK to produce lysine from glycerol. Then, the pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) biosynthesis pathway and SpyTag/SpyCatcher protein-ligation system for lysine decarboxylase (CadA) and cadaverine-lysine antiporter protein (CadB) were introduced into E. coli BL-ABST-Spy to synthesize cadaverine from lysine. Furthermore, the fermentation conditions of microbial consortium were optimized and the cadaverine production reached 9.3g/L with glycerol as the sole carbon source. This work provides a promising strategy for efficiently producing cadaverine from glycerol with an artificial microbial consortium.

Relevance of sludge management practices and substance modeling in LCA for decision-making: A case study in Chile

Reducing the costs and environmental impacts of sludge management is currently one of the main challenges faced by the wastewater treatment sector. Anaerobic digestion followed by land application has been widely endorsed as a low-impact approach to sludge management, mainly due to the recovery of biogas and the valorization of digestate. However, the influence that the operational conditions of digestion and the management practices of land application can have over the environmental performance of this strategy has been scarcely studied. Furthermore, most of the previous studies dealing with the environmental assessment of this strategy use simplified methods for estimating emissions after land application of sludge, and the lack of systematic accounting of these environmental flows might significantly affect the validity and comparability of the results. Therefore, this work performed an assessment of the influence that 4 relevant practices can have over the environmental impacts of this approach in the context of south-central Chile, providing a mass-balanced inventory for nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals in soil based on the ad hoc implementation of models developed for agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). A total of 16 scenarios were defined and 10 impact categories were evaluated, with the results showing that the environmental impacts were greatly influenced by the variables under study. Overall, solids retention time and the inclusion of pre-treatment mainly influenced climate change, fossil resource depletion and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, while sludge application rate influenced the eutrophication, water ecotoxicity and human toxicity categories. The type of crop in the receiving soil was a significant driver behind the differences observed in the human toxicity category, which showed the highest variation and relevance in the final weighted result. The results clearly highlight the relevance of using context specific data as well as of quantifying the fate of nutrients, metals and heavy metals during LCA of sludge management. Based on the results, some policy and decision-making recommendations are formulated to optimize the environmental performance of sludge digestion and land application.

Continuous extraction of naphthenic acid from low-grade oil using 1,6-hexanediol in an ammonia solution

The efficient use of low-quality crude oil is one short-term solution to overcoming the imminent energy crisis due to the depletion of fossil resources. Several methods have been developed to upgrade low-quality oil, the most important part of which is the removal of acidic components. High-acid crudes can be converted to lower-acid crudes using various methods based on physical and chemical principles. In this contribution, we suggest an efficient and economical method based on liquid–liquid extraction. The candidate solvent was screened from a thermodynamic analysis in a previous study, and the additives and process conditions were adjusted according to experimental results. As the final solvent choice, 1,6-hexanediol in an aqueous ammonia solution showed the best performance with the minimal amount of solvent (weight fraction of 0.6). Experiments showed that the proposed solvent can be used to treat real crude oil used in the industry. A continuous operation scheme was suggested with solvent regeneration and recycling combined with separation of the acidic residue. The results showed that the proposed extraction process can reduce 85% of the acidic component in high-acid crudes and that repeated use of the solvent is possible.

Combined assessment of injection timing and exhaust gas recirculation strategy on the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of algae biodiesel powered diesel engine

ABSTRACT Currently, the vehicle industry is confronted with issues such as the depletion of fossil resources, an increase in crude oil costs, and stricter emission regulatory standards. In this scenario, the use of viable alternatives to diesel as a fuel is necessary. This study discusses the combined effects of injection time and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on neat algal biodiesel-powered diesel engines. The transesterification technique was used to extract algal oil methyl ester (AOME), and the majority of the fuel qualities of AOME were quite comparable to diesel. The practicality of neat AOME for diesel engines operating at varied injection timings such as 19º BTDC, 23º BTDC, and 27º BTDC was investigated. The results of the tests revealed that advanced injection timing has a 3.02% higher BTE than standard fuel injection timing at maximum load for the AOME. Compared to other injection timings at full load, the neat AOME at 27º BTDC has better combustion characteristics and lower exhaust emissions. At full load, however, NOx emissions were higher. NOx emission was reduced by 35.24% when AOME was burned at 27º BTDC combined with 10% exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) compared to 27º BTDC without EGR.

Biobased Polymer Composites: A Review

Global environmental concerns, as well as the rapid depletion of non-renewable fossil fuel-based resources, have prompted research into the development of sustainable, environmentally friendly, and biodegradable materials for use in a variety of high-end applications. To mitigate the environmental setbacks caused by nonbiodegradable materials, the development of biocomposites with improved mechanical performance is gradually gaining momentum. Natural fibers such as hemp, flax, and sisal have been well incorporated into biocomposite development. Nonetheless, the impact of functional moieties in their life cycle cannot be underestimated. In this review paper, a detailed discussion of the characteristics and components of biocomposites is presented. The treatment of composite materials (alkali and acetylation), as well as several manufacturing processes (hand layup, 3D printing, extrusion, etc.) and the applications of biocomposites, which are not limited to the aerospace industry, packaging, biomedicine, etc., are presented. Biocomposites with excellent durability, performance, serviceability, and reliability must be produced to expand their applications.

Anticorrosive epoxy coatings from direct epoxidation of bioethanol fractionated lignin

The development of lignin-based anticorrosive epoxy coatings for steel protection is beneficial for both alleviating the fossil resource depletion and value-added utilization of lignin but remains a challenge due to the inherent heterogeneous structure of lignin. Here, we selectively extract the low molecular weight (MW) fraction of a crop residue-derived enzymatic hydrolysis lignin (EHL) through a bioethanol fractionation process and prepare epoxy resin by direct epoxidation of the bioethanol fractionated lignin (BFL). The coatings are then fabricated using 20–100 wt% of BFL-based epoxy resin (LEp) as the commercial epoxy resin substitute. The low MW and high p-hydroxyphenyl content of the BFL offer high solubility and good workability for BFL and LEp during epoxidation and coating production, respectively. Lignin-based coatings with 20–40 wt% LEp exhibit good adhesion property (5B) and superior corrosion resistance, compared to the commercial epoxy coating. Although coating with high LEp concentrations (i.e., 60–100 wt%) resulted in decreased adhesion strength, the coating with 100 wt% LEp still displayed corrosion protection performance comparable to that of the commercial epoxy coating. Overall, this study provides a simple and effective approach to converting lignin to epoxy resins for a wide variety of surface coating applications.