Efficacy, economics, and sustainability of bio-based insecticides from thermochemical biorefineries

Abstract

The efficacy, economics, and sustainability of a bio-based insecticide produced from the catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass is reported. This synergistic approach to fuels and agrochemical production can improve both energy and food sectors.

Biological conversion of cyclic ketones from catalytic fast pyrolysis with Pseudomonas putida KT2440

“…A viscous liquid comprising 64.0 wt% of the bio-oil input remained in the column as the sixth fraction, the properties of which are described elsewhere. 13 Minor losses (3.2 wt%) of the bio-oil input material were observed during the bench-scale batch distillation, as expected. Notably, the compounds found in fractions 4 and 5 can be used directly as bioinsecticides or valorized to value-added polymer building blocks.…”

“…Notably, the compounds found in fractions 4 and 5 can be used directly as bioinsecticides or valorized to value-added polymer building blocks. 13,19 However, valorization of the compounds found in the third distillate fraction remains relatively unexplored. The cyclic ketone-rich fraction (F3) was subjected to two further rounds of distillation, until an F3 fraction containing 70.2 wt% (g/g) cyclic ketones (83.5 wt% of identified metabolites) was obtained (Figure 1C, Supplementary File 1).…”

“…7,8 However, the costs associated with fractionation and hydrotreating can increase the overall cost of CFP-based biofuel production 9 A common approach for reducing biofuel production costs is to separate valuable lower-molecular weight coproducts for sale alongside the biofuels. [10][11][12][13] This practice is common throughout the petroleum refining industry, where 15% of crude oil dedicated to petrochemical production accounts for nearly 50% of the profits. 14,15 Additionally, since many valuable petroleum-derived coproducts are produced via oxygen addition to hydrocarbon components, but biomass-derived coproducts already exist as oxygenates, atom efficiency can be improved by obtaining these chemicals from biomass-based sources instead of petroleum-based processes, decreasing the production costs associated with these commodities.…”

Bioconversion of wastewater-derived cresols to methyl muconic acids for use in performance-advantaged bioproducts

“…Separations could be implemented to purify the aromatic substrate before biological conversion, and separation of specific components has been previously explored. 4,39 An alternative approach to additional separation is biological funneling and catabolism of additional wastewater components followed by upgrading of the aromatic compounds. Our previous efforts demonstrated metabolic engineering of KT2440 to consume the majority of CFP stream components without supplementation at an extent of conversion of 89%, and demonstrated that aromatic compounds, including cresols, can be converted to a mixture of MMs at a 90% yield.…”

Spermidine carbon dots enhance thermotolerance by modulating photosynthesis and cellular redox homeostasis in tomato

“…It is estimated that approximately 9.6 billion people will need more food by 2050, and feeding them will require agricultural production to increase by 25–70%. 1,2 More worryingly, about 700 million people in the world were hungry in 2020. Meanwhile, the global temperatures will increase by 1 to 4 °C by 2100, which will lead to a remarkable decline in plant growth, these changes are a vital threat to global crop growth and production, especially in subtropical Asia and the tropics.…”