From Cardoon Lignocellulosic Biomass to Bio-1,4 Butanediol: An Integrated Biorefinery Model

Abstract

Biorefineries are novel, productive models that are aimed at producing biobased alternatives to many fossil-based products. Biomass supply and overall energy consumptions are important issues determining the overall biorefinery sustainability. Low-profit lands appear to be a potential option for the sustainable production of raw materials without competition with the food chain. Cardoon particularly matches these characteristics, thanks to the rapid growth and the economy of the cultivation and harvesting steps. An integrated biorefinery processing 60 kton/y cardoon lignocellulosic biomass for the production of 1,4-butanediol (bio-BDO) is presented and discussed in this work. After designing the biorefinery flowsheet, the mass and energy balances were calculated. The results indicated that the energy recovery system has been designed to almost completely cover the entire energy requirement of the BDO production process. Despite the lower supply of electricity, the energy recovery system can cover around 78% of the total electricity demand. Instead, the thermal energy recovery system was able to satisfy the overall demand of the sugar production process entirely, while BDO purification columns require high-pressure steam. The thermal energy recovery system can cover around 83% of the total thermal demand. Finally, a cradle-to-gate simplified environmental assessment was conducted in order to evaluate the environmental impact of the process in terms of carbon footprint. The carbon footprint value calculated for the entire production process of BDO was 2.82 kgCO2eq/kgBDO. The cultivation phase accounted for 1.94 kgCO2eq/kgBDO, the transport had very little impact, only for 0.067 kgCO2eq/kgBDO, while the biorefinery phase contributes for 0.813 kgCO2eq/kgBDO.

Ammonia versus Water Elimination in the Reaction of Diols with Urea under Metal Oxide Catalysis

“…Urea can be considered an activated form of carbon dioxide [Δ G 0 f,urea (s) = – 79.7 kcal mol –1 vs Δ G 0 f,CO 2 (g) = −94.25 kcal mol –1 ] and can find applications in polymers and synthetic chemistry, besides its large use (>180 Mt/y) as fertilizer in agriculture. In this paper, we discuss its reaction with biosourced diols, namely, 1,3-propanediol (PDO, derived from bioglycerol) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO, produced by fermentation of C6 sugars). In principle, urea can react with an R–OH moiety and undergo two different reactions leading to the formation of a C–O (Scheme a, well-documented process) or a C–N bond (Scheme b, an unknown reaction so far) under specific conditions and using the suitable catalyst.…”

Polymers without Petrochemicals: Sustainable Routes to Conventional Monomers

“…In 2020, a biorefinery modelled by De Bari et al . estimated the conversion of 60 kt annum –1 residual lignocellulosic biomass to 8 kt annum –1 of 1,4-BDO, with the energy generated from secondary streams capable of sustaining 78% of the total electricity demand . 2,3-BDO is produced naturally by various microorganisms and exists as a mixture of three stereoisomers. − No non-natural pathways have been proposed, but wild-type microorganisms such as K.…”

Bio-Based Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(butylene sebacate) Blends with Improved Toughness

“…Another promising candidate for improving the flexibility and toughness of PLA may be poly(butylene sebacate) (PBSe), a bio-based and biodegradable aliphatic polyester that can be synthesized by the polycondensation of sebacic acid (Se) with 1,4-butanediol (BDO) [ 43 ]. The bio-based character of PBSe comes from the fact that both of its precursor monomers can be obtained from renewable sources, Se being produced by the alkaline pyrolysis of castor oil [ 44 ] and BDO being obtainable via the microbial fermentation of sugars from renewable sources [ 45 ]. Similar to PLA, PBSe is a biodegradable polymer in composting conditions [ 46 ].…”