Life cycle assessment of lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment methods in biofuel production

Prasad, A. T. Navin; Sotenko, Maria V.; Blenkinsopp, Thomas J.; Coles, Stuart R.

doi:10.1007/s11367-015-0985-5

Cited by 107 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Pretreatment is required to overcome the lignocellulose recalcitrance and to increase accessibility of the polysaccharides to the degrading enzymes (Torres, van der Weijde, Dolstra, Visser, & Trindade, ). Various methods exist, deploying (combinations of) physical, physicochemical, chemical and biological approaches (Cao, Sun, Liu, Yin, & Wu, ; da Costa Sousa, Chundawat, Balan, & Dale, ; Murnen et al, ; Prasad, Sotenko, Blenkinsopp, & Coles, ). These processes and techniques differ in efficiency and material/energy demands and have various advantages and drawbacks with respect to production of inhibitory by‐products and further process steps (Achinas & Euverink, ; Sims, Taylor, Jack, & Mabee, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of ethanol production from miscanthus: A comparison of production pathways at two European sites

et al. 2018

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Lignocellulosic ethanol represents a renewable alternative to petrol. Miscanthus, a perennial plant that grows on marginal land, is characterized by efficient use of resources and is considered a promising source of lignocellulosic biomass. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to determine the environmental impacts of ethanol production from miscanthus grown on marginal land in Great Britain (Aberystwyth) and an average-yield site in Germany (Stuttgart; functional unit: 1 GJ). As the conversion process has substantial influence on the overall environmental performance, the comparison examined three pretreatment options for miscanthus. Overall, results indicate lower impacts for the production in Stuttgart in comparison with the corresponding pathways in Aberystwyth across the analysed categories. Disparities between the sites were mainly attributed to differences in biomass yield. When comparing the conversion options, liquid hot water treatment resulted in the lowest impacts, followed by dilute sulphuric acid. Dilute sodium hydroxide pretreatment represented the least favourable option. Site-dependent variation in biomass composition and degradability did not have substantial influence on the environmental performance of the analysed pathways. Additionally, implications of replacing petrol with miscanthus ethanol were examined. Ethanol derived from miscanthus resulted in lower impacts with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, fossil resource depletion, natural land transformation and ozone depletion. However, for other categories, including toxicity, eutrophication and agricultural land occupation, net scores were substantially higher than for the fossil reference. Nevertheless, the results indicate that miscanthus ethanol produced via dilute acid and liquid hot water treatment at the site in Stuttgart has the potential to comply with the requirements of the European Renewable energy directive for greenhouse gas emission reduction. For ethanol production at the marginal site, carbon sequestration needs to be considered in order to meet the requirements for greenhouse gas mitigation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle assessment of ethanol production from miscanthus: A comparison of production pathways at two European sites

et al. 2018

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“…Due to increasing population and industrialization, global energy demand has increased steadily over the last few decades, and currently, about 80 % of this energy is derived from non-renewable fossil fuel supplies [1]. Transportation sector is one of the major consumers of the fossil fuels in the United States [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dry-grind processing using amylase corn and superior yeast to reduce the exogenous enzyme requirements in bioethanol production

Kumar

Singh

2016

Biotechnol Biofuels

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BackgroundConventional corn dry-grind ethanol production process requires exogenous alpha and glucoamylases enzymes to breakdown starch into glucose, which is fermented to ethanol by yeast. This study evaluates the potential use of new genetically engineered corn and yeast, which can eliminate or minimize the use of these external enzymes, improve the economics and process efficiencies, and simplify the process. An approach of in situ ethanol removal during fermentation was also investigated for its potential to improve the efficiency of high-solid fermentation, which can significantly reduce the downstream ethanol and co-product recovery cost.ResultsThe fermentation of amylase corn (producing endogenous α-amylase) using conventional yeast and no addition of exogenous α-amylase resulted in ethanol concentration of 4.1 % higher compared to control treatment (conventional corn using exogenous α-amylase). Conventional corn processed with exogenous α-amylase and superior yeast (producing glucoamylase or GA) with no exogenous glucoamylase addition resulted in ethanol concentration similar to control treatment (conventional yeast with exogenous glucoamylase addition). Combination of amylase corn and superior yeast required only 25 % of recommended glucoamylase dose to complete fermentation and achieve ethanol concentration and yield similar to control treatment (conventional corn with exogenous α-amylase, conventional yeast with exogenous glucoamylase). Use of superior yeast with 50 % GA addition resulted in similar increases in yield for conventional or amylase corn of approximately 7 % compared to that of control treatment. Combination of amylase corn, superior yeast, and in situ ethanol removal resulted in a process that allowed complete fermentation of 40 % slurry solids with only 50 % of exogenous GA enzyme requirements and 64.6 % higher ethanol yield compared to that of conventional process.ConclusionsUse of amylase corn and superior yeast in the dry-grind processing industry can reduce the total external enzyme usage by more than 80 %, and combining their use with in situ removal of ethanol during fermentation allows efficient high-solid fermentation.

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“…The increasing global demands for fossil fuels and their widespread consumption, leading to environmental degradation, have been of major concerns. More specifically, the world-wide energy consumption is estimated to increase by 49% from 2007 to 2035, alongside the growth in economy, expanding population, and social pressure (Cheah et al, 2016a;Prasad et al, 2016). India and China account for a major proportion of this drastic increase .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pretreatment methods for lignocellulosic biofuels production: current advances, challenges and future prospects

et al. 2020

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Keywords:Lignocellulosic biomass has been recognized as promising feedstock for biofuels production. However, the high cost of pretreatment is one of the major challenges hindering large-scale production of biofuels from these abundant, indigenouslyavailable, and economic feedstock. In addition to high capital and operation cost, high water consumption is also regarded as a challenge unfavorably affecting the pretreatment performance. In the present review, advances in lignocellulose pretreatment technologies for biofuels production are reviewed and critically discussed. Moreover, the challenges faced and future research needs are addressed especially in optimization of operating parameters and assessment of total cost of biofuel production from lignocellulose biomass at large scale by using different pretreatment methods. Such information would pave the way for industrial-scale lignocellulosic biofuels production. Overall, it is important to ensure that throughout lignocellulosic bioethanol production processes, favorable features such as maximal energy saving, waste recycling, wastewater recycling, recovery of materials, and biorefinery approach are considered.

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Life cycle assessment of lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment methods in biofuel production

Cited by 107 publications

References 16 publications

Life cycle assessment of ethanol production from miscanthus: A comparison of production pathways at two European sites

Life cycle assessment of ethanol production from miscanthus: A comparison of production pathways at two European sites

Dry-grind processing using amylase corn and superior yeast to reduce the exogenous enzyme requirements in bioethanol production

Pretreatment methods for lignocellulosic biofuels production: current advances, challenges and future prospects

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