Organic/metallic component analysis of lignocellulosic biomass: A thermochemical-perspective-based study on rice and bamboo waste.

Thermochemical treatment is significantly impacted by the physiochemical properties of lignocellulosic biomass. Traditional characterization methods lack granularity, requiring advanced analytical techniques for comprehensive biomass characterization. This study analyzed elemental composition and their distribution in untreated rice husk, rice straw, and bamboo chips at micron and sub-micron scales. Results reveal significant variations in composition and spatial distribution of metallic components among agro-residues. Thermogravimetric analysis shows divergent decomposition patterns, while spectroscopic analysis indicates structural complexities and distinct silica content. Surface mapping illustrates prevalent silica and alkali metals on rice husk and rice straw. Atomic force microscopy depicts distinctive surface morphologies, with rice straw exhibiting heightened roughness due to silica bodies. Inductively coupled plasma-mass-spectrometry identified the abundance of alkali and alkaline earth metals in rice waste. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry elucidates elemental spatial localization, affirming heterogeneous distribution across rice waste and homogenous distribution across bamboo waste. This study bridges the gap between biomass composition and optimized thermochemical conversion outcomes.

Common operational issues and possible solutions for sustainable biosurfactant production from lignocellulosic feedstock.

Surfactants are compounds with high surface activity and emulsifying property. These compounds find application in food, medical, pharmaceutical, and petroleum industries, as well as in agriculture, bioremediation, cleaning, cosmetics, and personal care product formulations. Due to their widespread use and environmental persistence, ensuring biodegradability and sustainability is necessary so as not to harm the environment. Biosurfactants, i.e., surfactants of plant or microbial origin produced from lignocellulosic feedstock, perform better than their petrochemically derived counterparts on the scale of net-carbon-negativity. Although many biosurfactants are commercially available, their high cost of production justifies their application only in expensive pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. Besides, the annual number of new biosurfactant compounds reported is less, compared to that of chemical surfactants. Multiple operational issues persist in the biosurfactant value chain. In this review, we have categorized some of these issues based on their relative position in the value chain - hurdles occurring during planning, upstream processes, production stage, and downstream processes - alongside plausible solutions. Moreover, we have presented the available paths forward for this industry in terms of process development and integrated pretreatment, combining conventional tried-and-tested strategies, such as reactor designing and statistical optimization with cutting-edge technologies including metabolic modeling and artificial intelligence. The development of techno-economically feasible biosurfactant production processes would be instrumental in the complete substitution of petrochemical surfactants, rather than mere supplementation.

Biochar production and its environmental applications: Recent developments and machine learning insights.

Biochar production through thermochemical processing is a sustainable biomass conversion and waste management approach. However, commercializing biochar faces challenges requiring further research and development to maximize its potential for addressing environmental concerns and promoting sustainable resource management. This comprehensive review presents the state-of-the-art in biochar production, emphasizing quantitative yield and qualitative properties with varying feedstocks. It discusses the technology readiness level and commercialization status of different production strategies, highlighting their environmental and economic impacts. The review focuses on integrating machine learning algorithms for process control and optimization in biochar production, improving efficiency. Additionally, it explores biochar's environmental applications, including soil amendment, carbon sequestration, and wastewater treatment, showcasing recent advancements and case studies. Advances in biochar technologies and their environmental benefits in various sectors are discussed herein.

Biomass torrefaction: An overview on process parameters, economic and environmental aspects and recent advancements.

Torrefaction is one of the pretreatment processes used to overcome the disadvantages of using biomass as a fuel such as low energy density, high moisture, and oxygen contents. The torrefaction increases energy density, hydrophobicity, and reduces grinding energy requirement of biomass. This paper provides a review of the recent advancements in the torrefaction process. The discussion will cover the environmental and economic aspects of the torrefaction process and torrefied pellets, and various applications of torrefaction products. The cost competitiveness of torrefied pellets is one of the major concern of the torrefaction process. Integrating the torrefaction with other processes makes it economically more viable than as a standalone process.

Anaerobic batch conversion of pine wood torrefaction condensate.

Organic compound rich torrefaction condensate, owing to their high water content and acidic nature, have yet to be exploited for practical application. In this study, microbial conversion of torrefaction condensate from pine wood through anaerobic batch digestion (AD) to produce methane was evaluated. Torrefaction condensate exhibited high methane potentials in the range of 430-492mL/g volatile solids (VS) and 430-460mL/gVS under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, respectively. Owing to the changes in the composition, the methane yields differed with the torrefaction condensates produced at different temperatures (225, 275 and 300°C), with a maximum of 492±18mL/gVS with the condensate produced at 300°C under mesophilic condition. The cyclic batch AD experiments showed that 0.1VSsubstrate:VSinoculum is optimum, whereas the higher substrate loading (0.2-0.5) resulted in a reversible inhibition of the methane production. The results suggest that torrefaction condensate could be practically valorized through AD.