Publications related to Biorefinery

Design and Synthesis of Bio-based Amphiphiles from Lignocellulosic Biomass

In the pursuit of a carbon-neutral chemical industry, minimizing fossil feedstock consumption while integrating renewable carbon sources is imperative. Surfactants, inherently amphiphilic, pose challenges in separation and recovery processes. Given their e ...

EPFL2024

Development of Sustainable Carbohydrate-Based Solvents by Acetal Functionalisation of Biomass

Anastasiia Komarova

Organic solvents are ubiquitous in industrial and domestic applications from the production of pharmaceuticals to household consumer products. The negative impact of most traditional solvents, especially aprotic types, on the environment, health, and safet ...

EPFL2024

Comparative techno-economic and energy analyses of integrated biorefinery processes of furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural from biomass residue

François Maréchal

For efficient feedstock and energy utilization, integrated biorefinery processes are applied to furfural production from bagasse to convert furfural residue into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF)-an important intermediate building block for the production of v ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2023

Integrated production of urea and nitric acid in the pulp industry: techno-economic and environmental analysis of black liquor gasification-based processes

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Shivom Sharma, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The pursuit of alternative energy sources for the nitrogen fertilizers sector has recently earned renewed interest due to increasing concerns regarding the world dependence on non-renewable energy resources and also motivated by the more stringent environm ...

2022

Decision support for the design of integrated biorefineries

Julia Granacher

A shift from fossil-based energy and products to more sustainable alternatives is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and associated climate change impacts. Biomass represents a promising alternative for providing fuels and carbon-based products w ...

EPFL2023

Ni-Based Nanoparticles Catalyzed Hydrodeoxygenation of Ketones, Ethers, and Phenols to (Cyclo) Aliphatic Compounds

Paul Joseph Dyson, Mingyang Liu, Xiang Li, Yelin Hu, Matthias Beller

Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation is of prime importance in the valorization of biomass-based feedstocks to produce essential chemicals and fuels. To carry out this process in a more cost-effective and sustainable manner, the use of 3D-metal-based nanostructure ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

Lignin, from biomass waste to sustainable materials for food packaging, antiviral coatings and agriculture

Alice Boarino

Our planet has been challenged for years by our reckless use of fossil fuels, which has led to the ongoing climate change and energy crisis. The transition to the use of renewable alternative sources has now became urgent and inevitable. The valorization o ...

EPFL2023

Model-based scale-up of a continuously operated consolidated bioprocess based on a microbial consortium for the production of ethanol

David Beat Dempfle

This work demonstrated that consolidated bioprocessing is a promising concept for conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol at industrial scale. CBP offers great cost saving potential, is feasible to be operated continuously and may be scaled up due to exten ...

EPFL2022

Hydro-processing of biomass using novel metal-organic framework (MOF)/polymer composite catalysts

Vikram Vinayak Karve

Generating value, in the form of functional chemicals, from biomass is a critical need of today. It is expected that replacing petroleum with biomass as the source of many commodity and fine chemicals can lead the transition away from a fossil-fuel based e ...

EPFL2022

Toward waste valorization by converting bioethanol production residues into nanoparticles and nanocomposite films

Xun Liao, Muhammad Farooq

A "waste-valorization" approach was developed to transform recalcitrant hydrolysis lignin (HL) from secondgeneration bioethanol production into multifunctional bio-based products. The hydrolysis lignin (HL) was extracted with aqueous acetone, yielding two ...

ELSEVIER2021

Guidelines for performing lignin-first biorefining

Jeremy Luterbacher, Feng Wang

The valorisation of the plant biopolymer lignin is now recognised as essential to enabling the economic viability of the lignocellulosic biorefining industry. In this context, the "lignin-first" biorefining approach, in which lignin valorisation is conside ...

2021

Developing structure-oriented models for enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass

Jessica Charlène Rohrbach

With the unsustainable use of fossil fuels increasing strains on human institutions and ecosystems, the development of a renewable energy alternative is of paramount importance. Second generation biorefineries, based on the production of fuels and chemical ...

EPFL2021

Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment of a biorefinery utilizing reductive catalytic fractionation

Jeremy Luterbacher

Reductive catalytic fractionation (RCF) is a promising approach to fractionate lignocellulose and convert lignin to a narrow product slate. To guide research towards commercialization, cost and sustainability must be considered. Here we report a techno-eco ...

2021

Robust metal-organic frameworks for dry and wet biogas upgrading

Kyriakos Stylianou, Arunraj Chidambaram

Biofuels are considered as viable, sustainable and renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. One amongst them is biomethane which has emerged as one of the valuable contributors in facilitating the essential transition towards green energy sources. Industria ...

ELSEVIER2021

A study on synergies of combined pulp and fuel production

François Maréchal, Julia Granacher, Tuong-Van Nguyen, Erina Clare Mcdonald

To limit climate change by reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, a transition away from fossil fuels is required. Biofuels represent a promising low carbon alternative for sectors that are hard to electrify, such as aviation. The integration of bio ref ...

2021

Conversion of vine shoots into bioethanol and chemicals: Prospective LCA of biorefinery concept

Edgard Gnansounou, Elia Mercedes Ruiz Pachon, Prasad Vithalrao Mandade

Vine shoots are the viticulture residues generated in high quantities after the grapevine pruning. They are lignocellulosic material poorly exploited as feedstock. These wastes are often dumped in the agriculture fields or burnt. Due to their availability ...

Elsevier2020

Exergy assessment and techno-economic optimization of bioethanol production routes

François Maréchal

Currently, electricity generation and second-generation ethanol production from lignocellulosic feedstocks represent technological alternatives in the bioenergy sector. Nevertheless, the introduction of new production processes denotes a real challenge due ...

2020

Aldehyde-Assisted Lignocellulose Fractionation Provides Unique Lignin Oligomers for the Design of Tunable Polyurethane Bioresins

Jeremy Luterbacher, Jean Thierry C Behaghel de Bueren, Florent Emmanuel Héroguel, Raymond Gérard Buser, Chloé Wegmann

Thanks to chemical stabilization, aldehyde-assisted fractionation (AAF) of lignocellulosic biomass has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the production of largely uncondensed lignin. Depolymerization of AAF lignin via ether deavage provides aromatic ...

American Chemical Society2020

Predicting thermodynamic performance of biomass gasification plants by applying surrogate models

François Maréchal, Julia Granacher, Maziar Kermani, Ayse Dilan Celebi

Surplus electricity production is anticipated to further increase during summer periods due to the inevitable high penetration of renewable energy sources in our energy system. Potential solutions for sustainable and efficient energy storage need to be exp ...

2020

Techno-economic evaluation of biomass-to-fuels with solid-oxide electrolyzer

François Maréchal, Jan Van Herle, Ligang Wang, Hanfei Zhang

Thermochemical biomass-to-fuel conversion requires an increased hydrogen concentration in the syngas derived from gasification, which is currently achieved by water–gas-shift reaction and CO2 removal. State-of-the-art biomass-to-fuels convert less than hal ...

2020