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Iakovou G, Ipsakis D, Triantafyllidis KS. Kraft lignin fast (catalytic) pyrolysis for the production of high value-added chemicals (HVACs): A techno-economic screening of valorization pathways. Environ Res 2024; 248:118205. [PMID: 38242421 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
This paper presents a techno-economic analysis (TEA) of six (6) scenarios of the kraft lignin catalytic (CFP) and thermal (TFP) fast pyrolysis towards the production of high value-added chemicals (HVACs) and electric energy, based on experimental data from our previous work. ASPEN PLUS was used to simulate the proposed plants/scenarios and retrofitted custom-based economic models that were developed in Microsoft EXCEL. The results showed that scenarios 1 and 2 in which the produced bio-oil is used as fuel for electricity production are the most cost-deficient. On the other hand, scenarios 3 and 6 that utilize the light bio-oil fraction to recover distinct HVACs, along with the use of heavier fractions for electricity production, have showed a significant investment viability, since profitability measures are high. Furthermore, scenarios 4 and 5 that refer to the recovery of mixtures (fractions) of HVACs, are considered an intermediate investment option due to the reduced cost of separation. All the proposed scenarios have a substantial total capital investment (TCI) which ranges from 135 MM€ (scenario 4) to 380 MM€ (scenario 6) with a Lang factor of 6.08, which shows that the CAPEX results are within reason. As far as the comparison of lignin CFP and TFP goes, it is shown that lignin CFP leads to the production of aromatic and phenolic monomers which have a substantial market value, while TFP can lead to important value-added chemicals with a lower OPEX than CFP. A target of return of investment (ROI) of 32% has been set for the selling prices of the HVACs. In summary, this study aims at listing and assessing a set of economic indicators for industrial size plants that use lignin CFP and TFP towards the production of high value-added chemicals and energy production and to provide simulation data for comparative analysis of three bio-oil separation methods, i.e. distillation, liquid-liquid extraction and moving bed chromatography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios Iakovou
- Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54214, Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Dimitris Ipsakis
- Industrial, Energy and Environmental Systems Lab (IEESL), School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, 73100, Chania, Greece
| | - Konstantinos S Triantafyllidis
- Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54214, Thessaloniki, Greece; Chemical Process & Energy Resources Institute, Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas, 6(th) Km Harilaou-Thermi Road, 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece.
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Agrawal R, Bhagia S, Satlewal A, Ragauskas AJ. Urban mining from biomass, brine, sewage sludge, phosphogypsum and e-waste for reducing the environmental pollution: Current status of availability, potential, and technologies with a focus on LCA and TEA. Environ Res 2023; 224:115523. [PMID: 36805896 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.115523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2022] [Revised: 02/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Rapid industrialization, improved standards of living, growing economies and ever-increasing population has led to the unprecedented exploitation of the finite and non-renewable resources of minerals in past years. It was observed that out of 100 BMT of raw materials processed annually only 10% is recycled back. This has resulted in a strenuous burden on natural or primary resources of minerals (such as ores) having limited availability. Moreover, severe environmental concerns have been raised by the huge piles of waste generated at landfill sites. To resolve these issues, 'Urban Mining' from waste or secondary resources in a Circular Economy' concept is the only sustainable solution. The objective of this review is to critically examine the availability, elemental composition, and the market potential of the selected secondary resources such as lignocellulosic/algal biomass, desalination water, sewage sludge, phosphogypsum, and e-waste for minerals sequestration. This review showed that, secondary resources have potential to partially replace the minerals required in different sectors such as macro and microelements in agriculture, rare earth elements (REEs) in electrical and electronics industry, metals in manufacturing sector and precious elements such as gold and platinum in ornamental industry. Further, inputs from the selected life cycle analysis (LCA) & techno economic analysis (TEA) were discussed which showed that although, urban mining has a potential to reduce the greenhouse gaseous (GHG) emissions in a sustainable manner however, process improvements through innovative, novel and cost-effective pathways are essentially required for its large-scale deployment at industrial scale in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruchi Agrawal
- TERI-Deakin Nanobiotechnology Centre, Sustainable Agriculture Division, TERI Gram, The Energy and Resources Institute, Gwal Pahari, Gurugram, Haryana, 122103, India.
| | - Samarthya Bhagia
- Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
| | - Alok Satlewal
- Department of Bioenergy, DBT-IOC Centre for Advanced Bioenergy Research, Research and Development Centre, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Faridabad, Haryana, 121007, India.
| | - Arthur J Ragauskas
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1512 Middle Dr, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA; Center for Renewable Carbon, Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, The University of Tennessee Institution of Agriculture, 2506 Jacob Dr, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA; Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 1 Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA.
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Nagarajan D, Chen CY, Ariyadasa TU, Lee DJ, Chang JS. Macroalgal biomass as a potential resource for lactic acid fermentation. Chemosphere 2022; 309:136694. [PMID: 36206920 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Revised: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Lactic acid is an essential platform chemical with various applications in the chemicals, food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Currently, the demand for lactic acid is driven by the role of lactic acid as the starting material for the production of bioplastic polylactide. Microbial fermentation for lactic acid production is favored due to the production of enantiomerically pure lactic acid required for polylactide synthesis, as opposed to the racemic mixture obtained via chemical synthesis. The utilization of first-generation feedstock for commercial lactic acid production is challenged by feedstock costs and sustainability issues. Macroalgae are photosynthetic benthic aquatic plants that contribute tremendously towards carbon capture with subsequent carbon-rich biomass production. Macroalgae are commercially cultivated to extract hydrocolloids, and recent studies have focused on applying biomass as a fermentation feedstock. This review provides comprehensive information on the design and development of sustainable and cost-effective, algae-based lactic acid production. The central carbon regulation in lactic acid bacteria and the metabolism of seaweed-derived sugars are described. An exhaustive compilation of lactic acid fermentation of macroalgae hydrolysates revealed that lactic acid bacteria can effectively ferment the mixture of sugars present in the hydrolysate with comparable yields. The environmental impacts and economic prospects of macroalgal lactic acid are analyzed. Valorization of the vast amounts of spent macroalgal biomass residue post hydrocolloid extraction in a biorefinery is a viable strategy for cost-effective lactic acid production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillirani Nagarajan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
| | - Chun-Yen Chen
- University Center for Bioscience and Biotechnology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Research Center for Circular Economy, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Thilini U Ariyadasa
- Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Moratuwa, 10400, Sri Lanka
| | - Duu-Jong Lee
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tang, Hong Kong
| | - Jo-Shu Chang
- Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Tunghai University, Taichung, 407, Taiwan; Research Center for Smart Sustainable Circular Economy, Tunghai University, Taichung, 407, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, Chung-Li, 32003, Taiwan.
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