Biofuel industries

Municipal Solid Waste. In the eady 1990s, the need to dispose of municipal soHd waste (MSW) ia U.S. cities has created a biofuels industry because there is Htde or no other recourse (107). Landfills and garbage dumps are being phased out ia many communities. Combustion of MSW, ie, mass-bum systems, and RDF, ie, refuse-derived fuel, has become an estabhshed waste disposal—energy recovery industry. 

Similar actions are to be observed in other parts of the world, increasingly with the objective of diversifying the fuel supply in the transport sector. Examples are in Brazil, which has the world s most developed biofuel industry, and where a 25% blend (mainly ethanol) is mandatory, or the Alternative Fuel Standard (AFS) at federal level in the USA, or various biofuel mandates being introduced at state level (see also (EC, 2006b)). 

As the biofuels industry evolves to more complex processes (e.g., involving microbial biotransformations) PAT will become more important both in scale-up and process operation, specially to nondestructively assess process performance (e.g., oil content of microalgae in snbmerged cnltivation) and accomplish prodnct release cheaper and faster than today s one-CQA-at-a-time methods. 

Next, when considering the use of renewable resources, one must make note of the competing uses for land and the consequent impact on the environment, such as the competition between food production and industrial use for agricultural land, as exemplified by the growing biofuels industry or the deforestation of land for plantations of palm oil trees. This is a complex area where there is on-going national and international debate and where there are no easy answers. 

Byproducts of biofuel production are glycerin and lignin. The production of each gallon of biodiesel also produces a pound of glycerin. These materials can be used to replace oil-based products with bio-based ones. It is expected that in the decades to come, the development of the biofuel industry will result in the building of multiproduct biorefineries. 

Meanwhile, the Canadian government plans to support the Canadian biofuel industry with up to 500 million Canadian dollars for construction of next-generation plants. Iogen is expected to receive part of those funds for construction of a commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant. 

The worldwide consumption of soybean oil was 37.9 million tons in 2008, accounting for 28% of global vegetable oil usage [1]. It finds its way into several food appHcations such as cooking oils, salad oils, or margarines. Technical uses include additives for coatings. In the biofuels industries of the United States and Brazil, soybean oil is also the main feedstock for biodiesel production (almost 20% of soybean oil went into biodiesel in the United States in 2008 [7]). 

Figure 6.1 Feedstocks for the biofuel industry and associated side streams.

The competition between distillation and membranes for biofuel purification is strikingly similar to that for desalination. The current state for biofuel purification corresponds to the state of desalination 40 years ago when membrane processes first appeared - membrane processes show potential and start-up companies are touting products but acceptance is low due to concerns over cost and reliability. However, experiences with desalination may dramatically reduce the time required for membrane processes to become as competitive in the biofuel industry as they are in desalination. 

The cellulosic biofuel industry presently finds itself in a chicken and egg situation with fewer industries starting up, farmers produce biomass at a slower pace, leading to industries worrying about continuous feedstock availability. 

Yazdani SS, Gonzalez R. (2007). Anaerobic fermentation of glycerol a path to economic viability for the biofuels industry. Curr Opin Biotechnol, 18, 213—219. 

Biofuel industry Cellulases Ligninases Used to break down cellulose into sugars that can be fermented (see cellulosic ethanol). Use of lignin waste. 

More recently, in order to overcome the disadvantages of conventional fermentation systems, Lewandowicz et aL (2011) used a continuous fermentation process based on a bioreactor coupled with an MD unit. The MD technique for removing bioethanol from a reactor is able to maximise the volumetric productivity, and thus minimise production costs in the biofuel industry. Moreover, the combined system also facilitates a reduction in yeast stress, which commonly occurs in industrial fermentation. The experimental campaign was carried out using a module with 40 microporous hydrophobic... 

The modification and adjustment of vegetable oil and animal fat properties for biodiesel production can be developed using methods of transesterification, esterification, microemulsification and cracking (Knothe, 2005 Ranganathan et al., 2008). However, transesterification and esterification reactions have been the most commonly used methods by the biofuel industry as synthetic routes (Figure 1) (Robles-Medina et al., 2009). 

BOX 22.1 Animal food by-products from the biofuel industries... 

In 2009, the annual revenue of the global biofuels industry was 46.5 billion, with revenue in the United States alone reaching 20 billion. The United States is leading the world in research on biofuels and synthetic fuels. Significant biofuels and synthetic fuels research has also been taking place in many European countries, Russia, Japan, Israel, Canada, Australia, and China. 

Industry and Business Sectors. The major products of the biofuel industry are ethanol, biodiesel, and biogas therefore, research in industry has concentrated mainly on these biofuels. Some small businesses in the biofuel industry include startup research and development companies that study feedstocks (such as cellulose) and approaches for production of biofuels at competitive prices. These companies, many of which are funded by investment firms or government agencies, analyze biofuel feedstocks, looking for new feedstocks or modifying existing ones (corn, sugarcane, or rapeseed). 

Bioprocess engineering plays a major role in many mulfibiUion-dollar industries, including biotechnological, microbiological, food, chemical, and biofuel industries. Because bioprocess engineering is part of several industries, it is difficult to estimate its worldwide revenues. However, global revenues from enzyme production are more than 3 billion, and biofuel industry annual revenues are 46.5 billion. 

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