Biomass sugar beet

Methanol is an attractive source of hydrogen due to its high H C ratio, its production from sustainable sources (biomass, sugar beets), and its ease of storage as a liquid at atmospheric pressure. The methanol steam reforming (methanol-SR) process is considered to be a more suitable system for fuel cells because higher methanol conversions can be achieved at a low reaction temperature in the range of 250-350°C, and the products contain lower concentrations of CO. 

Potential resources of xylans are by-products produced in forestry and the pulp and paper industries (forest chips, wood meal and shavings), where GX and AGX comprise 25-35% of the biomass as well as annual crops (straw, stalks, husk, hulls, bran, etc.), which consist of 25-50% AX, AGX, GAX, and CHX [4]. New results were reported for xylans isolated from flax fiber [16,68], abaca fiber [69], wheat straw [70,71], sugar beet pulp [21,72], sugarcane bagasse [73], rice straw [74], wheat bran [35,75], and jute bast fiber [18]. Recently, about 39% hemicelluloses were extracted from vetiver grasses [76]. 

Starch and fatty acids are the main food constituents of biomass. Sugar is derived from starch by hydrolysis or directly by extraction from sugar cane or beet. Fermentation converts sugars into alcohol that can be directly used as fuel, or in principle can be used as the raw material of a bioreftnery plant for further upgrading. Triglycerides, derived from oil seeds, are used to be converted into biodiesel through transesterification processes (Fig. 1.14). 

Currently, ethanol is produced from sugar beets and from molasses. A typical yield is 72.5 liters of ethanol per ton of sugar cane. Modem crops yield 60 tons of sugar cane per hector of land. Production of ethanol from biomass is one way to reduce both the consumption of erode oil and environmental pollution. Domestic production and use of ethanol for fuel can decrease dependence on foreign oil, reduce trade deficits, create jobs in rural areas, reduce air pollution, and reduce global climate change carbon dioxide build-up. 

Some years ago we began our experiments with radish plants in small plastic vessels. The pots were 45 mm high and 90 mm long. The substrate was quartz sand supplemented with a general nutrient solution. In each vessel 5 plants were cultivated. After the first true leaves had appeared an aqueous homobrassinolide solution was applied by spraying the leaves. Four weeks later, the plants were harvested, dried, measured and weighed. After certain experiments showed a small effect from homobrassinolide applications on root-, epicotyl- and total biomass, in the case of low water saturation, we carried out similar trials with sugar-beet plantlets (Table I). 

Table III Effect of SSHB on sugar-beet total biomass and leaf acid invertase activity...

Effects of brassinosteroids on the activity of acid invertases in leaves. The first question to be answered was why does SSHB increase the total biomass under mild stress conditions It is known that rate of cell growth correlates with specific activity of acid invertase (4) and the role of acid invertase in the leaves of sugar-beet plants has been described (5). Table III shows total mass (from Table II) in relation to the activity of acid invertases. 

Another type of biomass used as fuel comes from distilleries using corn, sorghum, sugar beets and other organic products. The ethyl alcohol, or ethanol fuel can be mixed in a ratio of l-to-10 with gasoline to produce gasohol. The mash, or debris, that is left behind contains all the original protein and is used as a livestock feed supplement. A bushel of corn pro-... 

There were parallel enhancement effects of FVCL-9 on total Chi accumulation and on biomass gains. Similar efects have been observed in DCPTA-treated blue spruce Pices pungens) (25) and sugar beet (IS). These results indicated that PBRs have an influence on the photosynthetic capacity of crop plants. 

Using starch as substrate yields were also low. An explanation may be that Streptococcus bovis. a homofermentative lactic acid organism common in the rumen grows rapidly on starch with low yield of biomass (jl). Table n shows some of the results for fermentation of sugar beet pulp (SBP). 

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