Extraction, biomass

VOCs are mainly hydrocarbons (2.73 Mt in 1997 in the UK) and the most abundant is methane (50% from landfills, 30% from animals, and rest from gas extraction, biomass burning) while non-methane VOC in 1997 in the UK (2.13 Mt in the UK) are mainly emitted from vehicles (40%), from solvents in paints (30%), etc., which is composed of some 200 different hydrocarbons such as benzene and toluene [34],... 

Figure 8 illustrates one of the processing schemes used for separating various components in a hydrocarbon-containing plant. Acetone extraction removes the polyphenols, glycerides, and sterols, and benzene extraction removes the hydrocarbons. If the biomass species in question contain low concentrations of the nonhydrocarbon components, exclusive of the carbohydrate and protein fractions, direct extraction of the hydrocarbons with benzene or a similar solvent might be preferred. 

Hemicellulose [9034-32-6] is the least utilized component of the biomass triad comprising cellulose (qv), lignin (qv), and hemiceUulose. The term was origiaated by Schulze (1) and is used here to distinguish the nonceUulosic polysaccharides of plant cell walls from those that are not part of the wall stmcture. Confusion arises because other hemicellulose definitions based on solvent extraction are often used in the Hterature (2—4). The term polyose is used in Europe to describe these nonceUulosic polysaccharides from wood, whereas hemicellulose is used to describe the alkaline extracts from commercial pulps (4). The quantity of hemicellulose in different sources varies considerably as shown in Table 1. 

An alternative method of produciag hydrocarbon fuels from biomass uses oils that are produced ia certaia plant seeds, such as rape seed, sunflowers, or oil palms, or from aquatic plants (see Soybeans and other oilseeds). Certain aquatic plants produce oils that can be extracted and upgraded to produce diesel fuel. The primary processiag requirement is to isolate the hydrocarbon portion of the carbon chain that closely matches diesel fuel and modify its combustion characteristics by chemical processiag. 

The most widely available yeast biomass is a by-product of the brewing industry, where the multiplication of yeast during brewing results in a surplus of ceUs. Eor every barrel (117 L) of beer brewed, 0.2—0.3 kg of yeast soHds may be recovered. In the U.S., a substantial fraction is recovered and made available about 40 x 10 kg of brewers yeast aimually. The yeast is recovered from beer by centrifuging and dried on roUer dmms or spray dryers and sold as animal feed or a pet-food supplement. It can be debittered by alkaline extraction to remove the bitter hop residues, and is then sold mainly by the health-food industry. It is available as tablets, powder, or flakes and is often fortified with additional vitamins. Distillers yeast caimot be readily separated from the fermented mash and the mixture is sold as an animal feed supplement. 

By-Products. The biomass from the fungal fermentation process is called mycellium and can be used as a supplement for animal feed since it contains digestable nutrients (25,26). The lime-sulfuric purification and recovery process results in large quantities of calcium sulfate cake, which is usually disposed of into a landfill but can find limited use in making plaster, cement, waUboard, or as an agricultural soil conditioner. The Hquid extraction purification and recovery process has the advantage of Htde soHd by-products. 

Supercritical fluid solvents have been tested for reactive extractions of liquid and gaseous fuels from heavy oils, coal, oil shale, and biomass. In some cases the solvent participates in the reactions, as in the hydrolysis of coal and heavy oils with water. Related applications include conversion of cellulose to glucose in water, dehgnincation of wood with ammonia, and liquefaction of lignin in water. 

Figure 2.5 Possible technological solutions to bioprocess problems a) Fed-batch culture b) Continuous product removal (eg dialysis, vacuum fermentation, solvent extraction, ion exchange etc) c) Two-phase system combined with extractive fermentation (liquid-impelled loop reactor) d) Continuous culture, internal multi-stage reactor e) Continuous culture, dual-stream multi-stage reactor f) Continuous culture with biomass feedback (cell recycling). (See text for further details).

Product extraction Effluent and waste disposal Medium preparation Seed vessel Purification Cell free supernatant Cell biomass Production bioreactor Downstream processing Medium sterilisation Primary culture Upstream processing... 

The reliance of fossil fuels has been challenged by lower cost and renewable sources that are more environmentally friendly. The traditional chemical plant has met serious competition from green plants. Many monomers are now made via fermentation, using low-cost sugars as feedstock. Some of the commodity monomers are under siege by chemicals extracted from biomass. Monomer production has been expanded to include many more monomers from nature. 

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]. 

Production of the color involves centrifugal separation of the biomass, cell breakage, and extraction. Use of a salt solution rather than water as an extraction medium increases stability of the color during extraction. Methods for partial exclusion of the polysaccharide from the color extract in order to enhance resolubilization of the dried color were developed. These processes include either microfiltration or co-precipitation of the polysaccharide with an added positively charged polysaccha-... 

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