We develop a novel superstructure of algal biorefinery processes for biological carbon sequestration and utilization, encompassing off-gas purification, algae cultivation, harvesting and dewatering, lipid extraction, remnant treatment, biogas utilization, and algal oil upgrading stages. Based on the superstructure, we propose a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model to minimize the u...

As an inevitable by-product of the biofuel industry, glycerol is becoming an attractive feedstock for biorefinery due to its abundance, low price and high degree of reduction. Converting crude glycerol into value-added products is important to increase the economic viability of the biofuel industry. Metabolic engineering of industrial strains to improve its performance and to enlarge the produc...

Pretreatment is considered to be a central unit process in a biorefinery to convert lignocellulosic biomass into fuels and chemicals, affecting all other operations in the process. A variety of technologies to pretreat lignocellulosic biomass are available today, which encompass a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological based processes. Among these, chemical based pretreatments are con...

Sweden has the goal of reaching a fossil independent transportation sector by 2030. Two ways to reach the goal is to increase the use of electric vehicles or produce more biofuels. Both alternatives could be powered by forest residue, which is an underutilized resource in the country. Electricity could be produced in a biomass fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, and biofuel could be prod...

‘Solar chemical’ production can be limited by the need for sacrificial reagents, metal-containing catalysts and low product values. Now, H2O2 is generated from H2O air using lignin as a photocatalyst. Combining with enzymatic catalysis enables selective oxyfunctionalization.