Technological innovation in the production of advanced biofuels applicable to the Belgian territory for road and air transport and technical, economic and environmental analyses (ADV_BIO)

This project aims to develop innovative ways of producing advanced (bio)fuels from microalgae and lignocellulosic matrices for road or air transport and applicable on national territory. It focuses on the development of innovative and competitive technological production schemes in order to position Belgium as a differentiated strategic partner and player for the eco-efficient production of advanced alternative (bio)fuels of second and third generation. The project is a cooperation between ULiège, UGent, UCLouvain and UAntwerpen. Within this project, BioWAVE, UAntwerpen coordinates research on the biochemical conversion and fermentation of optimized and modified lignocellulosic matrices with the innovative goal to combine a unique pre-treatment approach with a unique detoxification process for the one-step production of second-generation bioethanol. Bioethanol will be produced from lignocellulose, such as poplar wood and maize straw, wild type and genetically modified with a lower lignin content as provided by UGent. This process is a multi-step approach involving unitary operations of pretreatment, hydrolysis (often enzymatic), fermentation and rectification/distillation to produce bioethanol that would be suitable for integration into transportation fuels. An option favoured in this ADV_BIO project is steam explosion. Although attractive at first glance because it uses only water and no chemical agents, steam explosion generates "toxic" compounds that inhibit the subsequent saccharification process and may also inhibit bioethanol fermentation, thus reducing production yields. The main inhibitors are furan compounds (2-furfural or 5-hydroxymethylfurfural), weak organic acids, but also phenolic compounds that come from the degradation of lignin. The latter are considered to be the most problematic and must be eliminated from the reaction media. A research action is aiming at preventing lignin from hindering the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass by, first of all, the application of plants, with a lower lignin content. In the steam explosion, the lignin bonds are broken and phenolic degradation products are released into the liquid. It has been proven that repolymerisation into lignin can occur after a very severe pre-treatment, with newly formed bonds that are more difficult to break down. The addition of renewable additives during the steam explosion process will be investigated to prevent this unwanted repolymerisation. Removal of the remaining phenolic compounds, and possibly other inhibiting compounds, can be achieved by using biological detoxification as an integrated or additional step. Laccase detoxification of lignocellulosic matrices treated by steam explosion has been shown to increase the sugar yield during enzymatic hydrolysis. During this detoxification process, furan compounds and organic acids are also eliminated. In this research part improved lignocellulose biomass (UGent) will be applied in a relevant industrial process for bioethanol production, using steam explosion and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. In addition, innovative technologies, i.e. supplementation during steam explosion to improve depolymerisation, and laccase as well as microbial detoxification, are applied to increase overall conversion.

Keywords:FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGY, DETOXIFICATION, BIOFUELS

Disciplines:Bioprocessing, bioproduction and bioproducts, Industrial microbiology

Project type:Collaboration project