A wide range of organic substances, potentially derived from biomass, were tested as reductants for CO2 (added in form of sodium bicarbonate) in hydrothermal media. The reactions were carried out in batch reactors at 300 ºC and 3h. All the substances reduced CO2 to formic acid in yields up to 65%. These results agree to […]
Category: biomass
The role of supercritical fluids in the fractionation pretreatments of a wheat bran-based biorefinery (Review)
Wheat bran is a very interesting feedstock for lignocellulosic biorefineries. The recovery of proteins, oil and phytochemicals can be integrated with the fractionation of polysaccharides and lignin, adding value to a multi-product biorefinery concept. After reviewing the work previously reported in the literature concerning the use of sc-CO2 and subcritical and supercritical water, the present […]
2 Solicitudes de patente de nuestro grupo ganadoras en los “Premios Prometeo”
[:en] El pasado viernes 3 de Noviembre se presentaron los 23 proyectos de estudiantes de la Universidad de Valladolid que han sido galardonados en la octava edición de los “Premios Prometeo”. Estos premios tienen por objetivo apoyar e incentivar el desarrollo de prototipos orientados hacia el mercado. Entre los ganadores de esta edición se encuentran […]
NEW RESEARCH ARTICLE. PRETREATMENT EFFECT ON THE THERMAL DEGRADATION OF A FEEDSTOCK WITH LOW HEMICELLULOSE CONTENT: BRAZILIAN GINSENG
[:en]Pyrolysis is a well-known process for biomass upgrading, and a great deal of works are available about it. However, they focus on conventional lignocellulosic samples, and the information about any other less common samples, while still valuable, is very difficult to find. For instance, Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia glomerata) is a feedstock without hemicellulose and a […]
NEW REVIEW: Understanding biomass fractionation in subcritical&supercritical water
[:en]Biomass fractionation into its individual building blocks poses a major challenge to the biorefinery concept. The recalcitrance of the lignocellulose matrix and the high crystallinity of cellulose make typical feed stocks difficult to separate into their components. Hydrothermal processing fractionates biomass by its hydrolysis. However, a deep knowledge of hydrolysis principles is required since an […]
NEW RESEARCH ARTICLE: Microwave pretreatment to improve extraction efficiency and polyphenol extract richness. Effect on antioxidant bioactivity
Microwave assisted extraction advantages are widely recognised. However, its implementation at an industrial scale is restricted due to microwave limitations. In this work, a microwave pretreatment is proposed as an easy scale-up alternative. The double effect of this pretreatment on extraction yield and on product richness is assessed. Microwaves accelerate the extraction kinetics of most […]
WCCE NEWS: AWARD TO THE BEST ORAL COMMUNICATION FOR OUR GROUP
[:en]Gianluca Gallina has been awarded during the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering held in Barcelona (Spain) for his lecture titled: New pilot plant for hemicellulose extraction with hot pressurized water in the International Symposium of Ligno-Cellulosic Materials. Additionally, this system was patented and detailed information about the work can be found in this paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.155 […]
NEW RESEARCH PAPER. Hydrothermal extraction of hemicellulose from lab to pilot scale
A flow-through reactor for hemicelluloses extraction with hot pressurized water was scaled with a factor of 73. System performance was evaluated by comparing the temperature profile, extraction yield and kinetics of the two systems, performing experiments at 160 and 170 ºC, 11 bar for 90 min, using catalpa wood as raw material. Hemicellulose yields were […]
NEW RESEARCH PAPER. MAXIMIZATION OF MONOMERIC C5 SUGARS FROM WHEAT BRAN BY USING MESOPOROUS ORDERED SILICA CATALYSTS
The hydrolysis process of a real fraction of arabinoxylans derived from wheat bran was studied. The influence of catalyst type and loading, reaction time and different metal cations were discussed in terms of the hydrolysis yield of arabinose and xylose oligomers as well as the formation of furfural as degradation product. A high yield of […]
CATHYCEL – Ganador Greenweekend Valladolid 2017
El proyecto CATHYCEL, catalizadores para hidrogenación de celulosa y productos lignocelulósicos ha sido presentado por nuestro investigador Alberto Romero y ha ganado la Greenweekend Valladolid 2017. El vídeo explica este concepto de biorrefinería. https://youtu.be/lePesznZO4M
