Green chemistry, sustainable agriculture and processing systems: a Brazilian overview (original) (raw)
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2007
The material needs of society are reaching a crisis point. The demands of a growing and developing world population will soon exceed the capacity of our present fossil resource based infrastructure. In particular, the chemical industry that underpins most industries needs to respond to these challenges. The chemical manufacturing and user industries face an unprecedented range and intensity of drivers for change, the greatest of which, REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) has yet to bite. In order to address the key issues of switching to renewable resources, avoiding hazardous and polluting processes, and manufacturing and using safe and environmentally compatible products, we need to develop sustainable and green chemical product supply chains. For organic chemicals and materials these need to operate under agreed and strict criteria and need to start with widely available, totally renewable and low cost carbon-the only source is biomass and the conversion of biomass into useful products will be carried out in biorefineries. Where these operate at present, their product range is largely limited to simple materials (e.g. cellulose), chemicals (e.g. ethanol) and bioenergy/biofuels. Second generation biorefineries need to build on the need for sustainable chemical products through modern and proven green chemical technologies such as bioprocessing, controlled pyrolysis, catalysis in water and microwave activation, in order to make more complex molecules and materials on which a future sustainable society will be based.
Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
Besides high industrial development, Brazil is also an agribusiness country. Each year about 330 million metrics tons (Mg) of biomass residues are generated, requiring tremendous effort to develop biomass systems in which production, conversion and utilization of bio-based products are carried out efficiently and under environmentally sustainable conditions. For the production of biofuels, organic chemicals and materials, it is envisaged to follow a biorefinery model which includes modern and proven green chemical technologies such as bioprocessing, pyrolysis, gasification, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and other catalytic processes in order to make more complex molecules and materials on which a future sustainable society will be based. This paper presents promising options for valorization of Brazilian agroindustrial biomass sources and residues originating from the biofuel production chains as renewable energy sources and addresses the main aspects of the thermochemical technologies ...
Use of green chemical technologies in an integrated biorefinery
Energy & Environmental Science, 2011
A new concept is demonstrated for an integrated close to zero waste wheat straw biorefinery combining two novel green technologies, CO 2 extraction and low temperature microwave pyrolysis, to produce a variety of products, including energy and CO 2 which can be internally recycled to sustain the processes. CO 2 adds value to the process by extracting secondary metabolites including fatty acids, wax esters and fatty alcohols. Low temperature microwave pyrolysis (<200 C) is shown to use less energy and produce higher quality oils and chars than conventional pyrolysis. The oils can be fractionated to produce either transport fuels or platform chemicals such as levoglucosan and levoglucosenone. The chars are appropriate for co-firing. The quality of the chars was improved by washing to remove the majority of the potassium and chlorine present, lowering their fouling potential. The economic feasibility of a wheat straw biorefinery is enhanced by intergrating these technologies.
ChemInform Abstract: Green and Sustainable Manufacture of Chemicals from Biomass: State of the Art
ChemInform, 2014
The various strategies for the valorisation of waste biomass to platform chemicals, and the underlying developments in chemical and biological catalysis which make this possible, are critically reviewed. The option involving the least changes to the status quo is the drop-in strategy of complete deoxygenation to petroleum hydrocarbons and further processing using existing technologies. The alternative, redox economic approach, is direct conversion of, for example, carbohydrates to oxygenates by fermentation or chemocatalytic processes. Examples of both approaches are described, e.g. fermentation of carbohydrates to produce hydrocarbons, lower alcohols, diols and carboxylic acids or acid catalyzed hydrolysis of hexoses to hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) and subsequent conversion to levulinic acid (LA), γ-valerolactone (GVL) and furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA). Three possible routes for producing a bio-based equivalent of the large volume polymer, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are delineated. Valorisation of waste protein could, in the future, form an important source of amino acids, such as L-glutamic acid and L-lysine, as platform chemicals, which in turn can be converted to nitrogen containing commodity chemicals.
APPLICATIONS OF GREEN CHEMISTRY PRINCIPLESIN AGRICULTURE
GCTL, 2018
Green chemistry involves the design and development of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of chemicals hazardous to the environment and human health. The principles of green chemistry involve the development of green catalysts and the use of non-toxic reagents. Green chemistry emphasizes the use of reactions improved atom efficiency, use of solvent-free or environmentally benign recyclable solvent systems and use of renewable resources. Nowadays, green chemistry plays a new paradigm in the field of agriculture. Sustainable agriculture and green chemistry are both revolutionary fields and intertwined. In the last few years, for sustainable production in agriculture use of renewable biomass resources increases to generate bio-based food products with low inputs, zero waste, substantial social values and minimizing environmental impact. This article provides a good insight into green chemistry principles in sustainable agriculture.
Article APPLICATIONS OF GREEN CHEMISTRY PRINCIPLESIN AGRICULTURE Text
GCTL, 2018
Green chemistry involves the design and developmentof products and processes that minimizeor eliminate the use and generation of chemicals hazardous to the environment and human health. The principles of green chemistry involve the development of green catalysts and the use of non-toxic reagents. Green chemistry emphasizes the use of reactions improved atom efficiency, use of solvent-free or environmentally benign recyclable solvent systems and use of renewable resources. Nowadays, green chemistry plays a new paradigm in the field of agriculture. Sustainable agriculture and green chemistry are both revolutionary fields and intertwined. In the last few years, for sustainable production in agriculture use of renewable biomass resources increases to generate bio-based food products with low inputs, zero waste, substantial social values and minimizing environmental impact. This article provides a good insight about green chemistry principles in sustainable agriculture
GREEN CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY OF PLANT BIOMASS
Plant biomass is abundant, renewable and biodegradable natural material, which involves soft-and hardwood and some other species of terrestrial plants and aquatic plants, as well as residues of forest and agricultural plants, industrial residues of textile, pulp and paper, municipal paper waste, etc. However, chemical technologies of biomass processing, such as production of pulp, microcrystalline cellulose, nanocellulose, bioproducts and some other products are accompanied by a large amount of harmful sewage and gas emissions polluting the environment. In order to turn the chemical technologies of processing biomass into "green", it is necessary to implement the basic principles of green chemistry and technology. In this paper some new green technologies of biomass processing without discharge production waste into the environment are described and discussed.
The role of renewable chemicals and biofuels in building a bioeconomy
Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining, 2020
The emergence of lignocellulosic biorefineries (LBRs) over the past few decades has shown tremendous potential for the development of sustainable renewable resources. Lignocellulosic biorefineries not only meet energy needs but also mitigate environmental problems by replacing conventional petroleum sources. Round the year availability of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) with affordable price is a major factor in the development of biorefineries. It consists primarily of sugar polymers (cellulose and hemicellulose) and lignin, which can be used to produce second-generation (2G) biofuels such as bioethanol, biohydrogen, biobutanol, and renewable chemicals like lactic acid, succinic acid, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of which is predicted to be 16.43% by 2025. Several multinational companies, such as Raizen, Du Pont, BASF AG, Cargill, Braskem, and others have embarked on bio-based chemicals / biofuels production. However, biochemicals and even biofuels have not achieved the desired commercial goals due to a lack of feasibility and a lack of innovative techniques for bioprocessing or genetic engineering. Inappropriate feedstock logistics and lack of accurate life-cycle analyses of processes / products were also major drawbacks in developing commercially viable technologies from LCB. In this paper, therefore, recent technological advancements in LBRs, the current bio-renewable commercialization situation, and the intrinsic role of biorefinery in the circular bioeconomy have been elucidated.