Biomass conversion plant has many components which are connected each other. Material and energy flow among the components, therefore we should grasp the detail of the balance (Figures 13-16). If there is a choke point, the flow stagnation causes to the troubles of opera­tion and low efficiency of the performance. (Masami UENO, University of Ruyku, Faculty of Agriculture, Okinawa, Japan).

Figure 12. UV absorbance spectra of soy methyl ester and No. 2 diesel blend diluted 1:2915 in n-heptane.

Material and Energy Balances in Direct Combustion

Wood waste, Capacity; 50t/d

Qrect conbustion (50t/d)

Figure 16. Material and energy balance in direct combustion

Material and Energy Balances in RDF Production

Burnable waste, Capacity; 25t/d

RCF (25t/d)

Figure 17. Material and energy balance in RDF production

5. Conclusion

The different kind of biomass considered as main source for biofuel (diesel-methane, etha­nol, compost — etc). The cost of extraction and blending is very effective point for use of bio­mass in addition to ability for use of all part from biomass as multipurpose.

Author details

Emad A. Shalaby

Biochemistry Dept., Facult. of Agriculture, University of Ruyku, Cairo University, Egypt

Lignin can be used as an efficient precursor in synthesizing carbonaceous nanomaterials with different morphology not only due to their carbon rich phenolic structure, but also for their capable chemical modification. Synthesizing the carbon nanoparticles with different morphol­ogy is possible by adopting various order of chemical modification as well as the processing conditions. The challenge is to inhibit the nucleation of carbon structures during the carboni­zation process to avoid larger particles, which normally occurs at elevated temperatures. Chemical modification can result in the formation of cross-linked structure, which normally alters the carbonization mechanism and can cause the formation of carbon nanostructures with different morphology. Babel et al. [215] reported the synthesis of KOH activated lignin-based carbon nanoparticles and their effective hydrogen storage capability. Recently, Gonugunta et al. reported the fabrication of carbon nanoparticels from lignin by adopting freeze drying process [216—217].

In a dry mill, ethanol is produced from corn after several steps including grinding, slurrying, cooking, liquefaction, saccharification, fermentation and distillation. Further steps are implemented to separate coproducts such as centrifugation, evaporation and drying. From the original corn mass before processing, approximately one third results in carbon dioxide during fermentation, one third is converted into ethanol and the residue are nonfermentable compo­nents in the form of different coproducts namely dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS), dried distillers’ grains (DDG), wet distillers’ grains (WDG) and condensed distillers’ solubles (CDS). The coproducts are mainly dried and sold as dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS). This way, it is possible to store the coproduct for a longer time or ship it to far distances with less probability of fungi attack. A smaller part of the coproducts are shipped wet locally for immediate usage [23—24]. Distillers’ grains have been traditionally using as animal feed due to its nutritious value as shown in Table 1 [25—31]. At the end of ethanol production process, when most of the grain’s starch portion is fermented, there is an increase of 3 to 4 times in other components of the grain including protein, lipid and fibre over that contained in the uncon­verted whole grains [27].

Several attempts and studies have been published on distillers’ grains application as animal feed in many different species such as dairy cattle [32], beef cattle [33], swine [34], broiler [35], laying hen [36], turkey [37], lamb [38], catfish [39], tilapia [40], trout [41] and prawn [42]. However, four major livestock species to which distillers’ grains is practically fed are beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine and poultry [43—45]. Renewable Fuel Association (RFA) reports the distillers’ grains consumption in 2009 in different species at approximately 39% for dairy cattle, 38% for beef cattle, 15% for swine, 7% for poultry and 1% for other species [24]. The important question here is whether the increasing supply of distillers’ grains can be totally consumed by animals or the supply far exceeds its demand as feed. According to Hoffman and Baker [44] and Tokgoz et al. [46] the potential domestic and export use of distillers’ grains in U. S. exceeds its production and the U. S. beef sector is the dominant user of distillers’ grains. However, such opinions need precise consideration with respect to the fact that incorporation of distillers’ grains within animal diets exhibits some limitations. Since distillers’ grains are highly con­centrated in terms of nutritious content, it should be included as a part of animal feed. In this regard, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has set out the policy for the maximum inclusion rates of distillers’ grains in the feed of different species [47]. For example, the inclusion rates of distillers’ grains in the diet of beef cattle and swine must not exceed 50% on a dry basis. This suggests that continuing the use of distillers’ grains in animal diet in order to keep the track with its increasing supply from ethanol production can only come true if the number of consumer animals is also increasing. In other words, finding new value-added usages for distillers’ grains within feed sector should also be considered in the future.

It is worth to note that the U. S. dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) exports already doubled in 2009 compared to 2008 and U. S. has managed to increase its export of DDGS in 2010 by 60% compared to 2009 [48]. This may suggest that there is an excess of DDGS supply over its consumption in animal feed sector in the United States. Moreover, it should be carefully examined how the revenue from distillers’ grains sale as feed, returning to the biofuel industry will economically help the ethanol industry. For corn biofuel industry to stay viable, the applications of its coproduct, distillers’ grains, need to be expanded [23]. Consequently, the new outlets of distillers’ grains may add value to it and create revenue for the corn ethanol biofuel. Such new usages can be value-added animal [23, 49] and human food [50], burning [51—52], extraction of zein [53], cellulose [54] and oil [55—56] from distillers’ grains, and biobased filler for polymer composites, which is going to be discussed more later on.

Methane will be measured on the gas chromatogram (Figure 9)using a FID (flame ioniza­tion) detector.

Note, unless you want smelly hands, it is recommended that you wear gloves. A lab coat is recom­mended for similar reasons.

• Using a 20 ml syringe connected to a 2-way stopcock, collect a little more than 5 ml of water from a port on your Winogradsky column.

• With the syringe pointing up, remove any air (tapping the sides of the syringe) and expel any extra water so that the final liquid volume in the syringe is 5 ml. Do this over a sink.

• Now, draw in 15 ml of air into the syringe so that the total air+water volume in the sy­ringe is 20 ml. Close the stopcock.

• Shake the syringe to equilibrate the methane between the air and water.

• With the syringe pointing down, eject all the water from the syringe into the sink and close the stopcock. Try to get all the water out, but leave at least 10 ml of gas in the sy­ringe

• We will now move to the GC lab in Starr 332 to measure methane.

• Repeat the above procedure for each of the ports on your Winogradsky column.

During recent years, biopolymer thermoplastics such as poly(lactic acid), PLA [124], poly(bu — tylene succinate), PBS [125], polyhydroxy(butyrate-co-valerate)/poly(butylene succinate), PHBV/PBS, blend [126] and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephatalate), PBAT [127] have been utilized to produce DDGS composites. The influence of DDGS amount from 20 to 50 wt% as well as compatibilizer in PLA/DDGS composites were investigated [124]. Drastic decrease in tensile modulus and strength was observed by increasing the wt% of DDGS when no compa — tibilizer was used. On the other hand, after using isocyanate type of compatibilizer, a huge improvement in tensile modulus and strength was observed in the PLA/20% DDGS composite (Figure 8). In comparison with pure PLA, the compatibilized formulation showed higher modulus and almost equal strength. In another work, the thermal degradation of DDGS was studied with considerations for biocomposite processing and it was reported that water­washing of DDGS improved the thermal stability of DDGS to the extent that its thermal decomposition was highly prevented at typical temperatures of polymer melt processing. Such improvement in thermal stability of DDGS resulted in better strength and modulus of the PBS/ DDGS biocomposite with 30 wt% DDGS [125]. The effect of compatibilizer was studied in a composite of 30 wt% DDGS and PHBV/PBS blend processed in a micro-extruder/micro — injection molding machine [126]. The DDGS used in this biocomposite had a water-washing step prior to compounding with bioplastics. Using a compatibilizer (isocyanate type), the interfacial adhesion was enhanced. The optimized biopolymer/DDGS composite exhibited improved tensile modulus compared to the biopolymer matrix while having almost equal strength. The influence of DDGS on the biodegradability properties of PBAT/DDGS biocom­posites has been evaluated [127]. It was observed that PBAT/DDGS biocomposite was found to be more bio-susceptible material compared to virgin PBAT and was totally biodegraded. During the biodegradation experiment DDGS domains were preferentially attacked by microorganisms and influenced the biodegradability of the PBAT matrix. The produced biocomposite showed a degree of biodegradation similar to the biodegradation rate of natural materials such as DDGS and cellulose.

Anli Geng

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter http://dx. doi. org/10.5772/53043

1. Introduction

Crude palm oil production is reaching 48.99 million metric tonnes per year globally in 2011 and Southeast Asia is the main contributor, with Indonesia accounting for 48.79%, Malaysia 36.75%, and Thailand 2.96% (Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia, 2011). Oil palm is a multi-purpose plantation and it is also an intensive producer of biomass. Accompanying the production of one kg of palm oil, approximately 4 kg of dry biomass are produced. One third of the oil palm biomass is oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and the other two thirds are oil palm trunks and fronds [1—3].

The supply of oil palm biomass and its processing by-products are found to be seven times that of natural timber [4]. Besides producing oils and fats, there are continuous interests in using oil palm biomass as the source of renewable energy. Among the oil palm biomass, OPEFB is the most often investigated biomass for biofuel production. Traditionally, OPEFB is used for pow­er and steam utilization in the palm oil mills, and is used for composting and soil mulch. Di­rect burning of OPEFB causes environmental problems due the incomplete combustion and

the release of very fine particles of ash. The conversion of OPEFB to biofuels, such as syngas, ethanol, butanol, bio-oil, hydrogen and biogas etc., might be a good alternative and have less environmental footprint. The properties of OPEFB is listed in Table 1 [5].

While all the OPEFB components can be converted to biofuels, such as bio-oil and syngas through thermo-chemical conversion, cellulose and hemicellulose can be hydrolysed to sug­ars and subsequently be fermented to biofuels such as ethanol, butanol, and biogas etc. Al­though many scientists around the world are developing technologies to generate biofuels from OPEFB, to-date, none of such technologies has been commercialized. This is largely due to the recalcitrance of the OPEFB and therefore the complexity of the conversion tech­nologies making biofuels from OPEFB less competitive than the fossil-based fuels. Continual efforts in R&D are still necessary in order to bring such technology to commercialization. The aim of this paper is to review the progress and challenges of the OPEFB conversion technologies so as to help expedite the OPEFB conversion technology development.

One dimensional (1D) nanostructures such as fibrous materials receives recent attention due to their unique physicochemical properties. A wide range of fabrication techniques have been used for the fabrication of fibrous nanomaterials, among them electrospinning has been found to be an efficient technique for the fabrication of various types of fibre nanostructures using polymeric solutions as precursors [218]. The fabrication of carbon nanofibres from lignin through electrospinning has three steps and they are (i) electrospinning of lignin fibres, (ii) thermal stabilization of lignin fibres and (iii) carbonization of thermo-stabilized lignin fibres [219]. Normally, lignin exhibits poor viscoelastic properties, which creates a lot of challenges during the electrospinning process. This can be overcome by blending the lignin with other kind of synthetic polymers such poly(ethylene oxide) [220]. Figure 9 shows the electrospun lignin fibre as the precursor for the fabrication of carbon nanofibres. Dallmeyer et al. [221] investigated seven different technical lignins (isolated lignin) for the fabrication of fibrous network. None of the lignins were able to be spun into fibres without a binding polymer such as PEO. In addition to PEO, utilization of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as binding polymer was reported by Seo et al. for the fabrication of lignin-based carbon fibres [222]. The physicochem­ical properties and the morphology of lignin-based carbon nanofibres can be varied by manipulating the experimental parameters. Lallave et al. [219] reported the fabrication of various types of (filled and hollow) carbon nanofibers from Alcell lignins by coaxial electro­spinning. Uniqueness of their process is the successful electrospinning of lignin without binder

polymer. Recently, Spender et al. [223] reported the rapid freezing process for the fabrication of lignin fibres with nano dimension.

Wet milling is a corn processing process in which the produced corn starch can be fermented into ethanol. Thus, ethanol is not the only product of a wet mill. In the beginning, the feedstock goes through a steeping step that soaks it in warm water containing small quantities of dissolved sulfur dioxide for almost 40 hours. This step facilitates the separation of the grain components. The different processes will be then applied such as grinding, screening, germ separation, oil refining, starch-gluten separation, drying, fermentation and syrup refining. Other products of a wet mill plant produced along with ethanol in these processes include starch, corn oil, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and glucose/dextrose. The coproducts of

different steps are corngluten feed, corn gluten meal, corn germ meal and corn steep liquor [28]. Corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal are the major feeds for livestock produced in a wet mill. As compared to theproduced ethanol in a wet mill, com gluten feed and cornghiten meal are produced almo etas mnchae 70% andl7% of dhemassoh the prodhueOethaeol, respectively [44]. The tompuahion ofthe wel:mill uojeroducttarepeesentedinTable1. Smulae to distillers’ grains, thete coproductsaccount for e good tooite trd nnhihous sompooenei hut. as protein and fiber forfeed appCitotfons. dlee uelueofthsee nnop^i^o^tiptt ftDrr^r^imt^l duettas been realized for maoyyears leato ond they aos used puthe feedfo e n on de eaaeeof enimato including beef cattle id7i, calt and lam0[58],dairp eattin ]59],panltsy [10], owina di],]p&t [РЄ] and fish [63]. Also, it houbeen thrive; dtpatcorn oiuten to^a al aenbe useda, tpe pre-emesgenoe

weed control (to control weeds brfore t^lr^ weedseeds germinate)[6a] aodensb5en regulated by US Environmenta1 ProtedionAgenc0 (EPA] i5]i].

To assist in plotting up results, measure the distance from the top of the sediment-water inter­face to each of the ports on the Winogradsky column, with distance to the ports in the sediment as positive and those in the water column negative. Also, measure the distance from the sedi­ment-water interface to the surface of the water and the bottom of the sediments.

2.3. Methane concentration calculation

• From the standards, determine the concentration of methane in ppmv. Use the ideal gas law to determine the number of moles of methane in the 15 ml gas volume:

ppm 15

n_PV_ 106 1000 (1)

RT (0.08205)(293)

DDGS as a source of protein, fiber and fat has been used to isolate these components. Xu et al. [53] implemented a novel acidic method to extract zein from DDGS which is the main protein in corn and corn coproducts such as DDGS. The resulted zein has the potential for uses in fibers, films, binders and paints applications. Their method also isolated DDGS oil during protein extraction. Other researchers have also investigated the extraction of oil from DDGS

[55, 128]. The obtained oil can be used as precursor for biodiesel production. It has been also tried to extract fiber from DDGS with physical methods such as sieving and elutriation [129] or extract cellulose chemically by sodium hydroxide solution [54]. The obtained cellulose had properties suitable for films and absorbents. The bioadhesive formulation obtained from DDGS is another biomaterial application of this coproduct [130—131]. This glue is prepared by reaction with an aqueous base solution. Urea can be also included with the base. The obtained bioadhesive is particularly useful as boxboard glue.

Recently, it has been tried to produce thermoplastics from DDGS by chemical methods such as acetylation [132] or cyanoethylation [133] with almost similar approaches. Hu et al. [133] were successful in producing highly flexible thermoplastic films from DDGS. The oil and zein protein of the DDGS were extracted first and the resultant underwent cyanoethylation using acrylonitrile. A compression molding machine was implemented to produce oil-and-zein-free DDGS films. It was observed that the produced films had much higher strength even at high elongations compared to films developed from other various biopolymers. Therefore, cya — noethylation could be a viable approach to develop bio-thermoplastics from biopolymers for applications such as packing films, extrudates and resins for composites. It has been also tried to find a novel use of dried distillers’ grains (DDG) as a feedstock for bio-polyurethane preparation [134]. The procedure consist of, first, liquefaction of DDG in acidic conditions at atmospheric pressure and then reaction of hydroxyl-rich biopolyols in the liquefied DDG with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) to form networks of cross-linked polyurethane. Thus, DDG-based bio-polyols were the precursor in this way to synthesize flexible and rigid polyurethane foams. The biodegradation tests showed that the degradation of these polyur­ethane foams in a 10-month period was about 12.6% most probably because of natural extracts such as proteins and fats in DDG and partially cross-linked or uncross-linked residue in the foam [134].