The 2011 US Billion-Ton Update1 estimates that there are enough agricultural and forest resources to sustainably provide enough biomass to displace approximately 30% of the country’s current petroleum consumption. A portion of these resources are inaccessible at current cost targets with conventional feedstock supply systems because of their remoteness or low yields. Reliable analy­ ses and pro...

Either to sustain autotrophy, or as a prelude to heterotrophy, organic synthesis from an environmentally available C1 feedstock molecule is crucial to the origin of life. Recent findings augment key literature results and suggest that hydrogen cyanide--"Blausäure"--was that feedstock.

The lifetime (200 h) of a Cu/SiO(2) catalyst under DMO-ethanol feedstock is 20 times longer than that (10 h) of the catalyst under DMO-methanol feedstock without any modification of the catalyst. The stabilization effect of ethanol on the active centers can effectively slow down the agglomeration of copper particles during the hydrogenation process.

BACKGROUND While advantages of biofuel have been widely reported, studies also highlight the challenges in large scale production of biofuel. Cost of ethanol and process energy use in cellulosic ethanol plants are dependent on technologies used for conversion of feedstock. Process modeling can aid in identifying techno-economic bottlenecks in a production process. A comprehensive techno-economi...

Much research has focused on growing microalgae for biofuel feedstock, yet there remain concerns about the feasibility of freshwater feedstock systems. To reduce cost and improve environmental sustainability, an ideal microalgal feedstock system would be fed by municipal, agricultural or industrial wastewater as a main source of water and nutrients. Nonetheless, the microalgae must also be tole...

As a general goal of process development and design, process intensification aims at substantially improving process performance with a wide spectrum of chemical engineering skills.1 One important area, where process intensification can play a crucial role, is to handle uncertainty. An intensified process system design that considers varying input parameters can result in a more reliable set of...

BACKGROUND Waste animal fat is a promising feedstock to replace vegetable oil that widely used in commercial biodiesel process, however the high content of free fatty acid in waste fat makes it unfeasible to be processed with commercial base-catalytic process. Enzymatic process is preferable to convert waste fat into biodiesel since enzyme can catalyze both esterification of free fatty acid and...

BACKGROUND Two economic factors make watermelon worthy of consideration as a feedstock for ethanol biofuel production. First, about 20% of each annual watermelon crop is left in the field because of surface blemishes or because they are misshapen; currently these are lost to growers as a source of revenue. Second, the neutraceutical value of lycopene and L-citrulline obtained from watermelon is...

the rheological behavior of feedstocks used in powder injection molding technology influences strongly on the final properties of the products. powder loading is one of the important factors that have a great distribution on rheological behaviors. by using the gas atomized spherical 316l stainless steel powder and the binder of 55% paraffin wax+ 40% polyethylen+ 5% stearic acid, four kinds of f...