Drs. Shuangning Xiu and Abolghasem Shahbazi of North Carolina A&T State University have suggested green biorefinery as an appropriate technology for producing multi-products from grasses and aquatic biomass. Recent developments on the green biorefinery in both Europe and North America were discussed. They also recommended future R&D work in this field. (Trends in Renewable Energy, vol. 1, pp. 4-15, doi: 10.17737/tre.2015.1.1.008)
“In green biorefinery, the wet fractionation technology is used as the first step to isolate the green biomass substances in their natural form. Thus, green fresh biomass are separated into a fiber-rich press cake and a nutrient-rich press juice. Both fractions have an economic value,” said Xiu.
They introduced that current feedstock used for green biorefinery are mainly green grasses, for example, Alfalfa, clover, and immature cereals from extensive land cultivation. “Other feedstock like aquatic plants, algae, switchgrass, and grant Miscanthus hold a high potential,” said Xiu.
The press juice (or called green juice) contains proteins, free amino acids, organic acids, dyes, enzymes, hormones, other organic substances, and minerals. The juice is a good source for high quality fodder proteins, cosmetic proteins, human nutrition or platform chemicals like lactic acid and lysine or can be used as substrate for bio-gas production. On the other hand, the press cake can be used as solid fuels, for the production of green feed pellets/fodder pellets, as a raw material for the production of chemicals, such as levulinic acid, and for the conversion to syngas and hydrocarbons.
The pilot scale processing trials in several European countries, have produced lactic acid, amino acids, leaf juice protein concentrate, fiber products, and biogas. The research development in green biorefinery in North American primarily focused on protein recovery in ethanol production.
Led by Professors Abolghasem Shahbazi and Shuangning Xiu, the researchers are developing green biorefinery technologies for the production of biofuels and bioproducts from second/third generation biofuel feedstocks, and evaluating the overall sustainability of process technologies. The research was financially supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture- National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA). Contact: http://futureenergysp.com/index.php/tre/article/view/8/6.