Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study examined the effects of biochar produced from forestry waste ( Populus alba×P. berolinensis and Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica branches and leaves) on soil physicochemical properties through a 60-day static incubation experiment under varying pyrolysis temperatures (300, 500, and 700 °C) and application rates (1%, 3%, and 5% (w/w)). Results indicated that biochar application enhanced soil available potassium content and pH to different extents. Notably, the most pronounced effect was observed with a 5% application rate of Populus alba×P. berolinensis leaves biochar pyrolyzed at 700 °C, which increased available potassium by 266.39% and pH by 9.82% compared to the control. At a 5% application rate, biochar produced from Populus alba×P. berolinensis leaves pyrolyzed at 300 °C increased soil ammonium nitrogen content by 49.27% and available phosphorus content by 141.68% compared to the control. Furthermore, biochar improved soil organic Matter content, water content, and aggregation. Specifically, the most significant increases were seen with a 5% application rate of Populus alba×P. berolinensis branch biochar pyrolyzed at 300 °C, raising organic Matter by 320.03% and water content by 30.61% compared to the control. Regarding soil aggregate distribution, a 5% application rate of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica branch biochar pyrolyzed at 300 °C significantly increased the macroaggregate fraction while reducing microaggregates and silt-clay fractions. In conclusion, the application of forestry waste-derived biochar demonstrates potential for improving soil physicochemical properties, with pyrolysis temperature, feedstock source, and application rate all significantly influencing these improvement effects.

Biochar is the carbon-rich organic matter that remains after heating biomass under the minimization of oxygen during a process called pyrolysis. There are a number of reasons why biochar systems may be particularly relevant in developing-country contexts. This report offers a review of what is known about opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Its aim is to provide a state-of-the-art overview of current knowledge regarding biochar science. In that sense the report also offers a reconciling view on different scientific opinions about biochar providing an overall account that shows the various perspectives of its science and application. This includes soil and agricultural impacts of biochar, climate change impacts, social impacts, and competing uses of biomass. The report aims to contextualize the current scientific knowledge in order to put it at use to address the development climate change nexus, including social and environmental sustainability. The report is organized as follows: chapter one offers some introductory comments and notes the increasing interest in biochar both from a scientific and practitioner's point of view; chapter two gives further background on biochar, describing its characteristics and outlining the way in which biochar systems function. Chapter three considers the opportunities and risks of biochar systems. Based on the results of the surveys undertaken, chapter four presents a typology of biochar systems emerging in practice, particularly in the developing world. Life-cycle assessments of the net climate change impact and the net economic profitability of three biochar systems with data collected from relatively advanced biochar projects were conducted and are presented in chapter five. Chapter six investigates various aspects of technology adoption, including barriers to implementing promising systems, focusing on economics, carbon market access, and sociocultural barriers. Finally, the status of knowledge regarding biochar systems is interpreted in chapter seven to determine potential implications for future involvement in biochar research, policy, and project formulation.

Every year, an increasing number of scientific research projects are devoted to the problem of the use of alternative feedstock sources, as well as low-carbon energy. Special attention of researchers is paid to the problem of production of “green” hydrogen because it is a promising carbon-free alternative to conventional fuel types. However, currently, among the great variety of its production methods, there is none that meets all the requirements imposed by modern industry. In light of this, the authors perform a brief review of recent publications devoted to new production methods of “green” hydrogen from various feedstocks.

The traditional role of agriculture has recently been extended to non-food applications, including vegetable oil-, wax ester- and carbohydrate-based biolubricants. Rapeseed, soy and sunflower oils are increasingly finding industrial applications for biolubricant production beyond their oleochemical use. Selection criteria for vegetable crops for potential application in lubrication include chemical structure and various quality parameters of the oil. Increasing pressure on globally limited edible oil commodities poses commercial and ethical threats. As biomass has a limited edible oil potential, development of a non-food agricultural chemistry for chemical applications has clear advantages. Biotechnology is vital in addressing the growing global demands for crops for chemical industrial use.

In a future carbohydrate-based economy renewable feedstocks are bound to gradually replace fossil fuels of the present petro-based society. Life sciences and biotechnology are vital in addressing the growing global demands for crops for food, fodder, fibre and chemicals. As biomass has a limited food potential, development of a non-food agricultural industry for chemical applications has clear advantages. New feedstock opportunities vary significantly as to their potential impact in the market in terms of volume and timing to commercialisation. Development of biorefineries will mark the historic transition into a sustainable society in which biological feedstocks, processes and products constitute the main pillars of the economy.

Currently, most biotechnological products are based on microbial conversion of carbohydrate substrates that are predominantly generated from sugar- or starch-containing plants. However, direct competitive uses of these feedstocks in the food and feed industry represent a dilemma, so using alternative carbon sources has become increasingly important in industrial biotechnology. A promising alternative carbon source that may be generated in substantial amounts from lignocellulosic biomass and C1 gases is acetate. This review discusses the underexploited potential of acetate to become a next-generation platform substrate in future industrial biotechnology and summarizes alternative sources and routes for acetate production. Furthermore, biotechnological aspects of microbial acetate utilization and the state of the art of biotechnological acetate conversion into value-added bioproducts are highlighted. The search for alternative carbon sources in industrial biotechnology is driven by the competing use of commonly used sugar-based substrates in the food and feed industry.Acetate represents a highly attractive, alternative microbial carbon source for industrial biotechnology.The most interesting routes to alternatively generate acetate comprise the depolymerization of lignocellulosic materials and the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway of acetogenic bacteria to produce acetate as the main product via gas fermentation, microbial electrosynthesis, or microbial photosynthesis.Acetate and acetate-containing streams have emerged as promising carbon sources for microorganisms to produce a variety of value-added bioproducts, such as platform chemicals (e.g., succinic acid), microbial lipids, bioplastics (e.g., polyhydroxyalkanoates), and biosurfactants (e.g., rhamnolipids).

Bioethanol is recognized as a valuable substitute for renewable energy sources to meet the fuel and energy demand of the nation, considered an environmentally friendly resource obtained from agricultural residues such as sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, husk, wheat straw and corn stover. The energy demand is sustained using lignocellulosic biomass to produce bioethanol. Lignocellulosic biomass (LCBs) is the point of attention in replacing the dependence on fossil fuels. The recalcitrant structure of the lignocellulosic biomass is disrupted using effective pretreatment techniques that separate complex interlinked structures among cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Pretreatment of biomass involves various physical, chemical, biological, and physiochemical protocols which are of importance, dependent upon their individual or combined dissolution effect. Physical pretreatment involves a reduction in the size of the biomass using mechanical, extrusion, irradiation, and sonification methods while chemical pretreatment involves the breaking of various bonds present in the LCB structure. This can be obtained by using an acidic, alkaline, ionic liquid, and organosolvent methods. Biological pretreatment is considered an environment-friendly and safe process involving various bacterial and fungal microorganisms. Distinct pretreatment methods, when combined and utilized in synchronization lead to more effective disruption of LCB, making biomass more accessible for further processing. These could be utilized in terms of their effectiveness for a particular type of cellulosic fiber and are namely steam explosion, liquid hot water, ammonia fibre explosion, CO 2 explosion, and wet air oxidation methods. The present review encircles various distinct and integrated pretreatment processes developed till now and their advancement according to the current trend and future aspects to make lignocellulosic biomass available for further hydrolysis and fermentation.

As the need for non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels has increased during the last few decades, the search for sustainable and renewable alternative sources has gained growing interest. Enzymatic hydrolysis in bioethanol production presents an important step, where sugars that are fermented are obtained in the final fermentation process. In the process of enzymatic hydrolysis, more and more new effective enzymes are being researched to ensure a more cost-effective process. There are many different enzyme strategies implemented in hydrolysis protocols, where different lignocellulosic biomass, such as wood feedstocks, different agricultural wastes, and marine algae are being used as substrates for an efficient bioethanol production. This review investigates the very recent enzymatic hydrolysis pathways in bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass.

The excessive utilization of petroleum resources leads to global warming, crude oil price fluctuations, and the fast depletion of petroleum reserves. Biodiesel has gained importance over the last few years as a clean, sustainable, and renewable energy source. This review provides knowledge of biodiesel production via transesterification/esterification using different catalysts, their prospects, and their challenges. The intensive research on homogeneous chemical catalysts points to the challenges in using high free fatty acids containing oils, such as waste cooking oils and animal fats. The problems faced are soap formation and the difficulty in product separation. On the other hand, heterogeneous catalysts are more preferable in biodiesel synthesis due to their ease of separation and reusability. However, in-depth studies show the limited activity and selectivity issues. Using biomass waste-based catalysts can reduce the biodiesel production cost as the materials are readily available and cheap. The use of an enzymatic approach has gained precedence in recent times. Additionally, immobilization of these enzymes has also improved the statistics because of their excellent functional properties like easy separation and reusability. However, free/liquid lipases are also growing faster due to better mass transfer with reactants. Biocatalysts are exceptional in good selectivity and mild operational conditions, but attractive features are veiled with the operational costs. Nanocatalysts play a vital role in heterogeneous catalysis and lipase immobilization due to their excellent selectivity, reactivity, faster reaction rates owing to their higher surface area, and easy recovery from the products and reuse for several cycles.