The technology of straw sugar conversion to diol chemicals

This paper reviews issues and applications for design of sustainable carbon dioxide conversion processes, specifically through chemical conversion, and the integration of the conversion processes with other systems from a process systems engineering (PSE) viewpoint. Systematic and computer-aided methods and tools for reaction network generation, processing route generation, process design/optimization, and sustainability analysis are reviewed with respect to carbon dioxide conversion. Also, the relevant gaps and opportunities are highlighted. In addition, the integration of carbon dioxide conversion processes with other systems including coexisting infrastructure and carbon dioxide sources is described. Then, the importance of PSE based studies for such application is discussed. Finally, some perspectives on the status and future directions of carbon dioxide conversion technology and the development and use of PSE approaches are given.

<p indent="0mm">Since the industrial revolution, rapid population growth and the burst of fossil energy consumption have led to massive CO₂ emissions, CO₂ reduction is recognized as an unavoidable task among the international community. In this context, CO₂ capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) has been considered as an unavoidable technology to achieve carbon neutrality. CCUS is an emerging and important technology that enables the large-scale low-carbon use of traditional fossil energy sources, and is the only technology pathway that can achieve the large-scale low-carbon use of fossil energy. Essentially, CCUS is a multi-technology approach with the ultimate goal of net CO₂ reduction. In this process, CO₂ is first enriched from industrial emission sources such as power plants, steel and iron (and even air) through CO₂ capture technology to obtain highly concentrated CO_2, followed by the isolation of CO₂ from the atmosphere through chemical conversion, bio-utilization and geological sequestration. The carbon capture process is located upstream of CCUS and is the key technology to control the cost of CCUS. The vast majority of CO₂ chemical conversion research and development work is still based on the traditional idea of CO₂ capture followed by conversion of the high CO₂ concentrations obtained, so the high cost of the CO₂ capture process itself limits the economics of the CO₂ conversion process and greatly limits the diffusion and rapid maturation of the technology. In order to further decrease the cost of CCUS, research efforts were devoted to the development of more efficient materials and processes. However, most of the previous practice was focused on single segment of the CCUS chain, while process integration within the CCUS framework has long been overlooked. Integrated carbon capture and conversion (ICCC) technology is a newly proposed process, where the CO₂ molecules are directly converted in its captured form. ICCC technology is an integrated CCUS technology developed within the framework of CCUS itself. In this process, CO₂ from an emission source is captured by an absorber or adsorbent and converted into downstream products by reacting directly with co-reactants without specifically obtaining high CO₂ concentrations. In this integrated process, CO₂ capture is not followed by energy and time consuming desorption processes, thus significantly reducing the overall energy consumption of the entire CCUS chain. In addition, the ICCC technology can combine emission sources and disposal points in space, reduce the need for CO₂ transport in the CCUS process, achieve source-sink matching, and even recreate the process of low/zero carbonization by converting CO₂ from emission sources <italic>in situ</italic> and in real time. This review presents the ICCC technology for the preparation of different products. The work carried out by researchers on the technical solutions, material construction and reaction mechanisms for the preparation of different products by ICCC is introduced, and the current problems faced by the integrated technology for the preparation of different products are analyzed. The development trend of the technology in the future is also discussed. In general, the ICCC technology has basically completed two stages of development: “Concept development” and “feasibility verification”. Under the new carbon neutral scenario, the research work in the field of ICCC has shown two major trends: Deepening the basic scientific understanding and strengthening the research and development of real-life conditions.

Thermochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass and downstream processing represents an attractive alternative in biomass-to-liquid fuels (BtL) production. There are several thermochemical conversion routes that not only can produce fossil-like fuels but also can simultaneously produce a wider range of fuels in terms of gasoline and diesel profiles. In this work, synthesis, evaluation, and integration of conversion of softwood biomass to liquid transportation fuels are investigated within a systematic framework. Five BtL conversion processes were presented by combining promising thermochemical conversion, upgrading, and separation technologies. Process flowsheet setups and simulations are performed with Aspen Plus version 8.8. The total production processes are evaluated with both products profiles and costs indicators for capital, energy, and total annual costs. Finally, opportunities for process integration to improve the process performance are explored for four integration scenarios. The base cas...

This article provides an introduction to the current Special Issue of the journal of Applied Thermal Engineering, which contains eight carefully selected articles from the 12th Conference Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction – PRES’09. This issue builds upon the multi-year co-operation between the PRES conference planners and the journal. The articles cover important subjects of increased energy and resource efficiency in industrial production and emission reduction. The first paper is based on the conference plenary presentation and is providing an overview of the historical developments in the Process Integration (PI) area and the apparently significant contribution of the PRES series of conferences. This is followed by a second group of two papers dedicated to important PI topics – retrofit of Heat Exchanger Networks and simultaneous minimisation of water and energy consumption. The third group contains three contributions dedicated to energy savings via the application of PI in specific industrial sectors. The final fourth group of two papers is dedicated to the implementation of energy conversion technologies. Those papers are discussing environmental impact of waste-to-energy processes and heat exchanger improvements.

The global reliance on fossil fuels has caused severe environmental challenges, emphasizing the urgent need for sustainable and renewable energy sources. Bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass has emerged as a promising alternative due to its abundance, renewability, and carbon-neutral footprint. However, its economic feasibility remains a major obstacle owing to high production costs, particularly those associated with low ethanol titers and the energy-intensive distillation process costs for low titers. High-solid loading processes (≥15% w/w or w/v) have demonstrated potential to overcome these limitations by minimizing water and solvent consumption, enhancing sugar concentrations, increasing ethanol titers, and lowering downstream processing cost. Nevertheless, high-solid loading also introduces operational bottlenecks, such as elevated viscosity, poor mixing, and limited mass and heat transfer, which hinder enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. This review critically examines emerging pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis strategies tailored for high-solid loading conditions. It also explores techniques that improve sugar yields and conversion efficiency while addressing key technical barriers, including enzyme engineering, process integration, and optimization. By evaluating these challenges and potential mitigation strategies, this review provides actionable insights to intensify lignocellulosic ethanol production and advance the development of scalable, cost-effective biorefinery platforms.

The large share of energy consumption in the residential sector has necessitated better understanding and evaluation of the energy needs in this sector, with the objective of identifying possible pathways for improvement. A series of approaches have been used in the literature to evaluate the current situation and predict the future energy and service needs of residential centres. High-level approaches evaluate the impact of long-term changes in the residential sector on the energy consumption and focus on determination of the energy supply requirements. Other approaches use input data with a higher level of detail and are used to estimate the energy consumption of individual users as representatives of the residential stock. This work uses heat signature models and climate data to build a parametrized residential sector profile for different climatic zones. The energy and service profile constructed herein is well-suited for exploring the best technologies for supplying residential requirements, drawing from the domain of process integration. This work demonstrates the usefulness of the residential profile by applying process integration techniques within a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation to evaluate optimal energy conversion technologies for two different district energy networks (DENs): the current network in place and a potential low-temperature refrigerant-based network. The results show that the refrigerant-based network, compared to the network in place, reduces energy consumption and operating cost by approximately 70 % and CO2 emissions by up to 100 %, depending on the mix of electricity used.

Mitsui introduces Hyper III fourth-generation metathesis catalysts

Smart technology has potential in tracking the key challenges based on population based on the sustainable future. In today’s cultures, a smart approach enables for the integration of information needed to address crucial concerns. The critical challenge is to limit the effects of global warming while maintaining a balanced economic growth. The impact of global warming mitigates the fundamental problem while ensuring the balance economic development. Intense research efforts should be directed toward balanced resource utilization, renewable energy system integration, efficient energy conversion technologies, effective process integration, effective techniques to enable a circular economy framework, and other issues that are important to the population. This paper finds the latest technology in the field of smart grid technologies which focused on the effective enhancement and efficient utilization of resource. The issues and challenges in using sustainable future are discussed and bring new ideas towards the sustainable future base on the application of smart technologies.

The primary objective and outcome of this project was the development and validation of a novel, low-cost, high-pressure fast-hydropyrolysis/hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process (H2Bioil) using supplementary hydrogen (H2) to produce liquid hydrocarbons from biomass. The research efforts under the various tasks of the project have culminated in the first experimental demonstration of the H2Bioil process, producing 100% deoxygenated >C4+ hydrocarbons containing 36-40% of the carbon in the feed of pyrolysis products from biomass. The demonstrated H{sub 2}Bioil process technology (i.e. reactor, catalyst, and downstream product recovery) is scalable to a commercial level and is estimated to be economically competitive for the cases when supplementary H2 is sourced from coal, natural gas, or nuclear. Additionally, energy systems modeling has revealed several process integration options based on the H2Bioilprocess for energy and carbon efficient liquid fuel production. All project tasks and milestones were completed or exceeded. Novel, commercially-scalable, high-pressure reactors for both fast-hydropyrolysis and hydrodeoxygenation were constructed, completing Task A. These reactors were capable of operation under a wide-range of conditions; enabling process studies that lead to identification of optimum process conditions. Model compounds representing biomass pyrolysis products were studied, completing Task B. These studies were critical in identifying and developing HDO catalysts to target specific oxygen functional groups. These process and model compound catalyst studies enabled identification of catalysts that achieved 100% deoxygenation of the real biomass feedstock, sorghum, to form hydrocarbons in high yields as part of Task C. The work completed during this grant has identified and validated the novel and commercially scalable H2Bioil process for production of hydrocarbon fuels from biomass. Studies on model compounds as well as real biomass feedstocks were utilized to identify optimized process conditions and selective HDO catalyst for high yield production of hydrocarbons from biomass. In addition to these experimental efforts, in Tasks D and E, we have developed a mathematical optimization framework to identify carbon and energy efficient biomass-to-liquid fuel process designs that integrate the use of different primary energy sources along with biomass (e.g. solar, coal or natural gas) for liquid fuel production. Using this tool, we have identified augmented biomass-to-liquid fuel configurations based on the fast-hydropyrolysis/HDO pathway, which was experimentally studied in this project. The computational approach used for screening alternative process configurations represents a unique contribution to the field of biomass processing for liquid fuel production.