Alpha Creation EnterpriseBiofuel Research Journal2292-87824420171201Anaerobic treatment of agro-industrial wastewaters for COD removal in expanded granular sludge bed bioreactor7157205319610.18331/BRJ2017.4.4.3ENAbumalé Cruz-SalomónFacultad de Ingeniería. Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas. Libramiento Norte Poniente 1150. Lajas Maciel, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29039, Chiapas, México.Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Bioquímica, Tecnológico Nacional de México-Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Carretera Panamericana Km 1080, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29050, Chiapas, México.0000-0003-2852-6031Edna Ríos-ValdovinosFacultad de Ingeniería. Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas. Libramiento Norte Poniente 1150. Lajas Maciel, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29039, Chiapas, México.Francisco Pola-AlboresCentro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico en Energías Renovables, Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, Libramiento Norte Poniente 1150, Lajas Maciel, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29039, Chiapas, México.Rocío Meza-GordilloDepartamento de Ingeniería Química y Bioquímica, Tecnológico Nacional de México-Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Carretera Panamericana Km 1080, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29050, Chiapas, México.Selene Lagunas-RiveraCatedrática CONACYT, Tecnológico Nacional de México-Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Carretera Panamericana Km 1080, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29050, Chiapas, México.0000-0001-9266-811XVíctor M. Ruíz-ValdiviezoDepartamento de Ingeniería Química y Bioquímica, Tecnológico Nacional de México-Instituto Tecnológico de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Carretera Panamericana Km 1080, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, C.P. 29050, Chiapas, México.Journal Article20170707Untreated agro-industrial wastewaters are undesirable in the aquatic environment due to the presence of high organic matter contents. However, they may constitute a large potential for biogas production. The present investigation is focused on three laboratory-scale anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) bioreactors, continuously operated for 60 d under mesophilic condition with the aim of exploring the feasibility of treating three most significant agro-industrial wastewaters in Chiapas, Mexico (i.e., cheese whey, vinasse, and coffee-processing wastewater). The EGSB bioreactors were operated with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6 d under stable conditions (i.e., buffer index (BI) of 0.31, 0.34, and 0.03), generating a maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 91, 74, and 96% with an average methane production of 340, 245, and 300 mL/g COD∙d for cheese whey, vinasse, and coffee-processing wastewater, respectively. According to the obtained results, the EGSB bioreactors could be a sustainable alternative to simultaneously solve the environmental problems and to produce bioenergy.Alpha Creation EnterpriseBiofuel Research Journal2292-87824420171201Optimization of biofuel production from corn stover under supply uncertainty in Ontario7217295319710.18331/BRJ2017.4.4.4ENJonathan RanisauDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Emmanuel OgbeDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Aaron TrainoDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Mohammed BarboutiDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Mohamed ElsholkamiDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Ali ElkamelDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, UAE.Michael FowlerDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.Journal Article20170714In this paper, a biofuel production supply chain optimization framework is developed that can supply the fuel demand for 10% of Ontario. Different biomass conversion technologies are considered, such as pyrolysis and gasification and subsequent hydro processing and the Fischer-Tropsch process. A supply chain network approach is used for the modeling, which enables the optimization of both the biorefinery locations and the associated transportation networks. Gasification of corn stover is examined to convert waste biomass into valuable fuel. Biomass-derived fuel has several advantages over traditional fuels including substantial greenhouse gas reduction, generating higher quality synthetic fuels, providing a use for biomass waste, and potential for use without much change to existing infrastructure. The objective of this work is to show the feasibility of the use of corn stover as a biomass feedstock to a hydrocarbon biofuel supply chain in Ontario using a mixed-integer linear programming model while accounting for the uncertainty in the availability of corn stover. In the case study, the exact number of biorefineries is left as a policy decision and the optimization is carried out over a range of the possible numbers of facilities. The results obtained from the case study suggests implementing gasification technology followed by Fischer-Tropsch at two different sites in Ontario. The optimal solution satisfied 10% of the yearly fuel demand of Ontario with two production plants (14.8 billion L of fuel) and requires an investment of $42.9 billion, with a payback period of about 3 years.Alpha Creation EnterpriseBiofuel Research Journal2292-87824420171201Modern microbial solid state fermentation technology for future biorefineries for the production of added-value products7307405320110.18331/BRJ2017.4.4.5ENMusaalbakri Abdul MananEnzyme and Fermentation Technology Programme, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology Research Centre, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Persiaran MARDI – UPM, 43400 Serdang, Selangor Malaysia.School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom.Colin WebbSchool of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom.Journal Article20170829The promise of industrial biotechnology has been around since Chaim Weizmann developed acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation at the University of Manchester in 1917 and the prospects nowadays look brighter than ever. Today’s biorefinery technologies would be almost unthinkable without biotechnology. This is a growing trend and biorefineries have also increased in importance in agriculture and the food industry. Novel biorefinery processes using solid state fermentation (SSF) technology have been developed as alternative to conventional processing routes, leading to the production of added-value products from agriculture and food industry raw materials. SSF involves the growth of microorganisms on moist solid substrate in the absence of free-flowing water. Future biorefineries based on SSF aim to exploit the vast complexity of the technology to modify biomass produced by agriculture and the food industry for valuable by-products through microbial bioconversion. In this review, a summary has been made of the attempts at using modern microbial SSF technology for future biorefineries for the production of many added-value products ranging from feedstock for the fermentation process and biodegradable plastics to fuels and chemicals.