Alcohols and bioalcohols : characteristics, production, and uses

246 Pages·5.329 MB·English

by  Angelo Basile, Francesco Dalena

CHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS

A B
LCOHOLS AND IOALCOHOLS

C , P
HARACTERISTICS RODUCTION
U
AND SES

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C R A
HEMISTRY ESEARCH AND PPLICATIONS

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CHEMISTRY RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS

A B
LCOHOLS AND IOALCOHOLS

C , P
HARACTERISTICS RODUCTION
U
AND SES

ANGELO BASILE
AND
FRANCESCO DALENA
EDITORS

New York
Copyright © 2015 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alcohols and bioalcohols : characteristics, production, and uses / editors, Angelo Basile and Francesco
Dalena (Institute on Membrane Technology of the Italian National Research Council, c/o University of
Calabria, Italy).
pages cm. -- (Chemistry research and applications)
Includes index.
ISBN: (cid:28)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:23)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:16)(cid:20)(cid:27)(cid:26)(cid:16)(cid:26) (eBook)
1. Alcohols. 2. Alcohol as fuel. 3. Biomass. 4. Chemistry, Technical. I. Basile, Angelo (Angelo Bruno),
editor. II. Dalena, Francesco, editor.
TP248.A5A43 2014
661'.82--dc23
2014037737

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. † New York
CONTENTS

Preface vii
Chapter 1 Bioalcohol Production 1
Francesco Dalena
and Angelo Basile
Chapter 2 Bioethanol Production and Metabolism by Aquatic Photosynthetic
Microbes: Algae and Cyanobacteria 23
G. Kenchappa Kumaraswamy
Chapter 3 Process Development for Hydrolysate Optimization
from Lignocellulosic Biomass Towards Biofuel Production 41
Ankita Mazumder, Sunil Maity, Dwaipayan Sen
and Kalyan Gayen
Chapter 4 Application of Ultrasonication in the Production
of Second-Generation Bioethanol 77
Keat Teong Lee and Cynthia Ofori-Boateng
Chapter 5 The Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Small Organic Molecules
(Methanol, Formic Acid and Ethanol) 95
Zhiming Cui
Chapter 6 Bimetallic Catalysts, Alloy Catalysts, and Bed Reactors
for Alcohols and Bio-alcohols Reforming 119
Vincenzo Palma, Antonio Ricca, Marco Martino,
Daniela Barba and Paolo Ciambelli
Chapter 7 Alcohols and Bio-Alcohols and Bio-Alcohols Derived Hydrogen
in Fuel Cells 133
Vincenzo Palma, Antonio Ricca, Marco Martino,
Daniela Barba and Paolo Ciambelli
Chapter 8 Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming of Alcohols
in Conventional Reactors 167
Francesco Frusteri and Giuseppe Bonura
vi Contents
Chapter 9 Alcohols and Bio-Alcohols Steam and Autothermal Reforming
in a Membrane Reactor 181
Jordi Llorca and Ali Hedayati
Chapter 10 Photocatalytic Conversion of Alcohols 205
Riitta L. Keiski, Tanja Kolli,
Prem Kumar Seelam,
Khawer Shafqat, Anna Valtanen
and Mika Huuhtanen
Index 223
PREFACE

During the most recent decades, the industrial research efforts have become more focused
on low-cost processes to satisfy the continuously increasing energy demand. Bioethanol
production is both a potential and a feasible method to solve this problem. In fact, especially
in the last 10 years, many research projects on ethanol production have been carried out
principally because it is a prosperous renewable energy carrier mainly produced from biomass
fermentation.
Production of ethanol (bioethanol) from biomass is one way to reduce both consumption
of crude oil and environmental pollution because it is appropriate for the mixed fuel in the
diesel engine for its high octane number that impede self-ignition in the gasoline engine;
besides the fuel bioethanol production processes from biomass (such as agricultural residues
and urban wastes) is the most promising feedstock considering its great availability and low
cost.
In addition, methanol and bioethanol are considered as promising candidates for
hydrogen production via steam reforming using catalytic processes. In fact, the use of
catalysts plays a crucial role in hydrogen production through ethanol reforming. Many works
of research have been addressed, in the last years, to the investigation of the influence and the
optimization of catalysis activity on alcohol and bioalcohol steam reforming in bed-type and
in membrane-type reactors.
The aim of this book is to provide an overview of worldwide research in the use of
bioalcohols in the energy development. It summarizes the characteristics and methods used to
produce bioethanol and the current approaches on lignocellulosic-derived biofuel with its
performance and its exhaust emissions; besides, this book also provides an overview of recent
research activities in the field of reactor and catalytic reaction by steam reforming of alcohol
and bioalcohol for the production of H .
2
This book can be considered split in two main parts: bioethanol production and its use.
Going a bit in detail, in particular, Ch. 1 (Dalena and Basile) starts giving a global
overview of research and development in the chain of production that from biomass induce
the production of bioethanol. The main steps involved, and descripted in detail, are four:
pretreatment, hydrolysis, fermentation and purification. Concerning Ch. 2 (Kumaraswamy), it
mainly concentrates on Algae and Cyanobacteria. They are the robust photosynthetic
microbes with innate potential to produce high levels of carbohydrates, which could be
harnessed for bioethanol production. Owing to their minimal growth requirements and ease of
genome modification than plants, these can be better and cheaper feedstocks for bioethanol.
Ch. 3 (Mazumder, Maity, Sen and Gayen) gives a wide overview on the renewable biofuels
viii Angelo Basile and Francesco Dalena
derived from lignocellulosic biomass through hydrolysis. The focuses on the amalgamated
techniques with both hydrolysis and fermentation, such as separate enzymatic hydrolysis and
fermentation, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, non isothermal simultaneous
saccharification and fermentation, simultaneous saccharification and cofermentation. Recent
studies demonstrate that ultrasound energy could efficiently break the recalcitrant nature of
lignocellulosic biomass for further conversion into cellulosic ethanol. To this argument is
dedicated Ch. 4 (Lee and Ofori-Boateng), which main focus is geared towards the application
of ultrasound energy in different types of lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment, hydrolysis
and fermentation stages in a bioethanol refinery.
As it is well known, direct liquid fuel cells (especially methanol, formic acid and ethanol)
have attracted growing attention because liquid fuels are easily handled, transported and
stored; besides they have high specific energy at low operating temperatures. The main
limiting factor for their commercialization is the poor oxidation kinetics of liquid fuels. These
interesting aspects are presented and discussed in Ch. 5 (Cui), where a brief review about
both the fundamental and technological aspects of direct liquid fuel cells are described.
Particular emphasis is dedicated on fundamental research, which specifically includes five
typical anode reactions: methanol oxidation in acid, methanol oxidation in alkaline media,
formic acid oxidation in acid media, ethanol oxidation in acid and ethanol oxidation alkaline
media.
Ch. 6 (Palma, Ricca, Martino, Barba and Ciambelli) provides a brief review on the state
of art in both a) the use of bimetallic and alloy catalysts and to the bed reactors in alcohols
and bio-alcohols reforming; and b) the structured catalysts with particular attention to the
structural stability in harsh environment that include vibrations, thermal cycling and
continuous start up and shut down. Next one is Ch. 7 (Palma, Ricca, Martino, Barba and
Ciambelli), which provides a introduction to the use of alcohols, bio-alcohols and bio-
alcohols derivatives in fuel cells technology, for energy production processes. For indirect
bio-alcohol fuel cells, the configuration of internal reforming, the direct and indirect internal
reforming for both the molten carbonate and the solid oxide fuel cells are described. Some
features of direct and indirect internal reforming in both these fuel cells are also shown, with
respect to the catalytic aspects and the most important operative parameters that the Authors
consider to be optimized in order to maximize the efficiency of the two systems, i.e. the
reaction temperature and the steam/carbon feed ratio. In this chapter, a brief introduction to
the use of the proton exchange membranes and the anion exchange membranes in direct
alcohol fuel cells is also presented.
Ch. 8 (Frusteri and Bonura) focus on the catalytic conversion of alcohols to produce
hydrogen, which is investigated with the aim to highlight the limits encountered in the
development of steam reforming processes. The chapter focus the incipient coke formation
promoted by olefins generated from alcohols, which is considered by scientists an obstacle
not easy to be overcome. The Authors show that the use of bimetallic systems and the
employment of fluid bed reactors fed with trace of oxygen can be considered as solutions for
the development of an efficient process for the production of CO-free hydrogen to be fed to
fuel cell systems.
Ch. 9 (Llorca and Hedayati) addressed their chapter on the catalytic steam reforming,
partial oxidation and oxidative steam reforming (autothermal reforming) reactions aimed at
hydrogen generation from alcohol-water mixtures (such as methanol, ethanol, glycerol, and
the exploitiation of renewable bio-alcohols). The Authors of this chapter suggest the use of