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The tung tree (Vernicia fordii Hemsl.), as a woody oilseed crop, has been cultivated in China for thousands of years, and its leaves are rich in cellulose and proteins. The tung leaf is an alternative raw material for the traditional ethanol fermentation of food crops. In this work, the effects of the simultaneous saccharification fermentation of tung leaves at different substrate concentrations on gas production characteristics, reducing sugars, pH, oxidation–reduction potential (ORP), and ethanol yield were investigated during bioethanol production. In addition, the effect of the initial fermentation pH on the ethanol fermentation of tung leaves was explored. The results showed that during bioethanol production from tung leaves, the pH of the fermentation broth showed a continuous decreasing trend. Moreover, the ORP showed a decreasing trend and then rebounded, and the concentration of reducing sugars initially increased and then decreased. The optimal ethanol yield of 4.99 g/L was obtained when the substrate concentration was 100 g/L. Changes in the initial pH have little effect on yeast activity, but such changes can affect the yeast cell wall structure and substance transport, leading to differences in the ethanol yield. When the initial pH is 7, the maximum ethanol yield is 5.22 g/L. The experimental results indicate that the utilization of tung leaves for bioethanol production has a good potential for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of global waste and the decline of fossil fuels are calling for recycling waste into energy and materials. For example, rice straw, a by-product of rice cultivation, can be converted into biogas and by-products with added value, e.g., biofertilizer, yet processing rice straw is limited by the low energy content, high ash and silica, low nitrogen, high moisture, and high-quality variability. Here, we review the recycling of rice straw with focus on the global and Chinese energy situations, conversion of rice straw into energy and gas, biogas digestate management, cogeneration, biogas upgrading, bioeconomy, and life cycle assessment. The quality of rice straw can be improved by pretreatments, such as baling, ensiling, and co-digestion of rice straw with other feedstocks. The biogas digestate can be used to fertilize soils. The average annual potential energy of collectable rice straw, with a lower heating value of 15.35 megajoule/kilogram, over the past ten years (2013–2022) could reach 2.41 × 109 megajoule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of bio‐ethylene is a promising way to replace fossil‐based ethylene production, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and working towards China's carbon neutrality goals. This study elaborates on five bio‐ethylene technological pathways: first‐ and second‐generation bioethanol dehydration, direct and indirect thermochemical synthesis, and methanol‐to‐olefins (MTO). It retrieves information about them from commercial patents and the scientific literature, and comprehensively assesses their potential for application in large‐scale ethylene production in China. The techno‐economic feasibility of these five technological pathways is discussed in terms of feedstock availability, investment level, technological development level, and political issues such as the carbon neutrality goal to which China's government is committed. Overall, two pathways (indirect thermochemical synthesis and MTO) exhibited competitive minimum ethylene selling prices at 5243 yuan/t (822 USD t–1) and 6767 yuan/t (1061 USD t–1), respectively, of which both are lower than the average ethylene market price of 7000 yuan/t (1098 USD t–1). In comparison with the conventional fossil‐derived ethylene, bio‐ethylene could decrease carbon emission by 3.2%–15.1% under a scenario of 20% bio‐ethylene substitution in 2019, showing promising potential for decarbonizing the ethylene industry and contributing to the achievement of China's carbon neutrality goals. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The integration of a model combining multi-layer dimensions of Life cycle assessment (LCA), external Supply Chain (SC) risk factors and Geographical Information System (GIS) is lacking; in order to fulfil this research gap this article proposes an integrated model combining LCA, SC-risk factors and GIS. This research assesses the sustainability of various supply chains representing bio-derived levulinic acid production. The feedstock supplies are corn stover from US, and rice straw from Thailand, China and India. A combined life cycle assessment (LCA) and supply chain (SC) approach, from farm to final bio-derived product distribution and sales are investigated. GIS is applied to provide resolution of spatial and location datasets for the supply chain. The proposed framework is tested on 8 scenarios for the supply and distribution of 100 kilo-ton levulinic acid delivered to China (35%), US (30%), Germany (20%), Japan (10%) and Singapore (5%). The results showed that scenarios 5 and 6 are observed to have the highest overall (external, macro) risks. An overall quantitative (scaled) assessment highlighted that scenarios 1 and 2 are observed to both have the least impacts. With revenue as the main SC priority, scenario 7 gained the advantage of displaying an overall reasonable (moderate) sustainability performance. Based on the limitations of the present integrated model, a future research framework was suggested to include i) multi-criteria optimization methods; ii) land use change (LUC); iii) Water Footprint; iv) dynamic modelling. Image 1 • Combined LCA and supply chain (SC) is modelled for bio-derived levulinic acid. • GIS used to identify locations of feedback supply to proposed biorefineries. • Biomass feedstock include US stover; and rice straw from Thailand, China and India. • Land footprint, costs and revenues, external SC risks and impacts of 8 scenarios. • Future framework/research is suggested to include LUC, WF and dynamic optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Characteristics of four biorefinery methods were compared shoulder by shoulder. • Photo-fermentation biohydrogen production exhibited the greatest economy. • Biomethane presented a maximum yield of 196.0 mL and gross thermal of 6468.4 J/gDM. • Target product of biomethane had the highest CO 2 emissions of 196.01 mL/g DM. Biorefinery technology promotes the realization of the Paris Agreement, China's achievement of its carbon peak, and carbon neutralization. Photo-fermentation biohydrogen production, dark fermentation biohydrogen production, biomethane production, and bioethanol production are several promising biorefinery methods. In this study, corn stover was used as the raw material, and the gas, liquid, and kinetic characteristics of four biorefinery methods were investigated. The production yield, gross thermal energy, economy, and greenhouse gas emissions of the target product per gram of corn stover were studied. The maximum yields of photo-fermentation biohydrogen production, dark fermentation biohydrogen production, biomethane production, and bioethanol production were 68.4 mL/g dry matter (DM), 47.4 mL/g DM, 196.0 mL/g DM, and 2.7 g/L, respectively. The maximum gross thermal energy obtained from biomethane production was 7017.3 J/g DM. The maximum economy of 1.4 RMB/g DM was observed in photo-fermentation biohydrogen production. The highest greenhouse gas emission of the target product from biomethane production was 196.0 mL/g DM. The results provide a reference for the efficient utilization of biomass resources and a comprehensive evaluation of biorefinery technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Disposal of waste cooking oil causes the sewage treatment system to get clogged. • Characterization of WCO is critical to examine any oleochemicals performance. • WCO is potential for valuable products via chemical or biological processes. • Animal feed additives from WCO are prohibited due to concerns of food chain. • Intensified technological advances enable the commercialization of WCO products. Waste cooking oil (WCO) is largely generated and disposed into the environment, especially in China and India, making it one of the largest pollutants in the environment. The disposal of high loads of WCO is causing many detrimental environmental problems, including blockages in the sewer, hindrance of sewage pretreatment at wastewater treatment plants, as well as water and soil pollution if WCO is dumped into municipal solid waste landfills. The most common solution to the aforementioned problems is to utilise WCO in biodiesel synthesis. Recently, owing to the similar properties of WCO to vegetable oils, the oleochemical potential of WCO has also been examined to explore its suitability to replace vegetable oils in the production of various oleochemicals. In this regard, the utilisation of WCO as a cheap feedstock to synthesise animal feed, green solvents, fermentative products, grease, biolubricant, etc. is promising and can be performed using existing technologies. Therefore, aside from the usage as energy sources, these applications have provided a secondary use to WCO which mitigate the adverse effects caused by WCO. The subsidies and financial support in major WCO producing countries are significant in pursuing the advancement of the current regulatory frameworks for WCO collection, transportation, and utilisation. Technological advancements via intensified approaches are not only upgrading WCOs recycling more efficiently but also allowing greater working flexibility. This review highlights the challenges in using WCO for producing value-added products and its future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To meet the demand of its fast growing economy, China has become already the second largest buyer of crude oil. China is facing critical problems of energy shortage and environment deterioration. Rational and efficient energy use and environment protection are both getting more attention in China. Biomass energy is renewable energy made from biological sources. China''s biomass resources are abundant, which could provide energy for future social and economic development. However technologies for biomass resource conversion in China are still just beginning. In this paper, current biomass resource distribution and technologies of biomass energy, including power generation, biofuel production and biomass-based chemical production are reviewed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Environmental and economic performances of two WS biorefineries are compared. • Formic acid (FA) design enhances carbon and energy utilization efficiencies of WS. • Expanded FA biorefinery has GHG emissions saving potential over 2.25t CO 2 e/t WS. • Expanded FA biorefinery has a positive annual cash flow of 1.74 × 10 7 USD/yr. • FA biorefineries in Henan have GHG emissions saving potential over 1.16 × 10 7 t CO 2 e. "Biorefinery" refers to facilities that utilize plant materials from either marine or terrestrial environment. More complete utilizations of biomass via less aggressive processes to produce higher value-added products are the area of interests to achieve economic feasibility and environmental advances. In this study, carbon and energy efficiencies of straw utilization as well as environmental performance of a formic acid pretreatment (Formiline) based biorefinery producing ethanol, furfural, and lignin were evaluated and compared with those of the conventional Dilute acid pretreatment based biorefinery. Results show that the Formiline biorefinery is superior in all aspects mentioned above except ODP (Ozone layer depletion) in life cycle assessment (LCA) results. Furthermore, the Formiline supply chain design was expanded to include processing of lignin to lignin-based phenol–formaldehyde (LPF) resin and furfural to multiple products such as butadiene, surfactants, jet fuel, and lubricants. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction potentials and economic performances of expanded supply chains were quantified. Results reveal that all the expanded designs result in positive GHG reduction potentials, delivering promising contributions to China's 2060 carbon neutrality ambition. Among four expanded supply chain scenarios, those producing surfactants and lubricants are more economic feasible than the baseline. However, conclusions are highly influenced by product prices and discussed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Biorefinery served as sustainable strategic for emerging circular bioeconomy. • Various kinds of organic solid waste have distinct optimal biorefinery process. • Biorefinery facing a big challenge in technical, financial and social awareness. • Circular bioeconomy requires coordinated policy intervention in socioeconomic. Biorefinery perceived as impeccable encouraging perspective of generating multiple bio-products from organic solid waste through integration of various relevant techniques. With the improved attractiveness of circular bio-economy as a greatly potential approach in view of social soaring energy demands and biodiversity conservation, biorefinery contributed as sustainable strategic mechanism for emerging circular bio-economy. Present study outlined a comprehensive review of the status for organic solid waste derived from agriculture, industry and urban toward to available biorefinery approach. In addition, evaluated techno-economic assessment and proposed the current bottleneck challenges and future perspective for sustainability of circular bio-economy in China. The results demonstrated that the diversity kinds of solid waste played an essential role in implement of biorefinery in circular bio-economy. Achieving sustainable circular bio-economy requires coordinated development of economic, environment and social. There is still a great gap between actual performance with expectation of biorefinery in bio-economy, comprehensive investigations and depth exploration were critical for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pretreatments to overcome recalcitrance and valorise biomass fractions are reviewed. • Mild and classical industrial thermochemical treatments are compared. • New patents of innovative acid and alkaline or combined treatments are presented. • China, USA and South Korea are the major patent applicants in this field. • Mild acid pretreatment is identified as the most promising technology. Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most abundant organic resources worldwide and is a promising source of renewable energy and bioproducts. It basically consists of three fractions, cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, which confer a recalcitrant structure. As such, pretreatment steps are required to make each fraction available for further use, with acidic, alkaline and combined acidic-alkaline treatments being the most common techniques. This review focuses on recent strategies for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment, with a critical discussion and comparison of their efficiency based on the composition of the materials. Mild pretreatments usually allow the recovery of the three biomass fractions for further transformation and valorisation. An insight is provided of newly developed technologies from recently filed patents on lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment and the transformation of agro-industrial residues into high value-added products, such as biofuels and organic acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biorefining of Chinese food waste (FW) into transport fuels was assessed in terms of amount of fuel produced and over all Global Warming Potential (GWP) for six different scenarios including biogas, biomethane, bioethanol and biodiesel in different combinations. The life-cycle perspective used included GWP aspects of material and energy use, emissions during biorefining and management of residues, as well as substitution of fossil fuels according to the energy content of biofuels. All of the six FW biorefineries revealed savings in GWP ranging from -19 to -138 kg CO 2 eqv. per ton of wet FW. Compared to the reference scenario with only anaerobic digestion (S0), introducing biogas upgrading to biomethane (S1) improved the GWP by 37%; while producing bioethanol prior to anaerobic digestion (S2) decreased the savings in GWP. Introducing biodiesel prior to anaerobic digestion (S3) revealed around 60% improvement in GWP, while combining biodiesel and biomethane gave the largest improvement in GWP, 84% compared to the reference scenario, and the most fuels (around 2400 MJ in terms of 30 kg biodiesel and 35 kg biomethane per ton of wet FW). A sensitivity analysis revealed that the electricity production based on the biogas was an important parameter and appears in all refineries, while the results was less sensitive to the production of biodiesel and biomethane. The residue management contributed also to the GWP, but did not vary much among the biorefinery scenarios., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

According to the global survey, Iran, China, India, and USA are leading producers of pomegranate. Among them, India tops the chart as the highest producer of pomegranate, cultivating 1.14 million tons per annum. Peels cover 50% weight of whole pomegranate fruit and are mostly discarded as waste. This enormous peel waste has innumerable health benefits. Pomegranate peel (PP) constitutes various antioxidants, anthocyanins, and polyphenols such as ellagic acid, pectin, gallic acid, and many others which can be extracted. A detailed process for sequential extraction, with zero discharge, of such valuable chemicals from biorefinery point of view is developed in this study. Major products considered for extraction include ellagic acid (EA), lignin, and pectin. Also, the total phenolic content (TPC) and total reducing sugar (TRS) content are found in the intermediate stages. The percent yield of the products EA, lignin, and pectin is 10%, 13%, and 19% with respect to the weight of pomegranate peels (PP) processed. For the first time, a sequential extraction of products with its detailed process flow diagram, process inventory, and life cycle assessment (LCA) of PP biorefinery is presented. The global warming potential of the PP biorefinery is found to be 4505.8 kg CO 2 eq. per ton of PP processed. The intense hydrolysis step contributed majorly to the overall GWP indicator.

The limited quality of liquid product from the fast pyrolysis of biomass resources is a great obstacle to its large-scale application. Herein, a distributed-centralized agricultural straw pyrolysis (DCP) system with products of high market acceptance was implemented based on the design of a pilot plant and previous research. The system consisted of distributed pyrolysis workshops and a centralized upgrading factory that involved crude oil separation, hydrogen production, and hydrorefining. The crude fuel was separated by distillation before hydrotreatment, which avoids external hydrogen and energy consumption compared with direct hydrotreatment, and the hydrotreatment unit is independent of external hydrogen supply. The environmental impacts of a specific case designed for the northern region of Shandong province in China were evaluated using a life cycle assessment (LCA) method. LCA results indicated that abiotic depletion potential, acidification potential, global warming potential, ozone layer depletion potential, and human toxicity potential were primarily from fuel combustion, electricity, and N fertilizer. Eutrophication potential was primarily from the biomass production stage. Results demonstrated that the GWP of the system was -0.62 kg CO 2,eq per kg crop straw. Comparison with the conventional straw incorporation method indicated the economic and social benefits of the DCP system, which is thus expected to be a promising option for crop residue disposal., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

After the implementation of a biofuel target in 2017, China, the second largest consumer of oil in the world, accelerated the development of lignocellulosic biomass technology to produce ethanol and minimized food security risks commonly associated with first generation biofuel production. In this study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to investigate three new lignocellulosic biomass refinery systems based on corncob which co-produce ethanol with chemicals and energy. The bioethanol is used in E10 and E85 biofuel mixes and these are compared with a fossil gasoline reference system. Using 1 km distance driven by a compact size flexible fuel passenger vehicle as the functional unit and a exergy allocation approach to the raw material inputs and to the co-products in the simulated multifunctional biorefinery processes, the results indicate that regardless of the configuration of the ethanol-biorefinery, ethanol-blended fuels performed better than gasoline in terms of fossil fuels depletion (E10 6% lower; E85 64–70% lower), global warming potential (E10 1–10% lower; E85 5–113% lower) and human toxicity potential (E10 6–7% lower; E85 72–75% lower), but worst in terms of ozone layer depletion (E10 4.5–6.8 times higher; E85 51.9–78.2 times higher), acidification (E10 30–50% higher; E85 3.3–5.5 times higher) and eutrophication potential (E10 5.2–7.0 times higher; E85 42.4–64.0 times higher) than gasoline. Image 1 • The environmental impacts of corn planting was allocated to corn, stalk and corncob. • Exergy allocation was applied. • E10 was 6% and E85 was 64–70% lower of FDP than gasoline. • E10 was 1–10% lower and E85 was 5–113% lower of GWP than gasoline. • E10 and E85 performed inferior ODP, AP and EP than gasoline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]