From grass to gas and beyond: Anaerobic digestion as a key enabling technology for a residual grass biorefinery.

Roadside grass clippings hold potential as a sustainable source of bioenergy as they do not compete with crops for land use, and are only partially utilized for low-value applications. In this study, we proposed using roadside grass as a sole feedstock for anaerobic digestion (AD) in three different settings, and assessed the potential of producing biomaterials and fertilizers from grass-based digestate. Wet continuous digestion at pilot scale and dry batch digestion at pilot and large scales resulted in biogas yields up to 700 Nm.

Exploring the environmental consequences of roadside grass as a biogas feedstock in Northwest Europe.

The Russo-Ukrainian war has highlighted concerns regarding the European Union's (EU) energy security, given its heavy dependence on Russian natural gas for electricity and heating. The RePowerEU initiative addresses this challenge by targeting a significant increase in biomethane production (up to 35 billion m by 2030) to replace natural gas, aligning with the EU methane strategy's emission reduction and air quality improvement goals. However, the use of energy crops as biogas feedstock has raised land-use concerns, necessitating a policy shift towards alternative sources such as agro-residues, livestock manure, and sewage sludge.

Rational Design Method Based on Techno-Economic Principles for Integration of Organic/Organic Pervaporation with Lipase Catalyzed Transesterification.

An engineering foundation is developed in this manuscript to allow the rational design of enzymatic transesterifications integrated with organic-organic pervaporation for the removal of methanol. In the first part, enzyme kinetics are elucidated for the solventless transesterification of two monoterpene alcohols with methyl acetate catalyzed by Novozym 435. Nonlinear regression revealed that three parameters (enzyme loading, forward and backward second-order reaction rate) sufficed to describe the entire conversion as a function of time.

The potential of microalgae biorefineries in Belgium and India: An environmental techno-economic assessment.

This study performs an environmental techno-economic assessment (ETEA) for multiple microalgae biorefinery concepts at different locations, those being Belgium and India. The ETEA methodology, which integrates aspects of the TEA and LCA methodologies and provides a clear framework for an integrated assessment model, has been proposed and discussed. The scenario in India has a higher profitability with a NPV of €40 million over a period of 10 years, while the environmental impact in Belgium is lower.