BIOMASS

Md. Murad Khan

Lecturer, Department of Microbiology
Jagannath University, Dhaka.
 Biomass
Biomass is any organic matterwood, crops,
seaweed, animal wastes that can be used as an
energy source.
Biomass is a renewable energy source because its
supplies are not limited. We can always grow trees
and crops, and waste will always exist.
Biomass resources can be distinguished as byproducts
with no or low profit from agricultural crops or
industrial processes and as crops grown solely for the
purpose of energy production.
 Supply of biomass
Potential biomass supply comes from
Lignocellulose (accounts for approximately 50%
of the biomass in the world)
Starch
Sugar beet
Potatoes
Soybean
Cassava
Cereals
 Conversion of lignocellulose
Plant cell walls contain three major polymers:
Cellulose (an insoluble linear unbranched
homopolysaccharide consisting of glucose
subunits linked via -1,4 glycosidic linkages)
Hemicellulose (non-cellulosic polysaccharides
including mainly xylans, mannans, glucans) and
Lignin (an intricate polyphenolic structure)
The total complex of these polymers is often
referred to as lignocellulose.
 Conversion of lignocellulose
Lignocellulose is built up as cellulose fibres that are
partially arranged in a crystalline structure, integrated
with hemicellulose and embedded in a matrix of
lignin.
Therefore, in contrast to glucose and starch, the main
problems encountered with the biological conversion
of lignocellulose arise from its inaccessible structure.
The sugar availability of polymers is low and,
generally, hydrolysis of the cellulose and
hemicellulose is the rate-limiting step.
 The goal of the pretreatment process is to
Remove lignin and hemicellulose
Reduce the crystallinity of cellulose and
Increase the porosity of the lignocellulosic
materials.
 Pretreatment must meet the following
requirements:
(1) Improve the formation of sugars or the ability to
subsequently form sugars by hydrolysis
(2) Avoid the degradation or loss of carbohydrate
(3) Avoid the formation of byproducts that are
inhibitory to the subsequent hydrolysis and
fermentation processes, and
(4) Be cost-effective.
 The pretreatment and hydrolysis of
lignocellulose can be carried out
Physically (e.g. steam treatment)
Chemically (e.g. by acid or alkaline hydrolysis)
Biologically or
A combination of these methods
 Physical pretreatment
Processes
 Physical pretreatment
Possible changes in biomass:
Increase in accessible surface area and pore size
Decrease in cellulose crystallinity
Decrease in degrees of polymerization
 Physical pretreatment
Advantages and disadvantages:
Most of the methods are highly energy demanding
Most of them can not remove lignin
It is preferable not to use these methods for
industrial applications
No chemicals are generally required for these
methods
Chemical and physicochemical methods
Processes
Chemical and physicochemical methods
Possible changes in biomass:
- Increase in accessible surface area
- Partial or nearly complete delignification
- Decrease in cellulose crystallinity
- Decrease in degrees of polymerization
- Partial or complete hydrolysis of hemicellulose
Chemical and physicochemical methods
Advantages and disadvantages:
These methods are among the most effective and include the most
promising processes for industrial applications
Usually rapid treatment rate
Typically need harsh conditions
There are chemical requirements
 Biological treatment
Processes
Use of fungi and actinomycetes
Possible changes:
Delignification
Reduction in degree of polymerization of cellulose
Partial hydrolysis of hemicellulose
 Biological treatment
Advantages and disadvantages
- Low energy requirement
- No chemical requirement
- Mild environmental conditions
- Very low treatment rate
- Did not consider for commercial application
 Ethanol production
Microbes involved:
Yeasts
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Pichia stipitis
Candida shehatae
Pachysolen tannophilus
Bacteria
Zymomonas mobilis
Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum
C. thermosaccharolyticum
C. thermocellum
 Ethanol production
The baker's or brewers yeast, Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, has several distinct advantages over
other yeasts:
Under excess carbon conditions, its metabolic flux
to ethanol is hardly affected by the presence of
oxygen
It is able to grow under strict anaerobiosis
It has a high ethanol tolerance, amounting to 150
g/l ethanol.
 Ethanol production
Pichia stipitis,Candida shehatae and Pachysolen
tannophilus-
Able to ferment C5-sugars
Ethanol production rate of these yeasts with
glucose as substrate is at least five times lower
than observed in S. cerevisiae
Tolerance to ethanol is 2-4 times lower than S.
cerevisiae
 Ethanol production
Zymomonas mobilis
Results in a high flux and yield of ethanol
Has a fairly high ethanol tolerance, allowing
concentrations up to 100 g/l
Has a higher optimal temperature than S. cerevisiae
which reduces the cost of cooling during
fermentation.
One drawback is that the substrate range of Z. mobilis
is limited as only glucose, fructose and sucrose can
be converted into ethanol
 Ethanol production
Clostridia
Thermophilic
The high growth temperatures make cooling during the
fermentation superfluous and create ways for the on-line removal
of ethanol by distillation.
Besides hexoses, these bacteria also convert C5-sugars and amino
acids to ethanol.
Clostridia are saccharolytic and are thus able to use a wide range
of untreated agricultural substrates
The main disadvantage of clostridia is their low tolerance to
ethanol, i.e. the maximum attainable ethanol concentration by C.
thermocellum is less than 30 g/l.
 Ethanol production
Genetic modification
The major disadvantage of S. cerevisiae in the production of
bioethanol is its inability to utilise C5-sugars.
To overcome this drawback, the genes encoding xylose reductase
and xylitol dehydrogenase were cloned into S. cerevisiae.
These enzymes are responsible for the conversion of xylose via
xylitol to xylulose which is a C5-sugar that can be fermented by S.
cerevisiae.
After transformation, S. cerevisiae was able to produce ethanol
from xylose, but the productivity was low and xylitol was formed
as byproduct, diverting substrate from ethanol production
BIOGAS
 Biogas
Biogas is a combustible mix of gases produced by the
natural fermentation of wet biomass under the exclusion
of oxygen (anaerobic digestion/ fermentation).
Composition:
The main combustible
component methane makes up
about 50 to 75 volume per cent.
Other molecules present in
biogas include carbon dioxide,
sulphide, oxygen and water
vapour
 Biogas: The Production Process
For biogas to form, different microbes with differing
environmental requirements are active in four
consecutive stages:
Hydrolysis: Microorganisms excrete enzymes to
break down organic matter like carbohydrates, lipids
and nucleic acids into the smaller units glucose,
glycerol, purines and pyridines.
Acidogenesis: Fermentative bacteria process products
of hydrolysis into acetate, carbon dioxide, hydrogen
and volatile fatty acids.
 Biogas: The Production Process
Acetogenesis: Volatile fatty acids and alcohols are
oxidised into acetate, hydrogen and carbon dioxide
before conversion into methane. This process is
closely interlinked with methanogenesis.
Methanogenesis: Specialised single-celled
microorganisms (archaea) produce methane from
acetate, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This is the
slowest step in the process and severely influenced by
operation conditions like feedstock, feeding rate,
temperature, and pH.
 ASSIGNMENT ON
Biogas Production in Bangladesh
THANKS TO ALL