Publications related to Improved Sugars Release from Chili Post-harvest Residues by Dilute Acid Assisted Lime Pretreatment

Development of Sustainable Carbohydrate-Based Solvents by Acetal Functionalisation of Biomass

Organic solvents are ubiquitous in industrial and domestic applications from the production of pharmaceuticals to household consumer products. The negative impact of most traditional solvents, especially aprotic types, on the environment, health, and safet ...

EPFL2024

Design and Synthesis of Bio-based Amphiphiles from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Songlan Sun

In the pursuit of a carbon-neutral chemical industry, minimizing fossil feedstock consumption while integrating renewable carbon sources is imperative. Surfactants, inherently amphiphilic, pose challenges in separation and recovery processes. Given their e ...

EPFL2024

Renewable energy integration and waste heat valorization in aluminum remelting for co-producing kerosene and methanol

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos, Réginald Germanier

The aluminium sector relies on natural gas for the conversion of recycled scrap into new feedstock, which results in substantial atmospheric emissions. Hydric resources are also impacted, as they serve as heat sinks for the waste heat generated during the ...

Associazione Italiana Di Ingegneria Chimica2024

New Polymers from Biomass-Derived Hydroxycinnamic Acid Derivatives

Ghezae Tekleab

Polymers play a central role in shaping our world across various fields, but their heavy reliance on petrochemicals poses climate change, environmental and health risks. To address and alleviate these issues, transitioning to sustainable polymers, sourced ...

EPFL2024

Decision support for the design of integrated biorefineries

Julia Granacher

A shift from fossil-based energy and products to more sustainable alternatives is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and associated climate change impacts. Biomass represents a promising alternative for providing fuels and carbon-based products w ...

EPFL2023

Investigation of Biomass Hydrothermal Conversion Products by HRMS

Daniil Salionov

The dependency on fossil fuels and their impact on the environment is a matter of great concern for the future sustainability of modern society. The development of the "green" technologies which utilize renewable energy sources is now under investigation. ...

EPFL2023

Integrated production of urea and nitric acid in the pulp industry: techno-economic and environmental analysis of black liquor gasification-based processes

François Maréchal, Shivom Sharma, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

The pursuit of alternative energy sources for the nitrogen fertilizers sector has recently earned renewed interest due to increasing concerns regarding the world dependence on non-renewable energy resources and also motivated by the more stringent environm ...

2022

Biomass to energy: a machine learning model for optimum gasification pathways

Berend Smit, Kevin Maik Jablonka, Susana Garcia Lopez

Biomass is a highly versatile renewable resource for decarbonizing energy systems. Gasification is a promising conversion technology that can transform biomass into multiple energy carriers to produce heat, electricity, biofuels, or chemicals. At present, ...

Royal Soc Chemistry2023

Lignin, from biomass waste to sustainable materials for food packaging, antiviral coatings and agriculture

Alice Boarino

Our planet has been challenged for years by our reckless use of fossil fuels, which has led to the ongoing climate change and energy crisis. The transition to the use of renewable alternative sources has now became urgent and inevitable. The valorization o ...

EPFL2023

On the role of energy infrastructure in the energy transition. Case study of an energy independent and CO2 neutral energy system for Switzerland

Sidi-Rachid Cherkaoui, Manuele Domenico Margni, François Maréchal, Jonas Schnidrig

The transition towards renewable energy is leading to an important strain on the energy grids. The question of designing and deploying renewable energy technologies in symbiosis with existing grids and infrastructure is arising. While current energy system ...

2023

Renewable Energy Integration and Waste Heat Recovery for the Production of Sustainable Jet Fuel and Decarbonization of Industrial Heating Applications

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos, Réginald Germanier

The process synthesis and optimization methods used in this work include simulation of biomass gasification, hydrogen and synthetic natural gas production, and jet fuel production via a Fisher Tropsch unit. An energy integration approach, carried out by th ...

American Institute of Chemical Engineering2023

Energy inequality and air pollution nexus in India

Arindam Roy

Energy usage, inequality, and their impacts are deeply intertwined, especially in India. Every year, cooking using biomass-based solid fuel usage causes death to tens of thousands of Indians, specifically, economically unprivileged people. Solid fuel burni ...

2023

Alternative energy supply approach for industrial complexes and district heating networks based on biomass integrated gasification

François Maréchal, Daniel Alexander Florez Orrego, Meire Ellen Gorete Ribeiro Domingos

In this work, a systematic approach combining different energy solutions and the time-varying energy demands is used to identify the operating conditions and arrangements for industrial complexes. A kraft pulp mill integrated to an urban district heating n ...

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria2023

Leveraging industrial biorefineries for the energy transition

François Maréchal, Julia Granacher

Biorefineries hold the potential to provide products and energy carriers at reduced environmental impact compared to their fossil-based counterparts. Thus, they can contribute to the decarbonization of sectors in which electrification of demands is challen ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2023

Model-based scale-up of a continuously operated consolidated bioprocess based on a microbial consortium for the production of ethanol

David Beat Dempfle

This work demonstrated that consolidated bioprocessing is a promising concept for conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol at industrial scale. CBP offers great cost saving potential, is feasible to be operated continuously and may be scaled up due to exten ...

EPFL2022

Solid-state synthesis of CdFe2O4 binary catalyst for potential application in renewable hydrogen fuel generation

Michael Graetzel, Shaik Mohammed Zakeeruddin

Clean energy is highly needed at this time when the energy requirements are rapidly increasing. The observed increasing energy requirement are largely due to continued industrialization and global population explosion. The current means of energy source is ...

Nature Portfolio2022

Thermodynamic modelling of hydrogen production in sorbent-enhanced biochar-direct chemical looping process

Hydrogen (H-2) has been widely considered the clean energy carrier of choice for emerging renewable energy generation technologies. However, H-2 is a secondary fuel mainly derived from natural gas. Over the past decades, research on developing H-2 producti ...

2022

Flexibilisation of Biogas-Based Power-to-Gas Processes: A Techno-Economic and Experimental Assessment

Andreas Gantenbein

Biogas-based power-to-X technology allows storing renewable electricity, while producing CO2-neutral products. This work investigates the conversion and upgrading of digestion-derived gas mixtures with focus on increasing the operational flexibility of the ...

EPFL2022

Developing structure-oriented models for enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass

Jessica Charlène Rohrbach

With the unsustainable use of fossil fuels increasing strains on human institutions and ecosystems, the development of a renewable energy alternative is of paramount importance. Second generation biorefineries, based on the production of fuels and chemical ...

EPFL2021

Propelling the hydrogen economy: from chemical storage and delivery to utilization in biomass conversion

Lu Chen

Since H2 is a non-polluting, inexhaustible, efficient, and sustainable energy carrier, it has been forecast to become one of the major carriers of energy in the future and is also essential in the production of feedstock chemicals derived from renewable ca ...

EPFL2021