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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Production Of Renewable Chemicals And Energy From Waste Biomass, Sheng Chu Nov 2014

Production Of Renewable Chemicals And Energy From Waste Biomass, Sheng Chu

Doctoral Dissertations

With the rapid growth of world population and developing industries, the production of wastes has dramatically increased in the past decades. Due to environmental concerns and limited landfill space, the disposal of wastes has been subjected to strict regulations. Beneficial uses of wastes such as recycling/reuse, land applications, energy production, and resource recovery have been advocated greatly. This thesis presents the utilization of two types of solid waste: lignin and waste paper/plastic. Through thermochemical conversion, wastes can be converted to chemicals and energy. This aims at reducing the energy dependence on fossil fuels while achieving effective waste management. Lignin is …


The Role Of Surface Area In Catalytic Gasification Of Biomass, Elizabeth A. Wachs, Nitish Kumar, Indraneel Sircar, Prithviraja Basak, Jay P. Gore Phd Aug 2014

The Role Of Surface Area In Catalytic Gasification Of Biomass, Elizabeth A. Wachs, Nitish Kumar, Indraneel Sircar, Prithviraja Basak, Jay P. Gore Phd

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Gasification of biomass has the potential to provide a carbon-negative source of liquid fuels. The current limited use of gasification is due in part to the high temperatures necessary to achieve high conversion levels. These temperatures can be lowered by the use of catalysts, but the mechanisms by which catalysts affect the reaction rate are not fully understood. Here, the structural component of potassium carbonate’s role in the gasification process was examined. Samples of pinewood sawdust were impregnated with potassium carbonate, then pyrolyzed with N2 in a fixed bed reactor at 750°C (heater thermocouple reading). Half of the char was …


Electrocatalytic Processing Of Renewable Biomass-Derived Compounds For Production Of Chemicals, Fuels And Electricity, Le Xin Jan 2014

Electrocatalytic Processing Of Renewable Biomass-Derived Compounds For Production Of Chemicals, Fuels And Electricity, Le Xin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The dual problems of sustaining the fast growth of human society and preserving the environment for future generations urge us to shift our focus from exploiting fossil oils to researching and developing more affordable, reliable and clean energy sources. Human beings had a long history that depended on meeting our energy demands with plant biomass, and the modern biorefinery technologies realize the effective conversion of biomass to production of transportation fuels, bulk and fine chemicals so to alleviate our reliance on fossil fuel resources of declining supply. With the aim of replacing as much non-renewable carbon from fossil oils with …