Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons^™

Recent Advances In Bioethanol Production From Water Hyacinth: A Critical Review, Umuamina A. Matola, Mahir Mohammed Said, Olga-Ioanna Kalantzi, Abraham K. Temu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Water hyacinth (WH) is a highly invasive tropical aquatic weed with high holocellulose and low lignin content, making it a promising lignocellulosic feedstock for second-generation bioethanol production. Producing bioethanol from WH offers a sustainable approach to simultaneously managing invasive biomass and producing renewable energy. This review critically evaluates recent advancements in bioethanol production from WH by examining pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation technologies reported between 2014 and 2024. A PRISMA-guided literature search was conducted using the Scopus and Web of Science databases, and fifty-nine original research articles were selected for analysis. The reviewed studies were comparatively assessed based on pretreatment strategies, …

Prediction Of Terephthalic Acid Yield In Aqueous Hydrolysis Of Polyethylene Terephthalate, Hossein Abedsoltan, Zeinab Zoghi, Amir H. Mohammadi

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Aqueous hydrolysis is used to chemically recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) due to production of high-quality terephthalic acid (TPA), the PET monomer. PET hydrolysis depends on various factors including PET size, catalyst concentration, and reaction temperature. So, modeling PET hydrolysis by considering the effective factors can provide useful information for material researchers to specify how to design and run these reactions. It will save time, energy, and materials by optimizing the hydrolysis conditions. Machine learning algorithms enable to design models to predict the output results. For the first time, 381 experimental data were gathered to model aqueous hydrolysis of PET. Effective …

Demonstration Of High Detoxification Efficiency Of Glassy Polymer-Metal Hydroxide Composites Toward Chemical Warfare Agent Simulants, Peter O. Aina, Sukanta K. Mondal, Joshua Costain, Ali A. Rownaghi, Fateme Rezaei

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The design and development of polymeric composites that can effectively capture and destruct toxic chemicals with a fast detoxification rate is of high importance for protecting the military, first responders, and civilians. Here we report the synthesis and assessment of zirconium hydroxide (Zr (OH)4)-incorporated Ultem, Matrimid, and PIM-1 composites for detoxification of dimethyl 4-nitrophenylphosphonate (DMNP), as a type G toxic nerve agent simulant. Maintaining homogeneity, three different loadings (8, 20, 30 wt %) of Zr (OH)4 were incorporated into the polymers, and the thin films of composite materials were developed for subsequent hydrolysis tests. Our results indicated that increasing the …

Development And Validation Of A Kinetic Model For Enzymatic Hydrolysis Using Candida Rugosa Lipase, Ammar Jamie, Ali Alshami, Zuhair O. Maliabari, Muataz A. Ateih

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Biochemical processing involving enzymatic catalysis of hydrolysis reactions of oils and fats must overcome significant technological barriers before the full benefits of the technology can be realized. Owing to their selectivity and mild reaction conditions, lipases are becoming increasingly important as biocatalysts provided that their kinetics and optimum reaction conditions are well-understood. In this study we report on the development and validation of a kinetic model for the degradation of oils using Candida rugosa lipase, from which a better understanding of the influence of different reaction conditions on hydrolysis kinetics is elucidated. Variations of reaction temperature, mixing speed, enzyme loading …

Mechanistic Models On Enzymatic Hydrolysis And Anaerobic Digestion, Yang Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For enzymatic hydrolysis, a mechanistic model on enzymatic hydrolysis of pure cellulosic substrates was improved to consider oligomer reactions with beta-glucanases, inhibition of oligomers to cellulases and enzyme decay. Then a novel and general modeling framework was developed for enzymatic hydrolysis of hemicellulose-cellulosic substrates. This mechanistic model, for the first time, took into consideration explicitly the time evolution of morphologies of intertwining cellulose and hemicelluloses. This novel mechanistic model was applied to optimize the composition of enzyme mixtures for substrate conversion and monosaccharides yield during simultaneous enzymatic hydrolysis of different lignocellulosic substrates. For anaerobic digestion, the original "Anaerobic Digestion Model …

Characterization And Quantification Of Monomers, Oligomers, And By-Products From Xylan During Biomass Pretreatment, Ching-Shuan Lau

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biomass pretreatment generates inhibitory products, which reduce the overall yield of xylose for ethanol production. Understanding of hemicellulose depolymerization into xylose is essential to identify the pretreatment conditions that maximize xylose formation, but minimize the generation of these inhibitory products, such as formic acid and furfural. Thus, the goal of this project is to understand how dilute acid pretreatment parameters affect hemicellulose depolymerization, maximize xylose concentrations, and minimize by-products formation.

To progress towards this goal, rates and mechanisms of hemicellulose release must be determined. Birchwood xylan was used as the starting material to produce xylose oligomers. The hydrolyzed birchwood xylan …

Enzyme–Microbe Synergy During Cellulose Hydrolysis By Clostridium Thermocellum, Yanpin Lu, Yi-Heng P. Zhang, Lee R. Lynd

Dartmouth Scholarship

Specific cellulose hydrolysis rates (g of cellulose/g of cellulase per h) were shown to be substantially higher (2.7- to 4.7-fold) for growing cultures of Clostridium thermocellum as compared with purified cellulase preparations from this organism in controlled experiments involving both batch and continuous cultures. This “enzyme–microbe synergy” requires the presence of metabolically active cellulolytic microbes, is not explained by removal of hydrolysis products from the bulk fermentation broth, and appears due to surface phenomena involving adherent cellulolytic microorganisms. Results support the desirability of biotechnological processes featuring microbial conversion of cellulosic biomass to ethanol (or other products) in the absence of …

Microbial Cellulose Utilization: Fundamentals And Biotechnology, Lee R. Lynd, Paul J. Weimer, Willem H. Van Zyl, Isak S. Pretorius

Dartmouth Scholarship

Fundamental features of microbial cellulose utilization are examined at successively higher levels of aggregation encompassing the structure and composition of cellulosic biomass, taxonomic diversity, cellulase enzyme systems, molecular biology of cellulase enzymes, physiology of cellulolytic microorganisms, ecological aspects of cellulase-degrading communities, and rate-limiting factors in nature. The methodological basis for studying microbial cellulose utilization is considered relative to quantification of cells and enzymes in the presence of solid substrates as well as apparatus and analysis for cellulose-grown continuous cultures. Quantitative description of cellulose hydrolysis is addressed with respect to adsorption of cellulase enzymes, rates of enzymatic hydrolysis, bioenergetics of microbial …