Source: UNIV OF MINNESOTA submitted to
THE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FOR A BIOBASED INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1003182
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
MIN-12-048
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
S-1041
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 3, 2014
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2018
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Ruan, RO.
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108
Performing Department
Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering
Non Technical Summary
Bioenergy is a valuable alternative to fossil energy. Despite decades' efforts, commercial production of bioenergy is facing many barriers, including issues with biomass production and logistics, bio-conversion processes, and bio-refining processes. This project is intended to develop technologies and strategies to address some of these issues. The knowledge gained and technologies developed will not only benefit the related scientific communities but also provide necessary intellectual properties for the industries to develop and expand in the bioenergy sector and create jobs. Specifically, we will develop technologies for production of algal biomass using waste streams on non-arable land, processes for conversion of dry and wet biomass to biocrude and syngass, and catalytic processes for biocrude refining and syngas liquefaction.The goal is to reduce costs of harvesting, handling and transporting biomass to increase the competitiveness of biomass as a feedstock for biofuels, biomaterials and biochemical, to improve the biomass conversion efficiency and cost effectiveness, and to produce liquid and gas fuels that meet the industry standards and chemicals and materials that will improve the economic outlook of the technologies. It is also our goal to identify and develop needed educational resources for the development of a trained work force for the biobased economy.
Animal Health Component
10%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
40%
Developmental
30%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
40222992020100%
Knowledge Area
402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
2299 - Miscellaneous and new crops, general/other;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
Develop deployable biomass feedstock supply knowledge, processes and logistics systems that economically deliver timely and sufficient quantities of biomass with predictable specifications to meet conversion process-dictated feedstock tolerances. Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. Develop modeling and systems approaches to support development of sustainable biomass production and conversion to bioenergy and bioproducts. Identify and develop needed educational resources, expand distance-based delivery methods, and grow a trained work force for the biobased economy
Project Methods
Activity 1 "Develop technology for mass cultivation of microalgae on wastewater for biomass production and wastewater treatment": Efforts will be made to screen and select high performance algae strains, characterize and condition animal wastewaters as culture media, improve growth rate and nutrient removal efficiency, develop cost effective production system. Additional efforts will be made to develop strains and processes for production of high value chemicals from algae. Life cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) will be conducted to evaluate the sustainability of the technology.Activity 2 "Develop and investigate thermochemical biomass conversion processes": Efforts will be made to improve heating rate and energy efficiency of our fast microwave assisted conversion processes and increase the yields and quality of target products (bio-oil for pyrolysis and syngas for gasification). We will improve the hydrothermal liquefaction/treatment process for pretreatment of biomass for the purpose of water removal and for liquefaction of solid biomass to biocrude. Life cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) will be conducted to evaluate the sustainability of the processes.Activity 3: "Develop catalytic processes for biofuel and chemical synthesis and upgrading": Efforts will be made to develop and improve catalytic processes for bio-oil upgrading and syngas reforming (liquefaction). In addition to conventional catalysis, we will investigate non-thermal plasma (NTP) assisted catalysis for syngas reforming and ammonia synthesis. Catalyst stability and conversion efficiency will be evaluated.Data analysis and evaluation: In addition to the assessment and analysis described above, statistical treatment of the data collected will be carried out to evaluate the quality and reliability of the data and determine the main and interaction effects of the variables.

Progress 06/03/14 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Our research findings were publicized to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. Some research findings were brought to classroom teaching. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in the research projects. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Biobased economy is a relatively new field, and therefore has high demand for human resources. Our project has trained many students and junior researchers who either took on industry or academic jobs that require knowledge of renewable energy technology. Many of our findings have found their way in classroom teaching. Our thermochemical conversion, scum biodiesel, and algae research activities have resulted in pilot scale facilities for demonstration to stakeholders. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our research results were disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Some research results were used in classroom teaching to benefit students. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this period, significant efforts have been made to study gasification and pyrolysis of biomass and waste plastics using our microwave assisted conversion process. Gasification and pyrolysis of several feedstocks were carried out in the presence of microwave absorbents and catalysts. A new SiC supported catalyst system was developed, characterized, and used in gasification. The use of SiC foam (sponge like) as catalyst enables the control of catalysis temperature through the manipulation of microwave heating. The catalysts were characterized by using X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed the catalysts had a uniform temperature distribution and mechanical stability. The performance of this catalyst system was examined in different conditions including the placement of the catalysts and ratios of catalyst to biomass (C/B). The bare SiC foam in the catalytic bed led to a lower bio-oil yield (36.5%) and correspondingly a higher gas yield (35.2%) compared with 40.2% and 31.4%, respectively, for the control experiment with no catalysts. This could be due to the secondary cracking reactions of the pyrolytic vapors within the hot SiC foam matrix. The ex-situ packed bed configuration delivered the lowest yield of bio-oil and the highest gas yield. We found that bio-oil yield decreased from 40.2% to 33.5% and gas yield increased from 31.4% to 39.7% as the C/B ratio increased from 0 to 1/2. The results showed that the catalytic activity of ZSM-5 is gradually lost during the process due to coking, which was produced as a result of formation of heavy hydrocarbon oils and carbonaceous residues (usually referred to as coke or carbon) during gasification. Coke tends to physically cover the active surface. The results showed that the catalytic activity of ZSM-5 is gradually lost during the process due to coking. We conducted experiments to explore ways to reduce coke formation and/or decompose coke. In these experiments, different catalysts, catalyst dosage or ratio of catalysts to feedstock, in situ catalysis, ex situ catalysis, and combination of in situ and ex situ catalysis were studied. When the feedstock was processed on over HY zeolite, found that the HY to feedstock ratio has a negligible effect on the product yields. However, the liquid composition changes significantly with the increased dosage of HY zeolite. In particular, the content of C13+ hydrocarbons decreases dramatically from ~40% to <5% when HY zeolite was used. As a result, the content of C6-C12 hydrocarbons reaches the highest at a HY to feedstock ratio of 1:15. HY zeolite shows a great potential in producing gasoline range hydrocarbons. The effects of in-situ (catalyst mixed with raw material) and ex-situ (catalyst loaded on a separate catalytic bed) catalysis were also investigated. The in-situ catalysis presents a higher yield of liquid (54 wt.%) than the ex-situ catalysis (44 wt.%). The majority of compounds from in-situ catalysis are C6-C12 hydrocarbons, which are within the gasoline range. On the contrary, the liquid oil derived from ex-situ catalysis contains around 20% of C13+ hydrocarbons (diesel range), leading to a lower yield of gasoline range hydrocarbons. It indicates that the in-situ catalysis is more suitable to produce gasoline range hydrocarbons than the ex-situ catalysis. We also tested a composite catalyst containing Ni and HY zeolite. It was found that ex situ Ni/HY slightly decreased the liquid yield, while increased the gas yield. The char & coke yields were minimum for both catalytic runs. The contents of H2 and CH4 increased substantially over the Ni/HY catalyst compared with that on HY. Ni/HY slightly decreased the general carbon number of pyrolytic products. On the other hand, the relative yield of aromatics increased over the Ni/HY catalyst. Since our microwave assisted conversion process always produces gaseous and liquid fuels, this results from this study provide a good way to improve the performance of liquid fuels in combustion engines for electricity generation. We examined the effect of temperature on conversion and ex-situ catalysis. The highest oil yield of 56.5% was obtained at 500 °C. The relative contents of n-alkanes and n-alkenes (both are linear aliphatics) were highest at 450 °C, indicating a relative low octane number. When pyrolytic temperature was increased from 450 °C to 500 °C, relative content of aromatics increased, while that of n-alkenes decreased, indicating a higher octane number. Further increasing the pyrolysis temperature (550 °C and 600 °C) resulted in an increases in n-alkanes and n-alkenes. Volume fractions of lighter hydrocarbon gases (C1-C2 gases) increased while C3 gas decreased with increasing pyrolysis temperature. This was due to the enhanced cracking of larger molecules into smaller products at higher pyrolytic temperature. Besides, volume fraction of H2 decreased slightly with rising pyrolytic temperature. We also studied the the product yield and composition as a function of ex situ catalytic reforming/cracking temperatures ranging from 350 to 500 °C. Higher catalytic temperature favored gas formation due to higher HY performance and vapor cracking. A higher temperature decreased n-alkanes and n-alkenes and thus increased octane number. However, at 500 °C, the oil yield was only ~38 wt.%, and therefore a catalytic temperature of 450 °C may be considered optimum for producing both high yield and high octane pyrolytic oil from LDPE. We then studied a two-stage catalytic system combining in-situ and ex-situ processes in conversion and reforming/cracking, respectively. In this system, NiO (in-situ catalysis) was mixed with feedstock, and put in a quartz reactor together with SiC as microwave absorber. Meanwhile, HY (ex-situ catalysis) was loaded in a separated catalytic bed which was heated by an electric heating tape. By using this system, the advantageous features of both in-situ and ex-situ may be utilized. The effects of catalysts to feedstock ratio and NiO to feedstock ratio were investigated. The pyrolytic and catalytic temperature were kept at 500 °C and 450 °C, respectively. The results show that the fractional yields and chemical composition of liquid and gas varied with HY to feedstock ratio and NiO to HY ratio. In terms of the yield and the octane number of liquid product, a HY to feedstock ratio of 1:10 is optimal under the experimental conditions. It is noted that the addition of NiO decreased the liquid yield slightly with a minor increase in gas yield and decrease in coke yield. In terms of chemical composition, co-catalysis of NiO and HY increased the content of aromatics, which might contribute to the increased octane number of liquid product. A NiO to HY ratio of 1:10 produced the maximum aromatics. Experiments on the effects of HY to feedstock ratio on the product distribution showed that the liquid yield increased first and then decreased, while the gas yield showed an opposite trend when the HY to feedstock ratio was increased from 0:1 to 1:5. A maximum liquid yield (60.01 wt.%) and a minimum gas yield (39.25 wt.%) were obtained at a HY to feedstock ratio of 1:15. Further increasing the HY load leads to the secondary cracking of liquid product, resulting in the decrease in liquid and increase in gas. On the other hand, coke yield increases along with increasing HY dosage, which is related to the enhanced catalytic performance. Gas composition was also affected by conversion temperature and HY loading. A higher HY loading decreased volume fractions of C1-C2 gases, while those of H2 and C3H6 increased in general.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Zhang, R., Anderson, E., Chen, P., Addy, M., Cheng, Y., Wang, L., Liu, Y., & Ruan, R. (2019). Intermittent-vacuum assisted thermophilic co-digestion of corn stover and liquid swine manure: Salinity inhibition. Bioresource technology, 271, 16-23.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Deng, X., Gao, K., Addy, M., Chen, P., Li, D., Zhang, R., Lu, Q., Ma, Y., Cheng, Y., Liu, Y., & Ruan, R. (2018). Growing Chlorella vulgaris on mixed wastewaters for biodiesel feedstock production and nutrient removal: Wastewaters for biodiesel feedstock production. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, 93(9), 2748-2757.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Zhang, Y., Liu, S., Fan, L., Zhou, N., Mubashar Omar, M., Peng, P., Anderson, E., Addy, M., Cheng, Y., Liu, Y., Li, B., Snyder, J., Chen, P., & Ruan, R. (2018). Oil production from microwave-assisted pyrolysis of a low rank American brown coal. Energy Conversion and Management, 159, 76-84.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ding, K., He, A., Zhong, D., Fan, L., Liu, S., Wang, Y., Liu, Y., Chen, P., Lei, H., & Ruan, R. (2018). Improving hydrocarbon yield via catalytic fast co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic over ceria and HZSM-5: An analytical pyrolyzer analysis. Bioresource technology, 268, 1-8.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ding, K., Zhong, Z., Wang, J., Zhang, B., Fan, L., Liu, S., Wang, Y., Liu, Y., Zhong, D., Chen, P., & Ruan, R. (2018). Improving hydrocarbon yield from catalytic fast co-pyrolysis of hemicellulose and plastic in the dual-catalyst bed of CaO and HZSM-5. Bioresource technology, 261, 86-92.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Xin, C., Addy, M. M., Zhao, J., Cheng, Y., Ma, Y., Liu, S., Mu, D., Liu, Y., Chen, P., & Ruan, R. (2018). Waste-to-biofuel integrated system and its comprehensive techno-economic assessment in wastewater treatment plants. Bioresource technology, 250, 523-531.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Zhang, Y., Fan, L., Liu, S., Zhou, N., Ding, K., Peng, P., Anderson, E., Addy, M., Cheng, Y., Liu, Y., Li, B., Snyder, J., Chen, P., & Ruan, R. (2018). Microwave-assisted co-pyrolysis of brown coal and corn stover for oil production. Bioresource technology, 259, 461-464.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chen, J., Leng, L., Ye, C., Lu, Q., Addy, M., Wang, J., Liu, J., Chen, P., Ruan, R., & Zhou, W. (2018). A comparative study between fungal pellet- and spore-assisted microalgae harvesting methods for algae bioflocculation. Bioresource technology, 259, 181-190.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chen, P., Anderson, E., Addy, M., Zhang, R., Cheng, Y., Peng, P., Ma, Y., Fan, L., Zhang, Y., Lu, Q., Liu, S., Zhou, N., Deng, X., Zhou, W., Omar, M., Griffith, R., Kabir, F., Lei, H., Wang, Y., Liu, Y., & Ruan, R. (2018). Breakthrough Technologies for the Biorefining of Organic Solid and Liquid Wastes. Engineering, 4(4), 574-580.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Lu, Q., Chen, P., Addy, M., Zhang, R., Deng, X., Ma, Y., Cheng, Y., Hussain, F., Chen, C., Liu, Y., & Ruan, R. (2018). Carbon-dependent alleviation of ammonia toxicity for algae cultivation and associated mechanisms exploration. Bioresource technology, 249, 99-107.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Fan, L., Chen, P., Zhou, N., Liu, S., Zhang, Y., Liu, Y., Wang, Y., Omar, M. M., Peng, P., Addy, M., Cheng, Y., & Ruan, R. (2018). In-situ and ex-situ catalytic upgrading of vapors from microwave-assisted pyrolysis of lignin. Bioresource technology, 247, 851-858.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Peng, P., Chen, P., Schiappacasse, C., Zhou, N., Anderson, E., Chen, D., Liu, J., Cheng, Y., Hatzenbeller, R., Addy, M., Zhang, Y., Liu, Y., & Ruan, R. (2018). A review on the non-thermal plasma-assisted ammonia synthesis technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 177, 597-609.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Deng, X.-Y., Gao, K., Addy, M., Li, D., Zhang, R.-C., Lu, Q., Ma, Y.-W., Cheng, Y.-L., Chen, P., Liu, Y.-H., & Ruan, R. (2018). Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris on anaerobically digested swine manure with daily recycling of the post-harvest culture broth. Bioresource technology, 247, 716-723.


Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Our research findings were publicized to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. Some research findings were brought to classroom teaching. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in the research projects. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided following opportunities for training and professional development: 1. Graduate research assistantships 2. Postdoctoral research fellowships 3. Internships for undergraduate and high school students 4. Presentations in conferences and symposiums How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our research results were disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Some research results were used in classroom teaching to benefit students. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overarching goal of the efforts at the University of Minnesota is to develop cost effective and environmentally friendly feedstock production and conversion technologies. We are taking systems approach to the sustainable production of biofuels and bioproducts and preservation of the environment. In this reporting period, we focused our research on aquaponics systems, thermochemical conversion of biomass, and refining and upgrading of biocrude. (1)Develop deployable biomass feedstock supply knowledge, processes and logistics systems that economically deliver timely and sufficient quantities of biomass with predictable specifications to meet conversion process-dictated feedstock tolerances. In this period, we developed technologies for producing biomass and bioproducts with a focus on processes that are capable of efficiently utilizing bioresources including solid and liquid wastes. Cost is a major techno-economic barrier in algal fuel development. In our project, we studied and developed technologies for production of biomass using wastes rich in carbon and nutrient resources. We also developed processes to prepare oil feedstock from scum for biodiesel production. We focused on complete utilization of waste streams from different wastewater sources in order to not only improve the economic viability of the technologies but also provides significant environmental benefits. We studied the role of bacteria and ammonia toxicity in cultivation of algae in wastewater. We are developing and evaluating a closed loop system consisting of animal manure pretreatment (modified AD), hydroponic, aquaculture, algae culture, and worm/black soldier fly culture. The vacuum assisted thermophilic AD was very effective in removing ammonia nitrogen, resulting in effluent more suitable for biomass production. The modified AD also shows a higher performance in producing biogas. A pilot facility that implements processes to extract and clean oil from scum and use it as a feedstock for biodiesel production was systematically evaluated and demonstrated. (2)Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. The major challenges for thermochemical conversion are the poor quality and stability of the products, and costs associated with feedstock collection, handling, transportation and storage. In this period, we continued to study fast microwave assisted conversion. Both a lab scale and a pilot scale continuous fast conversion processes and equipment were developed and are being studied. These continuous systems helped generating more reliable data for evaluation of the processes and systems. Different feedstocks including algae, wood, lignin, plastics, and sludge have been studied. In situ and ex situ sequential two-step fast catalytic microwave-assisted pyrolysis and gasification were investigated. Microwave assisted gasification using air as gasification agent was investigated and the energy efficiency of the process was compared with that of normal gasification. We also developed a process for commercial methyl ester recovery from biodiesel vacuum distillation bottoms using microwave-assisted pyrolysis with improved fuel properties and process yield. (3)Develop modeling and systems approaches to support development of sustainable biomass production and conversion to bioenergy and bio-products. Millions of tons of solid and liquid wastes are produced annually that require safe and environmentally sound disposal. The availability of a zero-cost energy source like can be critical to the economic success of renewable energy technologies. However, the way the energy is produced, distributed and valued also contributes to the overall process sustainability. In developing different processes, we modeled the energy production and economic potentials of these processes to provide systematic assessment of the economic and environmental performance of biomass production and conversion processes under development. Identify and develop needed educational resources, expand distance-based delivery methods, and grow a trained work force for the biobased economy Our research projects provided opportunities to undergraduate graduate students and junior researchers to participate in experimental work, data collection, processing and analysis, and scientific writing and presentation. Many of our findings have found their way in classroom teaching. Our mass cultivation and thermochemical conversion facilities were used for demonstration to stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Dongyan Mu, Sarah Mack, Roger Ruan, and Min Addy. 2017. Chapter 6. Life cycle assessment of beneficial reuse of waste streams for energy in municipal wastewater treatment plants. In Life-cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment (CRC Series Part of the Life Cycle Assessment and Green Chemistry Series, edited by Vera Kolb), edited by Dr. Mu Naushad. CRC Press (https://www.crcpress.com/), USA.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Yaning Zhang, Paul Chen, Shiyu Liu, Liangliang Fan, Nan Zhou, Min Min, Yanling Cheng, Peng Peng, Erik Anderson, Yunpu Wang, Yiqin Wan, Yuhuan Liu, Bingxi Li and Roger Ruan. 2017. Chapter 6 Microwave?Assisted Pyrolysis of Biomass for Bio?Oil Production. In Pyrolysis. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/65193. Edited by Mohamed Samer pages: 129-166. Published by InTech.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Dengle Duan, Roger Ruan, Yunpu Wang, Yuhuan Liu, Leilei Dai, Yunfeng Zhao, Yue Zhou, Qiuhao Wu. 2018. Microwave-assisted acid pretreatment of alkali lignin: Effect on characteristics and pyrolysis behavior. Bioresource Technology. Volume 251, Pages 5762.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Qian Lu, Paul Chen, Min Addy, Renchuan Zhang, Xiangyuan Deng, Yiwei Ma, Yanling Cheng, Fida Hussain, Chi Chen, Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan. 2018. Carbon-dependent alleviation of ammonia toxicity for algae cultivation and associated mechanisms exploration. Bioresource Technology 249 (2018) 99107.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Xiangyuan Deng, Roger Ruan. 2017. Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris on anaerobically digested swine manure with daily recycling of the post-harvest culture broth. Bioresource Technology. 247:716-723
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Marion Morgan Hervan, Xie Wei, Liang Jianghui, Mao Hanping, Lei Hanwu, Ruan, Roger and Bu Quan. 2017. A Techno-economic Evaluation of Anaerobic Biogas Producing Systems in Developing Countries. Bioresource Technology. 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.013.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liangliang Fan, Roger Ruan. 2017. In-situ and ex-situ catalytic upgrading of vapors from microwave-assisted pyrolysis of lignin. Bioresource Technology. 247:851-858.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Leilei Dai, Chao He, Yunpu Wang, Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan, ZhentingYu, Yue Zhou, Dengle Duan, Liangliang Fan, Yunfeng Zhao. 2018. Hydrothermal pretreatment of bamboo sawdust using microwave irradiation. Bioresource Technology Volume 247, January 2018, Pages 234-241.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Yunfeng Zhao, Yunpu Wang, Roger Ruan. 2017. Fast microwave-assisted ex-catalytic co-pyrolysis of bamboo and polypropylene for bio-oil production. Bioresource Technology. 249:69-75
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Tingting Li, Yanhong Li, Jinhui Peng, Qinglong Xie, Roger Ruan, Xiangzhong Huang. 2017. Microwave puffing assisted extraction of polysaccharides from Dendrobium devonianum. J Food Process Preserv. 2017; e13490. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpp.13490
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Min Addy, Faryal Kabir, Renchuan Zhang, Qian Lu, Xiangyuan Deng, Dean Current, Richard Griffith, Yiwei Ma, Wenguang Zhou, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2017. Co-Cultivation of Microalgae in Aquaponic Systems. Bioresource Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.08.151. Volume 245, Part A, December 2017, Pages 27-34.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hongyan Ren, Jinhua Tuo, Min M. Addy, Renchuan Zhang, Qian Lu, Erik Anderson, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2017. Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in a pilot-scale photobioreactor using real centrate wastewater with waste glycerol for improving microalgae biomass production and wastewater nutrients removal. Bioresource Technology. 245PA (2017) pp. 1130-1138.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Renchuan Zhang, Erik Anderson, Min Addy, Xiangyuan Deng, Fayal Kabir, Qian Lu, Yiwei Ma, Yanling Cheng, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2017. An innovative intermittent-vacuum assisted thermophilic anaerobic digestion process for effective animal manure utilization and treatment. Bioresource Technology. Volume 244, Part 1, November 2017, Pages 1073-1080.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liangliang Fan, Yaning Zhang, Shiyu Liu, Nan Zhou, Paul Chen, Yuhuan Liu, Yunpu Wang, Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Min Addy, Hanwu Lei, Roger Ruan. 2017. Ex-situ catalytic upgrading of vapors from microwave-assisted pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene with MgO. Energy Conversion and Management. In Press.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Xuesong Zhang, Kishore Rajagopalan, Hanwu Lei, Roger Ruan and Brajendra K. Sharma. 2017. An overview of a novel concept in biomass pyrolysis: microwave irradiation. Sustainable Energy & Fuels. 1:1664-1699
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liangliang Fan, Yaning Zhang, Shiyu Liu, Nan Zhou, Paul Chen, Yanling Cheng, Min Addy, Qian Lu, Muhammad Mubashar Omar, Yuhuan Liu, Yunpu Wang, Leilei Dai, Erik Anderson, Peng Peng, Hanwu Lei, Roger Ruan. 2017. Bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of lignin: Effects of process and upgrading parameters. Bioresource Technology. DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.05.129
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Xiang-Yuan Deng, Kun Gao, Ren-Chuan Zhang, Min Addy, Qian Lu, Hong-Yan Ren, Paul Chen, Yu-Huan Liu, Roger Ruan. 2017. Growing Chlorella vulgaris on thermophilic anaerobic digestion swine manure for nutrient removal and biomass production. Bioresource Technology. Volume 243, November 2017, Pages 417-425.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shanshan Luo, Richard Griffith, Wenkui Li, Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Paul Chen, Min M. Addy, Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan. 2017. A continuous flocculants-free electrolytic flotation system for microalgae harvesting. Bioresource Technology 238:439-449, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.061
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: B.W. Hanson, Z.K. Zeng, G.C. Shurson, R. Ruan, C. Chen, and P. E. Urriola. 2017. In vitro dry matter digestibility of multiple sources of microalgae and microalgae products for growing pigs. J. Animal Science Vol. 95 No. supplement 2, p. 188.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wenguang Zhou, Jinghan Wang, Paul Chen, Chengcheng Ji, Qiuyun Kang, Bei Lu, Kun Li, Jin Liu, Roger Ruan. 2017. Bio-mitigation of Carbon Dioxide Using Microalgal Systems: Advances and Perspectives. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews 76: 11631175.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Mu, D., Ruan, R., Addy, M., Mack, S., Chen, P., Zhou, Y. 2017. Life cycle assessment and nutrient analysis of various processing pathways in algal biofuel production. Bioresource Technology, 230, 33-42.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Xiaodan Wu, Chi Yan, Hongli Zheng, Shanshan Luo, Yuhuan Liu, Wen Li, Yanling Cheng, Min Addy, Wenguang Zhou, Paul Chen, and Roger Ruan. 2017. Fixing CO2 and Treating Wastewater from Beer Brewery Using Microalgae. Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy Vol. 11, 15, 2017.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Shiyu Liu, Yaning Zhang, Liangliang Fan, Nan Zhou, Gaoyou Tian, Xindi Zhu, Yanling Cheng, Yunpu Wang, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2017. Fuel. 196: 261268
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: H. M. Morgan, Q. Bu; J. Liang; Y.J. Liu, H. Mao, A.P. Shi; H. Lei, R. Ruan. 2017. A review of catalytic microwave pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass for value-added fuel and chemicals. Bioresource Technology, 230: 112121.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Yaning Zhang, Paul Chen, Shiyu Liu, Peng Peng, Min Addy, Yanling Cheng, Erik Anderson, Nan Zhou, Liangliang Fan, Chenghui Liu, Guo Chen, Yuhuan Liu, Hanwu Lei, Bingxi Li, Roger Ruan. 2017. Effects of feedstock characteristics on microwave-assisted pyrolysis  A review. Bioresource Technology, 230: 143151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.01.046
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Fan, L. ; Chen, P. ; Zhang, Y. ; Liu, S. ; Liu, Y. ; Wang, Y. ; Dai, L. ; Ruan, R.. 2017. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic co-pyrolysis of lignin and low-density polyethylene with HZSM-5 and MgO for improved bio-oil yield and quality. Bioresource Technology, 1 February 2017, Vol.225, pp.199-205.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Dai, L. ; Fan, L. ; Liu, Y. ; Ruan, R. ; Wang, Y. ; Zhou, Y. ; Zhao, Y. ; Yu, Z. 2017. Production of bio-oil and biochar from soapstock via microwave-assisted co-catalytic fast pyrolysis. Bioresource Technology, 1 February 2017, Vol.225, pp.1-8.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Chen, Y., Hu, W., Chen, P., Ruan, R. 2017. Household biogas CDM project development in rural China. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 1 January 2017, Vol.67, pp.184-191.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hui Liu, Qian Lu, Qin Wang, Wen Liu, Qian Wei, Hongyan Ren, Caibing Ming, Min Min, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2017. Isolation of a bacterial strain, Acinetobacter sp. from centrate wastewater and study of its cooperation with algae in nutrients removal. Bioresour Technol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.03.111 Volume 235, Pages 59-69.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Raymond Hatzenbeller, Min Addy, Nan Zhou, Dongjie Chen, Yaning Zhang, Erik Anderson, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, and Roger Ruan. 2017. Ru-based multifunctional mesoporous catalyst for low-pressure and non-thermal plasma synthesis of ammonia. J. of Hydrogen Energy. 42:30:19056-19066
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Peng Peng, Paul Chen, Charles Schiappacasse, Nan Zhou, Erik Anderson, Dongjie Chen, Juer Liu, Yanling Cheng, Raymond Hatzenbeller, Min Addy, Yaning Zhang Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan. 2017. A review on the non-thermal plasma-assisted ammonia synthesis technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production. Accepted. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.229


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Our research findings were publicized to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. Some research findings were brought to classroom teaching. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in the research projects. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided following opportunities for training and professional development: Graduate research assistantships Postdoctoral research fellowships Internships for undergraduate and high school students Presentations in conferences and symposiums How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our research results were disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Some research results were used in classroom teaching to benefit students. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The overarching goal of the efforts at the University of Minnesota is to develop cost effective and environmentally friendly feedstock production and conversion technologies. We are taking systems approach to the sustainable production of biofuels and bioproducts and preservation of the environment. In this reporting period, we focused our research on aquaponics systems, thermochemical conversion of biomass, and refining and upgrading of biocrude. Develop deployable biomass feedstock supply knowledge, processes and logistics systems that economically deliver timely and sufficient quantities of biomass with predictable specifications to meet conversion process-dictated feedstock tolerances. We addressed the feedstock issues through two different strategies. One was to produce algal biomass using wastewaters and the other is to develop technologies capable of efficiently utilizing bioresources. Cost is a major techno-economic barrier in algal fuel development. In our project, we studied and developed technologies for mass cultivation and conversion of algae to biofuels and bioproducts. High performance algae strains were identified and selected; novel cultivation processes and systems were developed and tested for efficient utilization of carbon and nutrient resources. We also developed processes to prepare oil feedstock for biodiesel production from scum. Our wastewater based algae technology not only significantly improve the economic viability of the technology but also provides significant environmental benefits. In this period, we focused on complete utilization of waste streams from different wastewater sources. This includes biorefining of wastes from municipal wastewater treatment plants and complete utilization of animal manures. We are demonstrating a pilot facility that implements processes to extract and clean oil from scum and use it as a feedstock for biodiesel production using unique conversion techniques. We are investigating the use of crude glycerol from the biodiesel conversion process for algae cultivation. We are also studying thermochemical conversion of sludge to bio-oil and syngas and biological treatment of sludge to serve as carbon and nutrient sources for algae cultivation. For animal manures, we are developing a closed loop system consisting of manure pretreatment (modified AD), hydroponic, aquaculture, algae culture, and worm/black soldier fly culture. One issue with algal biomass production is the high harvest cost of microalgae harvest. We developed an electrolytic flotation based harvest process which is applicable to a wide variety of microalgae species, while being environmentally friendly. The design of the electrode is critical to the harvesting efficiency and energy consumption. Present study evaluated electrodes using stainless steel screen with different meshes and the different anode materials, including carbon bars and carbon/iron bars. The energy efficiency, removal rate, stability of the operation were studied. Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. The major challenges for thermochemical conversion are the poor quality and stability of the products, and costs associated with feedstock collection, handling, transportation and storage. In this period, we continued to study fast microwave assisted conversion. Emphases were paid to development of continuous fast conversion processes and equipment and catalytic conversion. A bench and a pilot scale microwave assisted conversion systems are being developed. Bench system is used for in-depth study of conversion processes while the pilot scale is for demonstration and system analysis. Different feedstocks including algae, wood, lignin, plastics, and sludge have been studied. A sequential two-step fast microwave-assisted pyrolysis (fMAP) for high quality bio-oil production was investigated. In the process, fMAP was followed by catalytic cracking and upgrading using a packed bed catalyst reactor with HZSM-5 as the catalyst. Results showed that maximum bio-oil and aromatic hydrocarbons yields were obtained when pyrolysis temperature reached 550 ?. With the increase in the catalyst loading, the bio-oil yield decreased linearly while the aromatic hydrocarbons yield increased. The catalyst bed temperature also has a significant effect on the product chemical profiles. The aromatic hydrocarbons proportion of the bio-oil was found to increase with increasing catalyst bed temperature and reached its maximum of 26.20 % at 425 ?. In addition, coke yield increased with increasing catalyst to biomass ratio and decreasing catalyst bed temperature. Develop modeling and systems approaches to support development of sustainable biomass production and conversion to bioenergy and bioproducts. We conducted life cycle assessment and nutrient analysis of various processing pathways in algal biofuel production. This study focuses on analyzing nutrient distributions and environmental impacts of nutrient recycling, reusing, and discharging during the production of algal biofuels. The three biomass conversion pathways compared in this study were: hydrothermal liquefaction technology (HTL), hydrothermal hydrolysis pretreatment +HTL (HTP), and wet lipid extraction (WLE). Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous (C, N, P) flows were described in each of the three pathways. We also study the life cycle impacts and techno-economic analysis of scum to biodiesel technology in wastewater treatment plants. In the U.S., the total amount of municipal solid waste is continuously rising each year. Millions of tons of solid waste and scum are produced annually that require safe and environmentally sound disposal. The availability of a zero-cost energy source like municipal waste scum is ideal for several types of renewable energy technologies. However, the way the energy is produced, distributed and valued also contributes to the overall process costs and environmental impacts. An economic screening method was developed to compare the potential energy and economic value of three waste-to-energy technologies; incineration, anaerobic digestion, and biodiesel. A St. Paul, MN wastewater treatment facility producing 3175 "wet" kilograms of scum per day was used as a basis of the comparison. After applying all theoretically available subsidies, scum to biodiesel was shown to have the greatest economic potential, valued between $491,949 and $610,624/year. The incineration of scum yielded the greatest reclaimed energy potential at 29 billion kilojoules/year. The key variables that control environmental performance are identified and discussed in a sensitivity analysis. Four impacts, including fossil fuel use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, eutrophication, and acidification, are evaluated. The results show that the Scum-to-Biodiesel technology has negative impacts in all impact categories and the benefits assigned by replacing diesel production contribute to reducing life cycle impacts significantly. Of the three technologies examined, the Scum-to-Biodiesel technology has the best environmental performance in fossil fuel depletion, GHG emissions and eutrophication, whereas combustion has the best performance on acidification. Of all process inputs assessed, process heat, glycerol, and methanol use had the highest impacts, much more than any other inputs considered. The research demonstrates the feasibility and environmental benefits in developing Scum-to-Biodiesel technology.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Q. Bu, H. M. Morgan JR., J. Liang, H. Lei, R. Ruan. 2016. Catalytic microwave pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass for Fuels and Chemicals. In Advances in Bioenergy. Eds. Y. Li, X. Ge. pp. 69123. Elsevier. ISBN: 9780128095225.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Erik Anderson, Min Addy, Huan Ma, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2016. Economic screening of renewable energy technologies: Incineration, anaerobic digestion, and biodiesel as applied to waste water scum. Bioresource Technology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.09.076 0960-8524/� 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Shiyu Liu, Qinglong Xie, Bo Zhang, Yanling Cheng, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2016. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic co-pyrolysis of corn stover and scum for bio-oil production with CaO and HZSM-5 as the catalyst. Bioresource Technology 204 (2016): 164170.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Fan, F., P. Chen, Y. Zhang, S. Liu, Y. Liu, Y. Wang, L. Dai, R. Ruan. 2016. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic co-pyrolysis of lignin and low-density polyethylene with HZSM-5 and MgO for improved bio-oil yield and quality. Bioresource Technology 225 (2017) 199205.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ma, X., Zheng, H., Addy, M., Anderson, E., Liu, Y., Chen, P., and Ruan, R. 2016. Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in wastewater with waste glycerol: Strategies for improving nutrients removal and enhancing lipid production. Bioresource Technology 207, 252-261.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ma, X., H. Zheng, W. Zhou, Y. Liu, P. Chen, R. Ruan. 2016. Enhanced Harvesting of Chlorella vulgaris using Combined Flocculants. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. DOI 10.1007/s12010-016-2133-5.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hong Peng, Yang Liu, Wenyi Peng, Jinsheng Zhang, and Roger Ruan. 2016. Green Synthesis and Stability Evaluation of Ag Nanoparticles Using Bamboo Hemicellulose. BioResources 11(1):385-399.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ma, H., M. Addy, E. Anderson, W. Liu, Y. Liu, Y. Nie, L. Chen, Y. Cheng, H. Lei, R. Ruan. 2016. A novel process for low-sulfur biodiesel production from scum waste. Bioresource Technology. 214:826-835.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Jia Wang, Bo Zhang, Zhaoping Zhong, Kuan Ding, Qinglong Xie, Roger Ruan. 2016. Catalytic fast co-pyrolysis of mushroom waste and waste oil to promote the formation of aromatics. Clean Techn Environ Policy. DOI 10.1007/s10098-016-1162-7
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Chunhua Xin, Min Addy, Jinyu Zhaoc, Yanling Cheng, Sibo Cheng, Dongyan Mu, Yuhuan Liu, Rijia Ding, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2016. Comprehensive techno-economic analysis of wastewater-based algal biofuel production: A case study. Bioresource Technology. Volume 211, July 2016, Pages 584593.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Yunpu Wang, Leilei Dai, Shaoqi Shan, Qin Zeng, Liangliang Fan, Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan, Yunfeng Zhao, Yue Zhou. 2016. Effect of unsaturation degree on microwave-assisted pyrolysis of fatty acid salts. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis doi:10.1016/j.jaap.2016.05.012
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu Junying, Song Yunmeng, Liu Yuhuan, and Ruan Roger. 2016. Yeast as a Bioremediation Nanoparticle Agent in Piggery-Digested Wastewater Treatment. Environmental Engineering Science. May 2016, 33(5): 317-323. doi:10.1089/ees.2015.0376.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Wu, X., J. Zhang, E. Xu, Y. Liu, Y. Cheng, M. Addy, W. Zhou, R. Griffins, P. Chen, and R. Ruan. 2016. Microbial hydrolysis and fermentation of rice straw for ethanol production. Fuel. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2016.04.087.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Dongyan Mu; Min Addy; Erik Anderson; Paul Chen; Roger Ruan. 2016. A Life Cycle Assessment and Economic Analysis of the Scum-to-Biodiesel Technology in Wastewater Treatment Plants. Bioresource Technology. Volume 204, March 2016, Pages 8997.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Peng, P., Y. Li, Y. Cheng, P. Chen, R. Ruan. 2016. Atmospheric Pressure Ammonia Synthesis using Non-thermal Plasma Assisted Catalysis. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing. DOI 10.1007/s11090-016-9713-6.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Xiaochen Ma, Hongli Zheng, Min Addy, Erik Anderson, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2016. Cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris in wastewater with waste glycerol: Strategies for improving nutrients removal and enhancing lipid production. Biorecource Technology. DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.02.013
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Chen, P., Q. Xie, M. Addy, W. Zhou, Y. Cheng, Y. Liu, Y. Wang, Y. Wan, Q. Lee, H. Lei, R. Ruan. 2016. Utilization of municipal solid and liquid wastes for bioenergy and bioproducts production. Biorecource Technology. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2016.02.094.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liu S, Xie Q, Zhang B, Cheng Y, Liu Y, Chen P, Ruan R. 2016. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic co-pyrolysis of corn stover and scum for bio-oil production with CaO and HZSM-5 as the catalyst. Bioresource Technology. Volume 204, March 2016, Pages 164170.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Jinghan Wang, Wenguang Zhou, Haizhen Yang, Roger Ruan. 2016. Application of nitrogen sufficiency conversion strategy for microalgae-based ammonium-rich wastewater treatment. Environmental Technology. DOI:10.1080/09593330.2016.1158744
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: WANG Yunpua, DAI Leileia, FAN Lianglianga, SHAN Shaoqia, LIU Yuhuan, RUAN Roger. 2016. Review of microwave-assisted lignin conversion for renewable fuels and chemicals. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis. Volume 119, May 2016, Pages 104113. doi:10.1016/j.jaap.2016.03.011.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Zhang B, Zhong Z, Chen P, Ruan R. 2016. Microwave-assisted catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass for bio-oil production using chemical vapor deposition modified HZSM-5 catalyst. Bioresour Technol. 2015 Dec;197:79-84. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.08.063. Epub 2015 Aug 21.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Yunpu Wang, Leilei Daia, Riping Wang, Liangliang Fan, Yuhuan Liu, Qinglong Xie, Roger Ruan. 2016. Hydrocarbon fuel production from soapstone through fast microwave-assisted pyrolysis using microwave absorbent. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis Volume 119, May 2016, Pages 251258. doi:10.1016/j.jaap.2016.01.008.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Anderson, E., M. Addy, Huan, M., P. Chen, R. Ruan. 2016. Glycerin esterification of scum derived free fatty acids to acyl-glycerols for biodiesel production. Bioresource Technology, Vol. 200, 01.01.2016, p. 153-160.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Yunpu Wang, Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan, Shi Tao Liu, Ping Wei Wen, Yi Qin Wan. 2016. Preparation and characterization of ZrO2 polycrystalline ceramic foam catalyst for biodiesel production. Synth React Inorg M, DOI: 10.1080/15533174.2015.1137014.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Qian Lu, Wenguang Zhou, Min Min, Xiaochen Ma, Yiwei Ma, Paul Chen, Hongli Zheng, Yen T.T. Doan, Hui Liu, Chi Chen, Pedro E. Urriola, Gerald C. Shurson, Roger Ruan. 2016. Mitigating ammonia nitrogen deficiency in dairy wastewaters for algae cultivation. 2015. Bioresource technology 201:33-40.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R. M. Addy, R. Zhang, Q. Lu, Y. Cheng, S. Luo, W. Li, H. Ren, E. Anderson, W. Zhou, R. Griffith, Y. Liu D. Current, P. Lee, P. Chen. 2016. Innovative processes and systems for complete waste utilization and treatment. 2016. 4th Bioprocessing India Conference (BPI-2016), Mohali, India.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., S. Liu, Y. Zhang, L. Fan, E. Anderson, P. Peng, Y. Cheng, N. Zhou, Y. Wan, Y. Wang, Y. Liu, X. Lin, J. Zhou, G. Chen, P. Chen. 2016. Innovative fast catalytic pyrolysis and gasification of soild wastes. International Conference on Strategies for Environmental Protection and Management (ICSEPM 2016), New Delhi, India
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., M. Addy, R. Zhang, Q. Lu, Y. Cheng, S. Luo, W. Li, H. Ren, E. Anderson, W. Zhou, R. Griffith, Y. Liu, D. Current, P. Lee, P Chen. 2016. Environment-enhancing biofuel and biobased product production through innovative waste-to-algae technologies. International Conference on Current Trends in Biotechnology (ICCB-2016), Chennai, India,
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., M. Addy, R. Zhang, Q. Lu, P. Chen, Y. Cheng, W. Zhou, Y. Liu, D. Current, P. Lee, D. Abazs, C. Yang, L. Vang. 2016. A system approach to utilization and treatment of organic solid and liquid wastes. ASIA-Pacific Conference on Biotechnology for Waste Conversion (BioWC-2016), Hong Kong
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., S. Liu, L. Fan, N. Zhou, E. Anderson, P. Peng, Y. Cheng, Y. Wang, Y. Liu, Y. Wan, J. Zhou, G. Chen, P. Chen. 2016. Distributed fast microwave assisted conversion of solid wastes for materials, chemicals, and energy production. 2016 International Seminar on Advanced Materials Research. Kunming.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., M. Addy, R. Zhang, E. Anderson, Y. Ma, X. Ma, C. Xin, Q. Lu, S. Luo, H. Ren, H. Liu, W. Li, S. Liu, Y. Zhang, L. Fan, G. Tian, P. Peng, Y. Cheng, R. Griffins, R. Hatzenbeller, Y. Wan, Y. Wang, Y. Liu, X. Lin, P. Chen. 2016. Sustainable Bio-economy for Rural Social and Economic Development. Conference Opening Speech. International Conference on Biomass Energy and Sustainable Economy. Nanchang.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., 2016. Innovative Microwave Assisted Catalytic Conversion of BioWastes for Renewable Energy and Chemicals Production. The 4th International Conference on Environmental-Ehancing Energy, Beijing.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R. 2016. Systematic waste utilization process and system. Bioenergy Seminar, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R. 2016. Innovative Thermochemical Conversion of BioWastes for Renewable Energy and Chemicals Production. International Symposium on Energy Economics and Management. Beijing.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R. 2016. Sustainable Bio-economy for Rural Social and Economic Development. MOST Biomass Utilization Conference. Nankai University, Tianjin.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Ruan, R., P. Chen, M. Addy, Y. Cheng, X. Ma, Y. Ma, S. Liu, Y. Liu, Y. Wang, H. Zheng, X. We, X. Lin, R. Griffins. 2016. Systems approach to bio-economy and exo-economy. Frontier Biotechnology Forum, Beijing, China


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Our research findings were publicized to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience includingacademic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. Someresearch findings were brought to classroom teaching. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in the research projects. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided following opportunities for training and professional development: 1. Graduate research assistantships 2. Postdoctoral research fellowships 3. Internships for undergraduate and high school students 4. Presentations in conferences and symposiums How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Our research results were disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Some research results were used in classroom teaching to benefit students. On-site demonstrations wereconducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials,funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Reduce costs of harvesting, handling and transporting biomass to increase the competitiveness of biomass as a feedstock for biofuels, biomaterials and biochemicals Producing and processing biomass feedstock locally is an alternative approach to centralized production and processing. One of our focuses is mass cultivation of microalgae on locally available wastewaters, be it municipal wastewater or animal wastewater or food processing wastewater. The work on cultivating algae on municipal wastewater included testing of using glycerol, a byproduct from our scum-to-biodiesel process (See next section). In optimal condition, glycerol was found to significantly improve algal biomass yield and nutrient removal. It was also found the initial pH of the culture media is critical. Cultivating algae on food processing wastewater is a cheap and efficient way to both produce biomass and prevent environmental pollution. However, due to the imbalanced nutrient profile in wastewater, biomass yields of algae grown on dairy wastewater and meat processing wastewater were low. Although previously developed methods, such as aeration and acid digestion, could improve biomass yield, they also made the wastewater treatment process complex and improved the cost. This study successfully improved the biomass yield of algae grown on dairy wastewater and meat processing wastewater by mixing different wastewaters. Based on nutrient profile analysis, this work hypothesized that the lack of certain nutrients in some meat processing wastewater was the bottleneck for algae growth. The result showed that biomass yield (0.675-1.538 g/L) of algae grown on mixed wastewater was much higher than that on individual wastewater and artificial medium. Wastewater mixing removed the bottleneck for algae growth and contributed to the improvement of biomass. Furthermore, in mixed wastewater with enough nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen removal efficiencies (68.75-90.38%) and total nitrogen removal efficiencies (30.06-50.94%) were improved. Wastewater mixing also promoted the synthesis of protein in algal cells. Protein content of algae growing on mixed wastewater was improved to 60.87-68.65%, which is much higher than protein content of traditional protein source. Algae cultivation model based on wastewater mixing is an efficient and cheap way to balance nutrients profile and improve biomass yield. The strategy based on mixing wastewaters developed in this work is a simple way to balance nutrient profile of wastewater and improve biomass yield of algae and nutrient removal. In the past year, our work has resulted in high performance algae strains suitable for wastewaters, and novel photobioreactors (PBR), new cultivation techniques that utilize broader range of waste streams as carbon and nutrient sources, and novel harvest techniques. Mass cultivation of algae on wastewaters also effectively removes nutrients, and thus cleans the wastewaters. All these contribute to a low cost biomass feedstock production system. 2. Improve biofuel production processes. While we continue to improve our microwave assisted pyrolysis (MAP) and gasification (MAG) processes, especially develop fast heating technique using microwave absorbents, we also began a new project which is focused on converting municipal scum to biodiesel. Scum is an oily waste stream collected from wastewater treatment process through skimming off the surface of the primary and secondary settling tanks. Currently scum is treated through (1) anaerobic digestion for biogas production or (2) landfill disposal. Biogas (methane, etc.) produced from anaerobic digestion has low energy density, low energy conversion rate and low economic value; while landfilling is costly, unsustainable and can cause many environmental problems. The Saint Paul Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) spends $100,000 per year for just landfilling its produced scum. Scum contains about 60% useful oil which can be converted to biodiesel. If we convert the scum to biodiesel, it could not only produce two higher value products, biodiesel and glycerin, but also at the same time reduce environmental pollution and economic burden. The conventional biodiesel conversion process includes acid catalyzed esterification and base catalyzed trans-esterification which is suitable for high quality oil. However due to poor feedstock quality of the scum, such as high solid and water content, high soap and fatty acid content, and high sulfur content, no effective process has been developed for converting such a material to biodiesel. Therefore the goal of our work was to develop a novel process and a system to convert scum to biodiesel that meets ASTM standard. In this project, many innovative and integrated process, such as, microwave assisted oil recovery, filtration, acid washing, and solvent extraction have being investigated to optimize rate and yield limiting factors like converting soap to free fatty acid (FFA), removing polar organic impurities, and reducing sulfur content in the recovered raw oil. Catalytic glycerolysis was developed and used to convert FFAs to glycerides using free recycled glycerin and to further reduce the sulfur content. 3. Identify, develop and evaluate sustainable processes to convert biomass resources into biochemicals, biocatalysts and biomaterials. Our research also looks into biochar produced from microwave assisted pyrolysis of various biomass feedstocks. The physical and chemical properties of the biochar was investigated in connection with their potential use as fertilizer and soil amendment agent. In addition, production of EPA and DHA lipids from microalgae was investigated. Factors such as type of wastewater and nutrients, stress, temperature, and light on the synthesis of EPA and DHA were studied. Identify and develop needed educational resources, develop distance based delivery methods, and develop a trained work force for the biobased economy. Biobased economy is a relatively new field, and therefore has high demand for human resources. Our project has trained many students and junior researchers who either took on industry or academic jobs that require knowledge of renewable energy technology. Many of our findings have found their way in classroom teaching. Our thermochemical conversion and algae research activities have resulted in pilot scale facilities for demonstration to stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Yanling Cheng, Liang Li, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2015. Synthesis and characterization of starch-based cationic flocculants for microalgae harvesting. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. (accepted)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Xie, Q., Chen, P., Peng, P., Liu, S., Peng, P., Zhang, B., Cheng, Y., Wan, Y., Liu, Y., Ruan, R., 2015. Single-step synthesis of DME from syngas on CuZnAl/zeolite bifunctional catalyst: the influence of zeolite type. RSC Advances. 5, 2630126307.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Hongli Zheng, Xiaochen Ma, Zhen Gao, Yiqing Wan, Min Min, Wenguang Zhou, Yun Li, Yuhuan Liu, He Huang, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2015. Lipid Production of Heterotrophic Chlorella sp. from Hydrolysate Mixtures of Lipid-Extracted Microalgal Biomass Residues and Molasses. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 177: 662-674.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Bo Zhang, Zhaoping Zhong, Min Min, Kuan Ding, Qinglong Xie, Roger Ruan. 2015. Catalytic fast co-pyrolysis of biomass and food waste to produce aromatics: Analytical PyGC/MS study. Bioresource Technology 189 (2015) 3035.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Cheng Yanling, Wang Yingkuan, Paul Chen, Shaobo Deng, Roger Ruan. 2014. Non-thermal plasma assisted polymer surface modification and synthesis: A review. International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Vol 7, No 2:1-9.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Qinglong Xie, Peng Peng, Shiyu Liu, Min Min, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Yun Li, Xiangyang Lin, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, and Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic pyrolysis of sewage sludge for bio-oil production. Bioresource
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Dongyan Mu, Min Min, Brian Krohn, Kimberley A. Mullins, Roger Ruan, and Jason Hill. 2014. Life cycle environmental impacts of wastewater-based algal biofuels. Environmental Science & Technology. 2014, 48, 11696?11704.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Xiaochen Ma, Hongli Zheng, He Huang, Yuhuan Liu, Roger Ruan. 2014. Effects of Temperature and Substrate Concentration on Lipid Production by Chlorella vulgaris from Enzymatic Hydrolysates of Lipid-Extracted Microalgal Biomass Residues (LMBRs). Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 08/2014; DOI: 10.1007/s12010-014-1134-5. October 2014, Volume 174, Issue 4, pp 1631-1650.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ma, X.C., Zhou, W.G., Fu, Z.Q., Cheng, Y.L., Min M., Liu Y.H., Chen, P., Ruan, R. 2014. Effect of Wastewater-borne Bacteria on Algal Growth and Nutrients Removal in Wastewater-based Algae Cultivation System. Bioresour Technol. 167: 8-13.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Fernanda Cabral Borges, Qinglong Xie, Min Min, Luis Ant�nio Rezende Muniz, Marcelo Farenzena, Jorge Ot�vio Trierweiler, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave-assisted pyrolysis of microalgae using microwave absorbent and HZSM-5 catalyst. Bioresource Technology 166 (2014) 518526.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wenguang Zhou, Paul Chen, Min Min, Xiaochen Ma, Jinghan Wang, Zongqiang Fu, Richard Griffith, Fida Hussain, Pu Peng, Qinglong Xie, Yun Li, Jian Shi, Roger Ruan. 2014. Environment-enhancing Algal Biofuel Production Using Wastewaters. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 36 (2014): 256269.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Fernanda Cabral Borges, Zhenyi Du, Qinglong Xie, Jorge Ot�vio Trierweiler, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Yuhuan Liu, Rongbi Zhu, Xiangyang Lin, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave assisted pyrolysis of biomass using microwave absorbent. Bioresource Technology 156: 267-274.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Qinglong Xie, Fernanda Cabral Borges, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Yun Li, Xiangyang Lin, Yuhuan Liu, Fida Hussain, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic gasification of biomass for syngas production and tar removal. Bioresource Technology 156:291-296.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhou, W, and Ruan, R. 2014. Biological mitigation of carbon dioxide via microalgae: recent development and future direction. Scientia Sinca Chimica. 44(1): 63-78.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Ruan, R. 2015. Innovative technologies for waste utilization and renewable energy and chemicals production. International Conference on New Horizons in Biotechnology (NHBT-2015). November 22-25, 2015, Trivandrum, India.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Ruan, R. 2015. Wastewater-to-Algae Technologies for Biofuels and Biochemicals Production and Wastewater Treatment. Advances in Algal Biotechnology Wrokshop. IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Ruan, R. 2015. Innovative Algal Process and System for Sustainable Biofuels and Biochemicals Production. Advances in Algae Based Biorefineries - Algae Biomass Cultivation, Harvesting and Characterization. 2015 AIChE Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: R. Ruan, Q. Xie, Y. Cheng, S. Liu, P. Peng, B. Zhang, P. Chen, L. Baker, P. Urriola, G. Shurson. 2015. Energy and chemical extraction from waste organics. The Future of Organic Wastes in Minnesota Conference. Continuing Education and Conference Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Roger Ruan, Shaobo Deng, Yanling Cheng, Xiaochen Ma, Yiwei Ma, Xiangyang Lin, Sibo Cheng, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, Lloyd Metzge. 2014. Concentrated High Intensity Electric Field (CHIEF) nonthermal pasteurization technology, Symposium on Nonthermal Technology for Food Safety Assurance, IFT International Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ruan, R. 2014. Innovative distributed technologies for renewable energy production. 11th Tactical Power Sources Submit. Washington, DC.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Paul Chen, Qinglong Xie, Zhenyi Du, Fernanda C. Borges, Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Xiangyang Lin, Yuhuan Liu, and Roger Ruan. 2014. Microwave-assisted thermochemical conversion of biomass for biofuel production. In Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave and Ultrasound, Springer Book Series - Biofuels and Biorefineries Editors: Zhen Fang, Richard L. Smith, Jr., Xinhua Qi.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: Zhou, W, Chen, P Min, M., Peng P, Fida H, Chen P, Liu Y, Ruan, R. 2015. Biological mitigation of carbon dioxide via microalgae: recent development and future direction. Bioresour Technol. (In Review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2015 Citation: Hussain, F, Zhou, W, Fu Z, Liu Y, Min, M., Cheng Y, Li Y, Liu Y, Chen, P and Ruan, R. 2015. Isolation and selection of microalgae tolerant of CO2 rich flue gas. Bioresour Technol. (In Review).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Anderson, E., M. Addy, Huan, M., P. Chen, R. Ruan. 2015. Glycerin esterification of scum derived free fatty acids to acyl-glycerols for biodiesel production. Bioresour Technology. Accepted.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Qian Lu, Wenguang Zhou, Min Min, Xiaochen Ma, Yiwei Ma, Paul Chen, Hongli Zheng, Yen T.T. Doan, Hui Liu, Chi Chen, Pedro E. Urriola, Gerald C. Shurson, Roger Ruan. 2015. Mitigating ammonia nitrogen deficiency in dairy wastewaters for algae cultivation. 2015. Bioresource Technology. (Accepted).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tushar Gulati, Ashim K. Datta, Christopher J. Doona, R. Roger Ruan, Florence E. Feeherry. 2015. Modeling moisture migration in a multi-domain food system: Application to storage of a sandwich system. Food Research International, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2015.06.022.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Junying Liu, Yunmeng Song, Roger Ruan, Yuhuan Liu. 2015. Removal of humic acid from composted hog waste by the white-rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Water Science & Technology 06/2015; 72(1):92. DOI:10.2166/wst.2015.166.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Qian Lu, Wenguang Zhou, Min Min, Xiaochen Ma, Ceria Chandra, Yen T T Doan, Yiwei Ma, Hongli Zheng, Sibo Cheng, Richard Griffith, Paul Chen, Chi Chen, Pedro E Urriola, Gerald C Shurson, Hans R Gisler�d, Roger Ruan. 2015. Growing Chlorella sp. on meat processing wastewater for nutrient removal and biomass production. Bioresource Technology 09/2015; 198:189-197. DOI:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.08.133.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Wang JH., Zhou, W.G, Yang HZ., Wang F., Ruan R. 2015. Trophic mode conversion and nitrogen deprivation of microalgae for high ammonium removal from synthetic wastewater. Bioresource Technology 198:668-676.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Xie, Q., Addy, M., Liu, S., Zhang, B., Cheng, Y., Wan, Y., Li, Y., Liu, Y., Lin, X., Chen, P., Ruan, R., 2015. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic co-pyrolysis of microalgae and scum for bio-oil production. Fuel. 160, 577582.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gulati, T, Datta, AK, Doona, CJ, Ruan, RR & Feeherry, FE. 2015. Modeling moisture migration in a multi-domain food system: Application to storage of a sandwich system. Food Research International., 10.1016/k.foodres.2015.06022
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Bi, C., Min M., Y. Nie, Q. Xie, Q. Lu, X. Deng, E. Anderson, D. Li, P. Chen, and R. Ruan. 2015. Process development for scum to biodiesel conversion. Bioresour Technol 185:185-193.


Progress 06/03/14 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Our research findings were publicized to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. Some research findings were brought to classroom teaching. Graduate and undergraduate students were involved in the research projects. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The project has provided following opportunities for training and professional development: Graduate research assistantships Postdoctoral research fellowships Internships for undergraduate and high school students Presentations in conferences and symposiums How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Our research results were disseminated to the academic community through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. Some research results were used in classroom teaching to benefit students. On-site demonstrations were conducted to showcase our results to a broad range of audience including academic researchers, government officials, funding agencies, students, entrepreneurs, and the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The desire for sustainable production of biofuels prompts the need to use non-food biomass feedstock and green conversion technologies for biofuel production. Lignocellulosic and algal biomass feedstock are among the most promising alternative feedstock for biofuels. The overarching goal of the efforts at the University of Minnesota is to develop cost effective and environmentally friendly feedstock production and conversion technologies. We focused our research on mass cultivation of microalgae as feedstock, thermochemical conversion of biomass, and refining and upgrading of biocrude. Cost is a major techno-economic barrier in algal fuel development. The major challenges for thermochemical conversion are the poor quality and stability of the products, and costs associated with feedstock collection, handling, transportation and storage. In our project, we studied and developed technologies for mass cultivation and conversion of algae to biofuels and bioproducts. High performance algae strains were identified and selected; novel cultivation processes and systems were developed and tested for efficient utilization of carbon and nutrient resources. We also developed processes to prepare oil feedstock for biodiesel production from scum. Our wastewater based algae technology not only significantly improve the economic viability of the technology but also provides significant environmental benefits. On thermochemical conversion of biomass, we developed innovative fast microwave assisted pyrolysis and gasification processes and hydrothermal liquefaction. Our work significantly improved the feedstock conversion efficiency, product quality and stability, and facilitated distributed conversion of biomass and hence reduced feedstock delivery costs. We also studied the refining of biocrude and syngas to high quality fuels and chemicals. These outcomes have positive impacts on the overall technical and economic performance of thermochemical conversion technologies. Develop deployable biomass feedstock supply knowledge, processes and logistics systems that economically deliver timely and sufficient quantities of biomass with predictable specifications to meet conversion process-dictated feedstock tolerances. We addressed the feedstock issues through two different strategies. One was to produce algal biomass using wastewaters and the other is to develop microwave assisted conversion technology which could be implemented in affordable scale suitable for distributed conversion. Technical details of microwave assisted conversion technology research and development are described in Goal 2. In this period, we focused on complete utilization of waste streams from municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWTP). We are developing processes to extract and clean oil from scum and use it as a feedstock for biodiesel production using unique conversion techniques. We are investigating the use of crude glycerol from the biodiesel conversion process for algae cultivation. We are also studying thermochemical conversion of sludge to bio-oil and syngas and biological treatment of sludge to serve as carbon and nutrient sources for algae cultivation. Our research has resulted in novel processes to make valued added products from scum, promising species/strains and improved growth conditions for mass cultivation of algae, which ultimately resulted in efficient utilization and management of organics and nutrients in waste streams. A large amount of experimental data were collected, analyzed, and published in peer-reviewed journals and presented in technical meetings. Investigate and develop sustainable technologies to convert biomass resources into chemicals, energy, materials and other value added products. In this period, we continued to study fast microwave assisted conversion. We focused on the effect of catalysts (type and ratio of catalyst to biomass) and steam injection on yield and composition of the products during fast microwave assisted gasification (fMAG). We are developing two-in-one gasification and syngas upgrading process and system. A single-step dimethyl ether (DME) synthesis process from syngas was investigated using Cu-ZnO-Al2O3 mixed with seven different zeolites as the bifunctional catalysts. Zeolite properties including density of weak and strong acid sites, pore structure, and Si/Al distribution were found to affect the CO conversion and DME selectivity of the bifunctional catalyst during the syngas-to-DME process. We are also developing continuous system for fast microwave assisted pyrolysis and gasification and microwave induced plasma for gasification. The experimental data for fMAG and single step DME synthesis were collected, analyzed, and published. Develop modeling and systems approaches to support development of sustainable biomass production and conversion to bioenergy and bioproducts. We use life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool not only to evaluate our processes but also to provide insightful feedbacks to process optimization and improvement. Our LCA studies on algal biofuel production show that the environmental performance of wastewater-based algal biofuels is generally better than freshwater-based algal biofuels. However, only algal biofuels produced from wastewater with high nutrient load can have lower environmental impacts than petroleum diesel. Wastewater from digestion process has high concentration on COD, N and P. Therefore, algal biofuels produced from digestion wastewater are expected to have much better performance than petroleum diesel. We are conducting life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis using well established models with modification on the complete utilization of MWTP waste streams. One paper on LCA of algal biofuel was published. Identify and develop needed educational resources, expand distance-based delivery methods, and grow a trained work force for the biobased economy Our research projects provided opportunities to undergraduate graduate students and junior researchers to participate in experimental work, data collection, processing and analysis, and scientific writing and presentation. Many of our findings have found their way in classroom teaching. Our mass cultivation and thermochemical conversion facilities were used for demonstration to stakeholders.

Publications

  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Paul Chen, Qinglong Xie, Zhenyi Du, Fernanda C. Borges, Peng Peng, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Xiangyang Lin, Yuhuan Liu, and Roger Ruan. 2014. Microwave-assisted thermochemical conversion of biomass for biofuel production. In Production of Biofuels and Chemicals with Microwave and Ultrasound, Springer Book Series - Biofuels and Biorefineries Editors: Zhen Fang, Richard L. Smith, Jr., Xinhua Qi.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2014 Citation: Zhou, W, Chen, P Min, M., Peng P, Fida H, Chen P, Liu Y, Ruan, R. 2014. Biological mitigation of carbon dioxide via microalgae: recent development and future direction. Bioresour Technol.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hussain, F, Zhou, W, Fu Z, Liu Y, Min, M., Cheng Y, Li Y, Liu Y, Chen, P and Ruan, R. 2014. Isolation and selection of microalgae tolerant of CO2 rich flue gas. Bioresour Technol.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Qinglong Xie, Peng Peng, Shiyu Liu, Min Min, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Yun Li, Xiangyang Lin, Yuhuan Liu, Paul Chen, and Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic pyrolysis of sewage sludge for bio-oil production. Bioresource Technology. 09/2014; 172C:162-168. DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2014.09.006
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Fernanda Cabral Borges, Qinglong Xie, Min Min, Luis Ant�nio Rezende Muniz, Marcelo Farenzena, Jorge Ot�vio Trierweiler, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave-assisted pyrolysis of microalgae using microwave absorbent and HZSM-5 catalyst. Bioresource Technology 166 (2014) 518526.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Wenguang Zhou, Paul Chen, Min Min, Xiaochen Ma, Jinghan Wang, Zongqiang Fu, Richard Griffith, Fida Hussain, Pu Peng, Qinglong Xie, Yun Li, Jian Shi, Roger Ruan. 2014. Environment-enhancing Algal Biofuel Production Using Wastewaters. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 36 (2014): 256269.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Fernanda Cabral Borges, Zhenyi Du, Qinglong Xie, Jorge Ot�vio Trierweiler, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Yuhuan Liu, Rongbi Zhu, Xiangyang Lin, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave assisted pyrolysis of biomass using microwave absorbent. Bioresource Technology 156: 267-274.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Qinglong Xie, Fernanda Cabral Borges, Yanling Cheng, Yiqin Wan, Yun Li, Xiangyang Lin, Yuhuan Liu, Fida Hussain, Paul Chen, Roger Ruan. 2014. Fast microwave-assisted catalytic gasification of biomass for syngas production and tar removal. Bioresource Technology 156:291-296.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ruan, R. and P. Chen. 2014. Innovative Waste Utilization Technologies. LCCMR Site Visit. St. Paul and Rosemount, MN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ruan, R. 2014. Renewable energy an d biobased economy research and development. Minnesota Bipartisan Issues Group, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Dongyan Mu, Min Min, Brian Krohn, Kimberley A. Mullins, Roger Ruan, and Jason Hill. 2014. Life cycle environmental impacts of wastewater-based algal biofuels. Environmental Science & Technology. 2014, 48, 11696?11704.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ma, X.C., Zhou, W.G., Fu, Z.Q., Cheng, Y.L., Min M., Liu Y.H., Chen, P., Ruan, R. 2014. Effect of Wastewater-borne Bacteria on Algal Growth and Nutrients Removal in Wastewater-based Algae Cultivation System. Bioresour Technol. 167: 8-13.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ruan, R. 2014. Innovative distributed technologies for renewable energy production. 11th Tactical Power Sources Submit. Washington, DC.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ruan, R. 2014. Innovative Technologies for Solid Waste Utilization and Renewable Energy and Chemicals Production. A plenary speech at the International Workshop on Bioenergy and Environment. Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Ruan, R. 2014. Innovative Technologies for Waste Utilization and Renewable Energy and Chemicals Production. College of Environmental Science and Engineering and Tianjin Municipal Solid Waste Resources Technology and Engineering Center, NanKai University. Tianjin, China.