Waste Biorefinery Technologies for Sustainable Development

Dr. Ponnusami is at present working as Associate Dean in the School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, India. He did the doctoral research on textile effluent treatment at SASTRA Deemed University, India. His post-doctoral research includes wastewater treatment by physico-chemical treatments, lignocellulose degradation, bioprocessing for the production of enzymes and microbial polysaccharides, and biodiesel production. Towards achieving the goals of sustainable development his team is exploring the uses of green methods in biorefining of biomass. In particular, bioconversion of biomass into microbial exopolysaccharides such as levan, xantham gum, dextran, cellulose that are suitable for food and medical treatments are investigated. As far as renewable fuels are concerned we mainly work on process development for biodiesel and bioethanol from various agricultural and industrial waste products. The group is interested in developing chemical and biocatalysts for above-mentioned conversion processes. Prof. Ponnusami is included in the list of top 2% highly cited researchers’ published by Elsevier, consecutively for the past two years (2021 and 2022). Prof. Xu is currently Chair Professor of Advanced Biorefinery and Director of Advanced Biorefinery Laboratory (ABL) at School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE) and Fellow of Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC). He was a professor, the NSERC/FPInnovations Industrial Research Chair in Forest Biorefinery, and Associate Director of the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR) at Western University. He has over 20 years of research experience in conversion of biomass and organic solid wastes (forestry/agricultural residues, food wastes, wastewater sludge, microalgae, lignin, glycerol and sugars, etc.) into biofuels (sustainable aviation fuels, green hydrogen) and green chemicals and biopolymer materials. He has authored/edited 3 books on biorefinery, and published 20+ book chapters and 370+ papers in peer-reviewed journals. According to Google Scholar, his work has received nearly 25,000 total citations with an H-index of 82 to date. With 12 PCT/US/Canadian/Chinese Patents issued, Dr. Xu has made outstanding contributions to applied science and engineering practice. He is the recipient of the 2011 Syncrude Canada Innovation Award and the 2019 Award in Design and Industrial Practice from Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering, and the 2023 Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Dr. Saravanan Ramiah Shanmugam is currently working as Assistant Research Professor in Biosystems Engineering Department at Auburn University, Alabama, USA. He has previously worked as a DST Inspire Faculty in the School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, India. His primary research interests focus on the creation value from wastes. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He has worked as an Associate Scientist in AgraCity Crop & Nutrition Ltd., Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada. He has published more than 33 research articles in peer-reviewed International Journals, filed for 4 provisional patents (3 from India and 1 from U.S.), 5 book chapters and 1 book as an Editor in Elsevier. Dr Kiran Babu Uppuluri is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur. His group is working on the development, modelling, optimization, and intensification of bioprocesses for various biochemicals such as biofuels, therapeutic enzymes, and biopolymers. His current research interest lies in the Biomass-Biorefinery for circular economy. He published 45 SCI papers & 2 Patents, guided 4 PhD scholars and edited 3 books in the area of Biomass-Biorefinery.Dr. Noori Saady is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Memorial University, Canada. He specializes in converting organic waste into biofuel, bioenergy, and value-added by-products, using biotechnologies such as anaerobic digestion and microbial fuel cells. He received two NSERC Postdoctoral awards and gained valuable experience at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. Dr. Saady has published over 35 research articles, two book chapters, and presented at numerous national and international conferences. His research is funded by NSERC and the Canadian Agriculture Partnership Program. He has also served as Editor-in-Chief and handling editor for various scientific journals.

• Volume 2Section 4. Biological conversion processes for valorisation of biomass and waste for the production of chemicals and fuels 12. Production of Bio-based Platform Chemicals from Biomass and Wastes: Biological conversion This chapter emphasises various platform chemicals that can be derived from biomass through biological conversion processes. This will cover various microbial organisms and enzymes used in the production of bio-based platform chemicals. It will provide a comprehensive list of bio-based platform chemicals and the pathways for their production. 13. Conversion of Biomass and Wastes into Bio-Polymers/Plastics This chapter emphasises production of biopolymers and plastics from biomass through biological conversion processes. This will cover various microbial organisms and enzymes used in this process. 14. Biogas Upgradation Technologies Biogas produced from anaerobic processes typically contains impurities such as water vapor, hydrogen sulfie, ammonia, among others. Some of these impurities, like H2S, are poisonous. Water vapour reduce the calorific value and adversely affect the performance and life of the reactors. This chapter is devoted for biogas cleaning and upgradation (enrichment in methane) technologies. 15. Green Hydrogen Production from Biomass: Dark Fermentation and Biochemical Pathways Dark fermentation is an efficient process for green hydrogen. It can accept and process diversified feedstock, and uses mixed microbial species from many sources (manure, soil, wastewater treatment plants, lagoons, and sediments). The chapter will discuss the feedstocks, biochemical pathways, and the microbial populations involved in the process. The recent advances, strengths, and drawbacks of the process such as formation of inhibitory compounds will be discussed. Section 5. Model biorefineries 16. Microalgae-based Biorefineries This chapter cover process options available for microalgae based biorefineries. It discusses the photosynthetic organism, growth parameters and conditions, why microalgae is considered to be a suitable source of biofuel, lipid and carbohydrate production by algae. It focuses on lipid, lipid synthesis in microalgae, ways to enhance lipid production, discussing various ways with a focus on altered growth parameter and nanoparticle application, ways to enhance lipid extraction from microalgal cell, different cell breaking processes and their efficiency with a focus on recently developed pretreatment processes. It also discusses microalgal biodiesel, lipid to biodiesel, fuel property of biodiesel. 17. Lignin-based Biorefineries One of the major constituents of abundantly available natural biomass is lignin, and it is often underutilised. Typically, the lignin part of the biomass is destroyed while trying to recover fermentable sugars from biomass. Recent developments in biomass pretreatments with the help of greener solvents like DES and IL enable the recovery of lignin. Once recovered, they can serve as feedstock for biorefinery to yield biofuels and chemicals typically by thermochemical methods such as gasification, pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization etc. This chapter is devoted to deal with the recent developments in lignin conversion. Section 6. Circular biorefinery and LCA 18 Integration of Renewable Energy Systems in Circular Biorefineries This will explore the possible means to integrate Renewable Energy Systems Biorefineries to enhance their economic feasibility. 19. Circular Economy Principles and Resource Recovery in Biorefineries Circular economy is gaining increased attention in the context of today's rapid economic development and associated excessive consumption of natural resources. The principles of circular economy such as reuse, repurpose and recycle will covered. The contribution of biorefineries to achieve the circular economy goals will be addressed 20. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainability Metrics in Biorefineries Life cycle analysis is a prominent tool to assess the sustainability and economic feasibility of any process. The principles of LCA, viz. goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment and improvement analysis will be introduced and their application in biorefineries will be discussed. The success of the biorefineries depends on their life cycle. 21. Techno-economic Analysis of Circular Biorefinery Systems Assessing the economic potential is essential for the implementation of any new process. The methods and tools relevant for the estimation of costs and economic benefits with specific reference to biorefinery systems will be covered. Section 7. Future perspectives 22. Challenges and Opportunities in Scaling Up Circular Biorefinery Technologies This section is aimed to identify the drivers, opportunities, challenges, and barriers for businesses in circular bioeconomy both from theoretical and practical perspectives. In addition, this section will present the regional differences in those concepts for different continents. 23. Future Perspectives and Emerging Trends in Circular Biorefinery Research and Development This chapter will discuss the future perspectives for sustainable integrated biorefinery with growing emphasis on environmental sustainability. Specifically, this chapter will focus on Integration of advanced technologies, circular economy principles, development of tailored microorganisms, multi-functional biorefineries, implementation of modular and decentralised systems, cross-sector collaboration, policy support and incentives, public awareness and acceptance, life cycle assessments and environmental footprint. Special emphasis will also be given to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in optimising biomass pretreatment and production processes.