Biorefinery Topics
Biorefining is the sustainable processing of biomass into bio-based products (food, feed, chemicals and other materials) and bioenergy (biofuels, power and/or heat). The biorefinery concept is analogous to today's petroleum refinery, which produce multiple fuels and products from petroleum. We aim to use as many components in the biomass as possible, to maximize the value of the biomass material. The idea is that we can eventually produce chemicals and materials from biomass instead of petroleum.
• LCA-based process design
Process design was mainly driven by economic criteria, but in recent years sustainability is introduced as an additional criterion. We want to develop process design procedures that combine the worlds of sustainability and economy. (Van Boxtel)
• Processing networks for multiple-products
Biorefinery concerns the processing of biomass in a spectrum of products. We search for efficient organization of unit operations that for the production of multi-products. (Van Boxtel)
• Robust processes for a variable supply and demand chain
In biorefinery the supply of resources and the demand for products vary over time. Biorefineries have to be robust to deal with these variations. One option to obtain robustness is to overdesign the equipment; the other is to apply controls. We search for the best combinations of these two. (Van Boxtel)
Modelling kinetics for lignin breakdown
At the institute FBR, a lot of work is done on lignin breakdown. For the design of reactors more information is needed about the kinetics. In this thesis work we look for a systematic and efficient way for modelling the kinetics. (Van Boxtel)
© Control of small scale sugar processing
In the BCH/VPP group a method for sugar pre-processing at small scale is proposed. For the small scale use the pre-processing takes place in combination with extraction, fermentation and distillation. As the sugar beet supply is not constant the whole system needs to be controlled. In a thesis we need an analysis and a proposal for the control system. (Van Boxtel)
• Simultaneous process design and control (in cooperation with TUE)
To be developed. (Van Boxtel)