El Capítulo I trata la actual crisis energética y hace una breve introducción sobre el uso del hidrógeno como vector energético, mencionando los diferentes métodos que pueden utilizarse para la producción/purificación de hidrógeno a partir de recursos renovables. También incluye una breve descripción del papel que puede jugar la biomasa como alternativa a los combustibles fósiles, y su conversión a biocombustibles y productos químicos de valor añadido. El reformado catalítico de glicerol para la producción de gas de síntesis o corrientes ricas en hidrógeno se presenta como una ruta potencial, alternativa y prometedora que ha llamado la atención en los últimos años. Esta reacción se suele llevar a cabo sobre catalizadores basados en metales soportados en materiales estables. En el Capítulo II se estudia el efecto de la adición de Sn sobre las propiedades y la estabilidad de catalizadores de Pt soportado en carbón en la reacción de reformado glicerol en fase gas. Para ello, se preparó y caracterizó una serie de catalizadores con diferentes relaciones atómicas Pt/Sn. El alto precio de los metales nobles motiva la búsqueda y empleo de metales más baratos y abundantes que también tengan un buen comportamiento catalítico en esta reacción. Por ello, en el Capítulo III se emplearon catalizadores basados en Ni promovidos por óxido de cerio para el reformado de glicerol. Por otro lado, se hace necesario optimizar el uso del CeO2 debido a su limitada disponibilidad y sus extensas aplicaciones. Así, en este trabajo se dispersó CeO2 sobre carbón activado de alta área superficial, obteniendo gran superficie de óxido de cerio expuesta al mismo tiempo que se redujo su consumo. También se estudió el efecto de la presencia de estaño en estos catalizadores. Se obtienen diversas ventajas al realizar el reformado de glicerol en fase líquida. Así, se obtienen corrientes más ricas en H2 con menor cantidad de CO. Esto se debe a las moderadas temperaturas y altas presiones empleadas, que favorecen la reacción de desplazamiento del gas de agua. También se suprime la necesidad de evaporar la disolución acuosa de glicerol, por lo que el requerimiento energético es menor y se evitan reacciones indeseadas de descomposición térmica. De este modo, en el Capítulo IV se hace un estudio comparativo sobre las propiedades catalíticas de tres muestras, Pt/CeO2, Ni/CeO2 y Pt-Ni/CeO2, en la reacción de reformado de glicerol en fase líquida. Además, se empleó espectroscopía de reflectancia total atenuada in situ para obtener información relevante sobre los intermedios de reacción y la evolución de los catalizadores durante la reacción, permitiendo así proponer los caminos de reacción más probables. Para obtener corrientes de hidrógeno suficientemente puro para su uso es las pilas de combustible, la corriente obtenida después del reformado debe ser procesada en varias etapas, entre las que se incluyen la eliminación del CO por medio de la reacción de desplazamiento del gas de agua (water-gas shift, WGS). En el Capítulo V se estudia la serie de catalizadores de Ni promovidos por CeO2 soportados en carbón en la reacción de desplazamiento del gas de agua a bajas temperaturas. Para este estudio se emplearon diferentes corrientes de entrada, tanto ideales (sólo CO y H2O) como reales (CO, CO2, H2 y H2O). Por último, en el Capítulo VI, el catalizador que presentó mejor comportamiento catalítico en el apartado anterior fue estudiado en mayor profundidad, relacionando sus propiedades con la actividad catalítica, sometiéndolo finalmente a ensayos de estabilidad en condiciones más demandantes.

The biodiesel industry produces millions of kilograms of low-value glycerol, which must be either stored or disposed of, creating environmental concerns. Even though glycerol is utilized as a raw material within various industries its supply is still superior to the demand. Upgrading this biodiesel by-product into value-added products using electrochemical technologies is a promising approach and will make biodiesel production more environmentally friendly with added financial benefits. Precious metals are the state-of-the-art electro-catalysts for the oxidation of organic compounds, and so are a logical choice for the electro-oxidation of glycerol. Two factors that hinder their use in this regard for commercial applications include their cost and susceptibility to poisoning by the carbonyl (CO) species formed during the electro-oxidation process. The use of inexpensive transition metals as the principal metals in a catalyst composite is thus appealing, leading to the selection of nickel (Ni). Furthermore, its high activity, anti-poison ability and long-term stability in alkaline solutions make it an attractive candidate for glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GEOR). The main thrust of this work is to develop a deeper understanding of the factors involved in controlling the selectivity of the product reaction without 3 carbon cleavage on non-precious metal surfaces. To overcome a trial-and-error approach, we took advantage of modern synthesis and characterization techniques for metal alloy nanoparticles and advances in rapid identifications and quantifications of products based on infrared spectroscopy. These tools were expected to provide the foundation for the detailed understanding of GEOR mechanism hence would pave the way for the rational design of catalysts to produce specific high value-added chemicals. We cared out extensive research to determine the effect of size, morphology, shape, support, experimental conditions and catalyst preparation methods on the catalytic performance of Ni. The thesis aims to demonstrate how the selectivity of unsupported Ni nanoparticles for GEOR can be improved via interaction of Ni with low noble and transition metals content. Enhanced selectivity towards C3 and C2 products such as glycerate, lactate, oxalate and tartronate, was achieved by simply adding less than 20 atomic percent of any of bismuth (Bi), Pd or Au onto Ni nanoparticles. Furthermore, the composition effect of carbon supported NiₓM₁₋ₓ (M = Bi, Pd and Au) nanomaterials were combined with Pt/C and commercial silver nanoparticles for cathodic hydrogen production and CO₂ electro-reduction, respectively. These rich-phase of Ni(OH)₂ catalysts were highly active and selective towards C-C bond breaking products leading to 100% selectivity of formate after 1 hr electrolysis and 100% conversion of glycerol after 24 hr at +1.55 V. Lastly, the first principles calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) insights provided an explanation to understand the electronic structure, magnetism and reactivity of our catalysts. Core@shell (Mm@Nin) nanoparticles of 13-, 54- and 55-atoms with different elements concentrations matched the experimental results and assisted us with a better understanding of some of the microscopic phenomena involved with the reactivity of bimetallic nanoparticles.

No description available.

Crude glycerol is the major byproduct of the biodiesel industry. There is an abundance of this byproduct and purifying it for use in industries such as food, pharmaceutical, or cosmetic is prohibitively expensive. Developing an alternative use for crude glycerol is needed. Utilizing it as a carbon source in the fermentation of algae is one potential method for using this under-utilized byproduct. In this research, crude glycerol is used in the mixotrophic production of the alga, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, which is an eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) producing diatom. Mixotrophic growth is when cells perform autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of growth concurrently. EPA is an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid that has been demonstrated to have a multitude of beneficial health effects, including maintaining human cardiovascular health, treating cancer and human depression diseases, and an anti-obesity effect. In this study, the potential of using crude glycerol in batch mode mixotrophic culture of P. tricornutum was investigated. Once the mixotrophic culture was established, parameters involved in increasing the biomass and EPA production were optimized. These included nitrogen source, level of supplemental carbon dioxide, and concentration of crude glycerol. Using nitrate, 0.08 M crude glycerol, and 3% (vol/vol) carbon dioxide led to the highest biomass productivity of 0.446 g L?? day?? and the highest EPA productivity of 16.9 mg L?? day?? in batch mode culture. The continuous culture of the mixotrophic culture was then performed following the batch culture optimization. The effects of dilution rate were observed in continuous culture with the parameters of nitrate as the nitrogen source, 0.08 M crude glycerol, and 3% (vol/vol) carbon dioxide held constant. The highest biomass productivity of 0.612 g L?? day?? was obtained at D = 0.24 day??. The highest EPA productivity of 16.5 mg L?? day?? was achieved at both D = 0.15 day?? and D = 0.24 day??. The maximum specific growth rate was estimated from the washing out dilution rate and was determined to be around 0.677 day??. Overall, it was found that crude glycerol increases the biomass and EPA productivity of Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Continuous culture with the use of crude glycerol can further increase these measurements. The potential for scaling up studies is demonstrated by these results and can help lead to a market for this abundant, little-used byproduct of the biodiesel industry. / Master of Science

Crude glycerol is a major byproduct if the biodiesel industry. Biodiesel manufacturers are currently facing the challenges of appropriate disposal of this waste material. Crude glycerol is expensive to purify for use in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries and therefore, alternative methods for use of this crude glycerol are needed. A promising alternative is to use this crude glycerol as a carbon source for microalgae fermentation. In this project, we investigated the use of crude glycerol as a less expensive substrate for the fermentation of the microalgae <i>Schizochytrium limacinum</i> and <i>Pythium irregulare</i> which are prolific producers of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids have many beneficially effects on treating human diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and neurological disorders. In addition, the omega-3 fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has been shown to be an important factor in infant brain and eye development. The first part of this study focused on the continuous fermentation of <i>S. limacinum</i>, a prolific producer of DHA. The objective of this study was to examine the algal cellular physiology and maximize its DHA productivity. Two important parameters used in continuous fermentation were studied: dilution rate (D) and feed glycerol concentration (S₀). The highest biomass productivity of 3.88 g/L-day was obtained at D = 0.3 day⁻¹ and S₀ = 60 g/L, while the highest DHA productivity (0.52 g/L-day) was obtained at D = 0.3 day⁻¹ and S₀ = 90 g/L. The cells had a true growth yield of 0.283 g/g, a maximum specific growth rate of 0.692 day⁻¹, and a maintenance coefficient of 0.2216 day⁻¹. The second part of this study focused on morphology issues with <i>P. irregulare</i>, a prolific producer of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). <i>P. irregulare</i> has a filamentous morphology, which can make fermentation difficult. The mycelium can stick to the agitation blades resulting in mechanical problems. In addition, this filamentous morphology prevents adequate amounts of oxygen from reaching some cells resulting in decreased productivities. The focus of this research was to control the fermentation conditions to make the algae grow in small pellets, a morphology more suitable for fermentation. In flask culture studies, pellets were formed at an agitation speed of 110 rpm in both regular and baffled flasks. Baffled flasks resulted in pellet formation at 90 and 130 rpm as well. Fermentation studies resulted in pellet formation at agitation speeds of 150 and 300 rpm. Pellets were better able to form when a baffle was not in place. In addition, agitation speed influenced pellet size, with smaller pellets forming at the higher agitation speed. Overall, this study showed that crude glycerol can be used as a carbon source for the continuous fermentation of <i>S. limacinum</i> with high DHA productivity and the morphology of <i>P. irregulare</i> could be controlled by manipulating culture conditions, mainly agitation speed. These results show the potential for scale-up studies for both algal species. / Master of Science

<p> Research in the field of sol-gel derived materials has evolved dramatically over the past forty years. The developments in the past decade, in the field of bioanalytical chemistry, have revolutionized this field. Early research, as well as that done by our group, has confirmed that the commonly used alkoxysilane precursors (tetraethylorthosilicate - TEOS or tetramethylorthosilicate - TMOS) are not ideal for entrapment of biomolecules. They produce materials that are brittle, often undergo cracking due to hydration stresses and in some cases, can block the accessibility of the analyte to the entrapped biomolecules. My research project therefore focuses on the development of new sol-gel processing methods through the use of an additive-glycerol, which will produce new "second generation" glasses. I have focused on obtaining a basic understanding of glycerol-doped sol-gel derived materials and the effect they have on the entrapped biomolecules. Glycerol-doped sol-gel materials display larger pore size, decreased shrinkage and cracking as compared to the TEOS-based materials. Biocatalysts entrapped in glycerol-doped materials showed significantly smaller decreases in activity over a period of one month relative to enzyme entrapped in TEOS. Also, to gain further insight into the effects of glycerol doping on the properties of entrapped proteins, both steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence of Trp 214 was used to examine the conformation, dynamics, accessibility, thermal/chemical stability and the degree of ligand binding of human serum albumin (HSA) in solution and after entrapment of the protein in glycerol-doped TEOS-based materials.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Producing biodiesel from triacylglycerol (TAG) generates glycerol as a byproduct which could be recycled and used to grow the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula glutinis. R. glutinis has the ability to produce up to 70% of its weight in the form of TAG. This study is designed to determine the effects of glycerol on the TAG and fatty acids produced by R. glutinis. After 24 hrs, R. glutinis cultured on medium containing dextrose, xylose, glycerol, dextrose and xylose, xylose and glycerol, or dextrose and glycerol accumulated 16, 12, 25, 10, 21, and 34% TAG on a dry weight basis, respectively. The fatty acids derived from R. glutinis were mostly saturated, however, cells cultivated on glycerol alone had the highest degree of unsaturated fatty acids (53%). Growth on dextrose may be enhanced by the addition of glycerol, but it cannot be determined if using glycerol as a secondary carbon substrate enhances lipid production.

No description available.

Glycerol thermal processing (GTP) is studied as a novel biomass pretreatment method in this research with the purposes to facilitate biopolymer fractionation and biomass saccharification. This approach is performed by treating sweet gum particles on polymer processing equipment at high temperatures and short times in the presence of anhydrous glycerol. Nine severity conditions are studied to assess the impact of time and temperature during the processing on biopolymer structure and conversion. The GTP pretreatment results in the disruption of cell wall networks by increasing the removal of side-chain sugars and lignin-carbohydrate linkages based on severity conditions. After pretreatment, 41% of the lignin and 68% of the xylan is recovered in a dry powdered form by subsequent extractions without additional catalysts, leaving a relatively pure cellulose fraction, 84% glucan, as found in chemical pulps. Lignin structural analysis indicated GTP processing resulted in extensive degradation of B-aryl ether bonds through the C-y elimination, followed by abundant phenolic hydroxyl liberation. At the same time, condensation occurred in the GTP lignin, providing relatively high molecular weight, near to that of the enzymatic mild acidolysis lignin. Better thermal stability was observed for this GTP lignin. In addition to lignin, xylan was successfully isolated as another polymer stream after GTP pretreatment. The recovered water insoluble xylan (WIX) was predominant alkali soluble fraction with a maximum purity of 84% and comparable molecular weight to xylan isolated from non-pretreated fibers. Additionally, the narrow molecular weight distribution of recovered WIX, was arisen from the pre-extraction of low molecular weight water-soluble xylan. Additionally, a 20-fold increase of the ultimate enzymatic saccharification for GTP pretreated biomass was observed even with significant amounts of lignin and xylan remaining on the non-extracted fiber. The shear and heat processing caused a disintegrated cell wall structure with formation of biomass debris and release of cellulose fibrils, enhancing surface area and most likely porosity. These structural changes were responsible for the improved biomass digestibility. Additionally, no significant inhibitory compounds for saccharification are produced during GTP processing, even at high temperatures. While lignin extraction did not promote improvement in hydrolysis rates, further xylan extraction greatly increases the initial enzymatic hydrolysis rate and final level of saccharification. The serial of studies fully demonstrate glycerol thermal processing as a novel pretreatment method to enhance biomass saccharification for biofuel production, as well as facilitate biopolymer fractionation. Moreover, the study shows the impact of thermally introduced structural changes to wood biopolymers when heated in anhydrous environments in the presence of hydrogen bonding solvent. / Ph. D.

Moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) have been used effectively to reach low nutrient levels in northern Europe for nearly 20 years at cold temperatures. A relatively new technology to the US, the MBBR has most typically been used in a post-denitrification configuration with methanol for additional nitrate removal. Methanol has clearly been the most commonly used external carbon source for post-denitrification processes due to low cost and effectiveness. However, with the requirement for more US wastewater treatment plants to reach effluent total nitrogen levels approaching 3 mg/L, alternative electron donors could promote more rapid MBBR startup/acclimation times and increased cold weather denitrification rates. Bench-scale MBBRs evaluating four different electron donor sources, specifically methanol, ethanol, glycerol, and sulfide (added as Na2S), were operated continuously at 12 °C, and performance was monitored by weekly sampling and insitu batch substrate limiting profile testing. Ethanol and glycerol, though visually exhibited much higher biofilm carrier biomass content, performed better than methanol in terms of removal rate (0.9 and 1.0 versus 0.6 g N/m²/day.) Maximum denitrification rate measurements from profile testing suggested that ethanol and glycerol (2.2 and 1.9 g N/m²/day, respectively) exhibited rates that were four times that of methanol (0.49 g N/m²/day.) Sulfide also performed much better than any of the other three electron donors with maximum rates at 3.6 g N/m²/day and with yield (COD/NO₃-N) that was similar to or slightly less than that of methanol. Overall, the yield and carbon utilization rates were much lower than expected for all four electron donors and much lower than previously reported; indicating that there could be advantages for attached growth versus suspended growth processes in terms of carbon utilization rates. The batch limiting NO₃-N and COD profiles were also used to find effective K_s values. These kinetic parameters describe NO₃-N and COD limitations into the biofilm, which affect the overall denitrification rates. Compared to the other electron donors, the maximum rate for methanol was quite low, but the estimated K_s value was also low (0.4 mg/L N). This suggests high NO₃-N affinity and low mass transfer resistance. The other three electron donors estimated higher K_s values, indicating that these biofilms have high diffusion resistance. Biofilm process modeling is more complex than for mechanistic suspended growth, since mass transfer affects substrate to and into the biofilm. Simulating the bench-scale MBBR performance using BioWin 3.0, verified that μ_max and boundary layer thickness play key roles in determining rates of substrate utilization. Adjustments in these parameters made it possible to mimic the MBBRs, but it is difficult to determine whether the differences are due to the MBBR process or the model. / Master of Science