Biomass C+ participation in the 12th Panhellenic Scientific Conference of Chemical Engineering in Athens
On behalf of CERTH, Prof. Chatzidoukas participated in the 12th Panhellenic Scientific Conference of Chemical Engineering, 29-31 May 2019 in Athens and presented 3 papers concerning to Biomass C+ project. The attendants of each presentation were around 50 to 70 people. The first article was titled “Olistic Exploitation of Typha domingensis biomass for the enzymatic production of glucose: Emphasis on cellulose fraction hydrolysis”. The second article was titled “Olistic Exploitation of Typha domingensis biomass for the enzymatic production of glucose: Emphasis on biomass starch fraction” and the title of the third article presented was “Population balance modelling for the simulation of Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Plant Biomass for Continuous and Fed-Batch Bioreactors”.
The first article aimed to fully exploit the polysaccharides contained in the Typha plant through a process presented, with particular emphasis on the study of cellulose hydrolysis. Results showed that significantly high glucose concentrations as well as hydrolysis yields are achieved by a suitable combination of enzyme activity, biomass concentration and agitation rate.
The second article focused on the study of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the starchy fraction of the plant with the help of suitable enzymes, the amylases. Results showed that significant hydrolysis yields with satisfactory glucose concentrations are achieved by a suitable combination of enzyme activity, biomass concentration and agitation rate.
The last article presented aimed at the development of a mechanistic model that deepens to micro-scale effects and takes into account additional biomass characteristics such as particle size, lignin content and cellulose chain size distribution, thus widening its predictive model capacity for different types of biomass and limiting its over-parametrization. The results demonstrated the distinct role and the importance of each enzyme in hydrolysis. In addition, the importance of endogenous biomass characteristics, such as particle size and cellulose chain size distribution, in sizes that are performance indicators of the hydrolytic process such as hydrolysis rate and synergism between enzymes.