Unit BIOMASS VALORISATION

Course
Chemical sciences
Study-unit Code
A004654
Curriculum
Energy and sustainability
Teacher
Assunta Marrocchi
Teachers
  • Assunta Marrocchi
  • Federica Valentini (Codocenza)
Hours
  • 42 ore - Assunta Marrocchi
  • 24 ore (Codocenza) - Federica Valentini
CFU
8
Course Regulation
Coorte 2024
Offered
2024/25
Learning activities
Caratterizzante
Area
Discipline chimiche organiche
Academic discipline
CHIM/06
Type of study-unit
Obbligatorio (Required)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
English
Contents
-Biomass and biomass waste as a renewable resource
-Pre-preparation technologies for biomass and waste valorization
-Sustainable chemistry principles for biomass valorization
-Biorefinery strategies: core platform molecules, catalytic reactions, conversion of platform molecules into bioproducts
-Energy recovery processes
-Case studies on development and industrial applications
Reference texts
-PPT slides, a reading list, and scientific articles will be provided.
SUGGESTED TEXTBOOKS (available upon login with university credentials at: https://www.proquest.com/):
- Sze Ki Lin C., Kaur G., Li C. and Yang X. (Eds.), “ Waste valorisation: Waste streams in a circular economy” (2020), John Wiley & Sons, - Kuila A., Mukhopadhyay M. (Eds.), “Biorefinery production technologies for chemicals and energy” (2020), John Wiley & Sons
- Brown R. C. (Ed.), “Thermochemical processing of biomass: Conversion into fuels, chemicals and power” (2019), John Wiley & Sons
Educational objectives
The main objective of the course is to provide to students the basic knowledge about the current technologies for biomass transformations into bioenergy, biochemicals, bioplastics. Besides, the course aims at providing students with proper tools needed to rationally elaborate criteria of choice to evaluate such procedures as well as to improve them using the sustainable chemistry guideline. The main knowledge acquired will be: -knowledge of the biomass definition-knowledge of the main types of biomass. -knowledge of the biorefinery concept-knowledge of the main technologies of pre-treatment for the biomass, preliminary to the diverse conversion processes. - knowledge of the concept of “platform molecule”-knowledge of the main catalytic technologies for the conversion of those platform molecules examined in-depth during lectures.-knowledge of the main conversion processes of biomass in bioenergy -.The main abilities will be: -ability in recognizing the proper type of biomass to dedicate to the production of bioenergy, biochemicals and bioplastics, respectively-ability in developing the concept of biorefinery-Identifying the correlations between the different biomass pre-treatments and conversion technologies -ability in identifying similarities and differences between the conversion technologies of lignocellulosic biomass-ability in developing criteria of choice to improve current conversion processes by using the sustainable chemistry as guideline
Prerequisites
-
Teaching methods
The course includes face-to-face lectures on all the topics of the course and practical laboratory experiences to facilitate student learning
Other information
-
Learning verification modality
The exam includes: 1) the evaluation of written reports on laboratory activities and 2) an oral exam.
Time of duration of the oral exam: about 30 min. The oral exam will consist of open questions aiming at assessing the level of knowledge/expertise achieved by the student on the course topics.
Through the exam will be evaluated the student's communication skills and ability of logically organize the discussion. Both the knowledge and skills acquired and the ability to process the content discussed in class are considered essential for the professional development of students.

Students with disabilities and/or specific learning disabilities (SLD) are invited to visit the dedicated page outlining the tools and measures provided and to coordinate any necessary accommodations in advance with the instructor (https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa)
Extended program
Biomass composition.
Waste as a bioresource.
Chemical, physical and biotechnological pre-preparation technologies of biomass and biomass waste.
Principles of sustainable chemistry for biomass and biomass waste valorization.
Strategies for upgrading biomass and biomass waste into biofuels and / or chemical synthons: the biorefinery concept •Identification of core platform molecules •Fundamental catalytic reactions for biomass valorization (deoxygenation, hydrogen transfer, C-C coupling, selective oxidation, one-pot cascade catalysis). •Examples of converting platform molecules into bioproducts.
Other valorization processes for energy recovery.
Overall comparison in terms of energy consumption, waste stream generation and costs
Sinergy between different valorization processes.
Case studies on development and industrial applications.
Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
7, 9, 12
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