LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course describes the major alternative energy conversion processes. The course will be focused on chemical and biochemical processes to produce sustainable and clean energy for example biodiesel from microalgae, bioethanol from cellulosic and lignocellulosic biomasses and biogas from anaerobic digestion.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course consists of describing substrates, plants and chemical and metabolic engineering processes for the production of energy. The attention is focused on the feedstocks and the processes used to produce green energy discussing the concept of biorefinery and bioeconomy. The most common downstream processes and separation techniques (filtration, centrifugation etc.) at industrial scale are discussed.

At the end of the course, it is expected that students will be able to:

• understand and critically describe chemical and biochemical processes that are the basis for the production of the most common biofuels (biodiesel, bioethanol, hydrogen and biogas);
• design plants for the above-mentioned biofuels;
• set up and supervise cultivation systems of microorganism used for biofuels production;
• understand the most common downstream processes and separation techniques used at industrial scale for biofuels production;
• provide examples of biorefineries.

TEACHING METHODS

The course consists of lessons held in classroom with the help of slides, 48 hours in total. Part of them are represented by laboratory lessons, held in didactic laboratories, where students will actively participate to the experimental activities.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The syllabus of the course consists of:

• plants for the growth of microorganism and for the production of biodiesel, bioethanol, hydrogen and biogas (fermenters, bioreactors, plants for transesterification, plants for anaerobic digestion etc.);
• microalgae: growth, plants for microalgae cultivation at industrial scale and processes to obtain energy;
• chemical and biochemical processes for the production of biodiesel, fossil fuels, bioethanol, hydrogen and biogas;
• downstream processes and separation techniques: filtration, centrifugation, sedimentation, flocculation, distillation and chromatography;
• biorefineries and bioeconomy;
• experimental activities in didactic laboratories.

The content of the course is:

- importance of sustainable energy production with low environmental impacts based on the use of different biomass resources: metabolic potentials of microorganisms and biomasses to produce biofuels and chemicals;

- conversion processes from photosynthetic microorganisms, plants and their residues, and urban wastes into biofuels: importance of operative parameters to enhance the conversion yield and the product quality;

- process engineering of conversion processes: quantification of key operative parameters for chemical metabolic engineering processes for energy production via mathematical formulations, energy and mass balances, plant design.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

All the material shown during the lessons is given to the students. In general, the notes of each lesson and the slides are sufficient to study and to have success in examinations. However, the text reported below could be considered a valid support during the preparation of the exam:

• A. Fiechter, “Advances in biochemical engineering/biotechnology”, Springer-Verlag.
• J.E. Bailey and D.F. Ollis, “Biochemical engineering fundamentals”, McGraw Hill.
• S. Katoh and F. Yoshida, “Biochemical engineering: a textbook for engineers, chemists and biologists”, WILEY-VCH.