Developing a Green Biorefinery Approach for Rural Processing of High-Value Camelina and Sorghum Co-Products

Junsi Yang Author

04/04/2021 Added

123 Plays

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To develop an innovative integrated green biorefinery approach based on supercritical fluid technology to utilize wastes obtained from the processing of camelina seed and sorghum for biofuel production for several high value-added fractions and products to be used for food, industrial, and nutraceutical applications.

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[00:00:00.900]Hello everyone, I am Junsi Yang,
[00:00:02.830]a PhD candidate
[00:00:04.070]in the Department of Food Science and Technology.
[00:00:07.230]In my presentation,
[00:00:08.630]I will share our perspectives
[00:00:10.660]on developing a green biorefinery approach
[00:00:13.590]for processing of camelina and sorghum co-products.
[00:00:17.210]Considering the broad audience,
[00:00:19.300]I will try to show the big picture
[00:00:21.110]rather than being technical.
[00:00:24.810]Our university currently has a strong research program
[00:00:28.570]on improvement of biomass feedstock sorghum and camelina
[00:00:32.840]to improve agronomic properties of these energy crops.
[00:00:36.940]Despite these efforts,
[00:00:38.440]the current approaches use only limited fractions
[00:00:41.960]of sorghum and camelina to produce biofuel,
[00:00:45.220]and the remaining parts are created as waste.
[00:00:47.800]This approach limits the full potential
[00:00:50.170]of biofuel production from camelina and sorghum
[00:00:53.510]or similar crops.
[00:00:55.050]Therefore, there is a critical need
[00:00:56.890]for innovative approach for the full
[00:00:59.860]or complete utilization of camelina and sorghum.
[00:01:03.330]Without such innovative approaches,
[00:01:05.870]the opportunities offered by these energy crops
[00:01:08.440]will remain untapped.
[00:01:11.103]Therefore, the goal of our projects
[00:01:14.470]is to develop an innovative, integrated,
[00:01:17.480]green biorefinery approach
[00:01:19.330]based on supercritical fluid technology
[00:01:21.860]to utilize wastes obtained from the processing
[00:01:24.790]of camelina seed and sorghum for biofuel production,
[00:01:28.260]for several high value added fractions and products,
[00:01:31.820]to be used for food,
[00:01:33.780]industrial and nutraceutical applications.
[00:01:37.885]In recent years,
[00:01:39.600]there is a growing demand for clean products
[00:01:42.250]and alternative green technologies.
[00:01:46.380]Therefore, we are using supercritical carbon dioxide
[00:01:49.520]as a green fluid for various food and material processing.
[00:01:53.570]Briefly, supercritical carbon dioxide is a carbon dioxide
[00:01:57.190]above it's critical pressure and temperature.
[00:02:00.060]In this supercritical region,
[00:02:02.010]carbon dioxide has liquid-like density
[00:02:04.190]and gas-like viscosity, divisibility and compressibility,
[00:02:09.038]making them excellent fluids for various processes.
[00:02:11.930]There are several advantage
[00:02:14.560]of processing with supercritical carbon dioxide.
[00:02:17.650]It's inexpensive, non toxic and abundant.
[00:02:20.860]It is easily separate from solute
[00:02:23.660]without any solvent residue,
[00:02:26.040]it is environmentally friendly,
[00:02:28.010]selective and non-disruptive technology.
[00:02:31.470]Clean products can be obtained,
[00:02:33.380]which is critical for food and nutraceutical industries,
[00:02:38.410]and there is a growing demand for clean label products.
[00:02:44.069]In our project, we develop several novel high value products
[00:02:48.350]and fractions from camelina seed,
[00:02:50.680]and sorghum distiller grains
[00:02:52.710]such as mucilage, bioaerogels, lecithin,
[00:02:55.800]natural wax, astaxanthin, and biodiesel.
[00:02:59.833]We formed novel bioaerogels from camelina seed
[00:03:03.650]for the very first time,
[00:03:05.220]the camelina mucilage were found to be alternative
[00:03:08.460]to industrial xanthan gum in terms of crystallinity,
[00:03:12.324]chemical structure, thermal stability,
[00:03:15.090]and most importantly, rheological properties.
[00:03:20.280]The camelina mucilage aerogels had outstanding properties.
[00:03:24.510]One gram of aerogel had a surface area
[00:03:27.520]up to 240 square meter, they were nanopores and very light.
[00:03:33.810]In a separate project,
[00:03:35.030]we develop an innovative clean purification process
[00:03:38.780]to obtain astaxanthin,
[00:03:40.740]a bioactive compound
[00:03:42.010]with health and wellness promoting properties
[00:03:44.480]from camelina seed.
[00:03:45.950]In this noble process,
[00:03:47.530]simple oil is converted into fatty acid,
[00:03:50.080]ethyl esters, which is biodiesel,
[00:03:52.520]using immobilized enzyme
[00:03:54.260]and then separated with supercritical co2.
[00:03:57.350]In this process, astaxanthin and the biodiesel
[00:04:00.223]are produced simultaneously
[00:04:02.600]without waste generation or water consumption.
[00:04:06.300]In traditional biodiesel production,
[00:04:08.420]large amount of waste water
[00:04:10.710]and chemical waste are generated.
[00:04:14.830]After astaxanthin separation,
[00:04:16.770]we obtain lecithin from camelina seed
[00:04:19.570]for the very first time.
[00:04:21.170]Lecithin is an important ingredient
[00:04:23.170]used for the food industry to produce many products
[00:04:26.370]such as chocolates and emotions.
[00:04:28.520]We found that the camelina seed lecithin
[00:04:31.260]is as good as soybean lecithin to form emotions.
[00:04:36.370]Another part of our biorefinery approach,
[00:04:38.930]we separated wax from sorghum DDGs,
[00:04:41.780]which is a byproduct from ethanol production from sorghum.
[00:04:45.600]In addition, we developed a clean purification process.
[00:04:49.600]This purification process is environmentally friendly,
[00:04:52.970]and it generated a higher pured wax
[00:04:55.690]compared to conventional process.
[00:04:59.000]Melting behavior is the most important properties
[00:05:02.090]of an individual industrial wax.
[00:05:05.630]Sorghum wax obtained by our process
[00:05:08.100]has the melting properties similar to carnauba wax,
[00:05:11.400]making it an alternative wax source.
[00:05:16.370]As a normal application,
[00:05:17.770]we developed oleogels using the sorghum wax.
[00:05:21.420]Oleogels are actually liquid oils
[00:05:23.390]that behave like solid fats.
[00:05:25.400]Food industries putting a lot of efforts
[00:05:27.550]to find alternatives to solid fats,
[00:05:29.800]because they cause weight gain
[00:05:31.130]and also potentially some health problems,
[00:05:33.870]oleogels are potential novel fat replacers.
[00:05:37.900]Our products are novel
[00:05:39.450]and technologies we develop are innovative.
[00:05:42.080]Camelina mucilage is a novel food thickening agent.
[00:05:45.790]The camelina mucilage aerogels are first of their kind,
[00:05:49.400]novel bioaerogels that are potential food grade biomaterial
[00:05:53.800]for drug and bioactive delivery
[00:05:57.186]by absorbent and insulation material.
[00:05:59.600]We obtained the very first natural astaxanthin generated
[00:06:03.630]in an oil seed
[00:06:04.850]and our supercritical co2 process
[00:06:07.330]to obtain astaxanthin is innovative.
[00:06:10.050]Camelina lecithin is a alternative to soy lecithin.
[00:06:14.210]Industry is looking for alternatives to soy lecithin
[00:06:17.620]due to allergy concerns.
[00:06:19.730]Sorghum wax is a new natural wax.
[00:06:23.450]USA is dependent on natural waxes imported from Brazil,
[00:06:28.080]demand for natural wax is growing,
[00:06:30.470]and our wax purification process is noble.
[00:06:34.860]This study is a foundation for efficient utilization
[00:06:38.060]of energy crops and co-products
[00:06:40.580]to enable profitable camelina and sorghum production
[00:06:44.340]and utilization for biofuel production.
[00:06:47.470]Several novel and high value products
[00:06:49.780]from sorghum and camelina
[00:06:51.620]that will enhance the sustainability and economic value
[00:06:56.066]of these crops as energy crops.
[00:06:57.890]The products will have great commercialization potential,
[00:07:01.660]technology will be green,
[00:07:03.400]the products will be natural and clean,
[00:07:05.450]and then the process and technology can be implemented
[00:07:10.608]at a relatively low cost and scaled as needed.
[00:07:12.560]It has the potential to stimulate job creation
[00:07:15.860]and also additional market opportunities
[00:07:18.510]for Nebraska farmers.
[00:07:21.860]With that I would like to thank our advisor Dr. Ozan Ciftci
[00:07:25.750]and also our lab members.
[00:07:28.100]Those projects in this presentation
[00:07:31.010]are the projects from all of us.
[00:07:33.660]And we would like to thank
[00:07:34.930]the University of Nebraska Lincoln,
[00:07:36.780]Nebraska Center for Energy science research
[00:07:39.330]and also USDA NIFA for their support.

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Developing a Green Biorefinery Approach for Rural Processing of High-Value Camelina and Sorghum Co-Products

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