There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Biomass is an important feedstock for the renewable production of fuels, chemicals, and energy. As of 2005, over 3% of the total energy consumption in the United States was supplied by biomass, and it recently surpassed hydroelectric energy as the largest domestic source of renewable energy. Similarly, the European Union received 66.1% of its renewable energy from biomass, which thus surpassed the total combined contribution from hydropower, wind power, geothermal energy, and solar power. In addition to energy, the production of chemicals from biomass is also essential; indeed, the only renewable source of liquid transportation fuels is currently obtained from biomass.

The Catalytic Valorization of Lignin for the Production of Renewable Chemicals

Renewable Resources Robert-Jan van Putten,†,‡ Jan C. van der Waal,† Ed de Jong,*,† Carolus B. Rasrendra,‡,⊥ Hero J. Heeres,*,‡ and Johannes G. de Vries* †Avantium Chemicals, Zekeringstraat 29, 1014 BV Amsterdam, the Netherlands ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, the Netherlands DSM Innovative Synthesis BV, P.O. Box 18, 6160 MD Geleen, the Netherlands Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia

Hydroxymethylfurfural, A Versatile Platform Chemical Made from Renewable Resources

This critical review provides a survey illustrated by recent references of different strategies to achieve a sustainable conversion of biomass to bioproducts. Because of the huge number of chemical products that can be potentially manufactured, a selection of starting materials and targeted chemicals has been done. Also, thermochemical conversion processes such as biomass pyrolysis or gasification as well as the synthesis of biofuels were not considered. The synthesis of chemicals by conversion of platform molecules obtained by depolymerisation and fermentation of biopolymers is presently the most widely envisioned approach. Successful catalytic conversion of these building blocks into intermediates, specialties and fine chemicals will be examined. However, the platform molecule value chain is in competition with well-optimised, cost-effective synthesis routes from fossil resources to produce chemicals that have already a market. The literature covering alternative value chains whereby biopolymers are converted in one or few steps to functional materials will be analysed. This approach which does not require the use of isolated, pure chemicals is well adapted to produce high tonnage products, such as paper additives, paints, resins, foams, surfactants, lubricants, and plasticisers. Another objective of the review was to examine critically the green character of conversion processes because using renewables as raw materials does not exempt from abiding by green chemistry principles (368 references).

Conversion of biomass to selected chemical products

Various novel techniques including ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, and accelerated solvent extraction have been developed for the extraction of nutraceuticals from plants in order to shorten the extraction time, decrease the solvent consumption, increase the extraction yield, and enhance the quality of extracts. A critical review was conducted to introduce and compare the conventional Soxhlet extraction and the new alternative methods used for the extraction of nutraceuticals from plants. The practical issues of each extraction method were discussed. Potential uses of those methods for the extraction of nutraceuticals from plant materials was finally summarized.

Recent advances in extraction of nutraceuticals from plants

Extraction Equilibrium of Monocarboxylic Acids in Aqueous Solution by Using Tributyl Phosphate in Dodecane

Thermosetting polyester resin used in fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) is very difficult to be recycled since it cannot be re-molded like thermoplastic resin. In recycling thermosetting polyester resin, subcritical water with alkali was applied to hydrolyze ester bonds to obtain styrene-fumaric acid copolymer (SFC). SFC, subcritical water hydrolysate from thermosetting polyester resin, has a molecular structure of functional polymer. Alkali salt of the SFC has a same molecular structure as alkali salt of styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer (SMA) which is widely used in various kinds of high performance additives for aqueous applications. In these applications, dispersing agent, detergent builder, and surface sizing agent were selected for application of alkali salt of the SFC . The reaction product liquid contains sodium salt of SFC (SFC-Na). It was evaluated as dispersing agent and detergent builder. Ammonium salt of SFC (SFC-NH4) was evaluated as surface sizing agent for paper. The evaluation results were compared with that of commercial additives to verify the possibility to substitute them. The reaction product liquid showed superior dispersing effect to commercial dispersing agent for hydrophobic powder. It also showed superior alkali buffering capacity to commercial detergent builder. SFC-NH4 showed higher sizing effect than commercial sizing agent.

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Application of Subcritical Water Hydrolysate from Thermosetting Polyester Resin to Aqueous Agents

Supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) was employed to extract lipids from Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn seeds in semi–batch process at various operating conditions to optimize extraction process. The extraction processes were carried out at 40 – 60 oC and 20 – 40 MPa with 2 – 4 ml min–1 CO2 flow rates. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with 33 factorial design combined with statistical was used to optimize variables in the process of Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn seeds lipids extraction with supercritical CO2. The FT–IR spectra indicated that the Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn seeds components were extracted by supercritical CO2. The SEM images also indicated that the physical changes in the surface of the Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn seeds occurred after supercritical CO2 extraction treatment. The maximum of extracted lipids was 0.47 g/g–sample when the extraction was conducted at a temperature of 80 oC and pressure of 40 MPa with CO2 flow rate of 3 ml min–1. The GC–MS analysis showed that the extracted lipids mainly composed of palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1), and linoleic acid (C18:2). The analysis of experimental design demonstrated that pressure and temperature were the influential variables on the lipids extraction.

Lipids from Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn Seeds by Supercritical CO 2 : Extraction and Optimization of Parameters by Response Surface Methodology

In this study, phytochemical compounds were extracted and encapsulated from medicinal plants such as M. oleifera, S. androgynus, and S. grandiflora using subcritical water and the electrospraying technique. The extraction was conducted at temperatures of 120 to 160 °C at various extraction pressures from 1 to 10 MPa in semi-batch systems with a 1.0 mL min−1 flow rate. Under these conditions, the starting materials, that is the medicinal plants, underwent thermal cleavage, allowing the removal of their components. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectra of the solid residues indicated that phytochemical compounds were successfully extracted from these medicinal plants. The results revealed that the amounts of extracted phenolic compounds did not increase linearly with increasing extraction temperatures and pressures. The amounts of extracted phenolic compounds could approach 82.26 (140 °C, 5 MPa), 75.32 (160 °C, 5 MPa), and 78.91 (160 °C, 10 MPa) mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g of dried samples for M. oleifera, S. androgynus, and S. grandiflora, respectively. When the extracted phytochemical compounds were encapsulated with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) via the electrospraying technique, the particle products seemed to exhibit spherical morphologies with diameters less than 1 μm, and the FT-IR spectra of these particle products showed that the medicinal plant extracts were successfully encapsulated by PVP through this technique.

Phytochemical compounds extraction from medicinal plants by subcritical water and its encapsulation via electrospraying

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for simply and efficiently adjusting, modifying and holding the degree of methoxylation of pectin obtained when pectin is extracted from a plant body, particularly from orange peel or apple squeezed lees, only by extraction treatment with subcritical water without treatment by an additive such as an acid, an alkali, a chelating agent and an emulsifier.SOLUTION: In the subcritical water extraction from plant bodies, the degree of methoxylation of obtained extracted pectin can be held at 40% or above by conducting extraction under conditions of 120-135°C temperature and ≥5.0 mL/min flow rate.

Motonobu Goto

Papers

Extraction Equilibrium of Monocarboxylic Acids in Aqueous Solution by Using Tributyl Phosphate in Dodecane

Application of Subcritical Water Hydrolysate from Thermosetting Polyester Resin to Aqueous Agents

Lipids from Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn Seeds by Supercritical CO 2 : Extraction and Optimization of Parameters by Response Surface Methodology

Phytochemical compounds extraction from medicinal plants by subcritical water and its encapsulation via electrospraying

Method for modifying pectin