By Nahury
Castellanos Blanco
The exploitation of the banana pseudo-stem residues in
the Quindío Department, located in the central-west Colombian, is a sustainable
process for the energy production, especially in the synthesis of biofuels and
additives to improve their efficiency.
The increasing energy consumption and environmental degradation due to the use of non-renewable energy sources requires a sustainable development modelling for energy production. In Colombia, energy generation from biomass contributes slightly to the country`s energy matrix. For example, it is estimated that around 72 million tons per year of agricultural residues are produced, representing a potential energy of at least 332,000 TJ/year (TJ= Terajoules, energy unit). Thus, agroindustrial activity in Colombia has become one of the most important source of biomass due to the agricultural and forest residues generation, which could cover energy demand and production of chemicals such as petrochemicals substitution options (Vargas & Pérez, 2019).
Efficient use of biomass has recently obtained
considerable attention as a potential alternative to greater replacement of
fossil fuels. Therefore, the possibilities to produce biogas, biomethane,
biofuels from renewable resources such as agricultural residues (rice, banana,
coffee), silviculture and other forestry activities, ranks Colombia in the third
place in Latin America in biomass generation according to the Ministerio de
Minas y Energía (Twenergy, 2019). In
this way, Colombia has high expectations that biofuels could be produced on a
large scale due to the annual crop production growth of coffee, banana, and
sugar cane.
In addition, biomass is defined as organic material
that comes from living organism, such as plants and animals. The most common
biomass materials used for energy production are plants, wood, and waste.
Biomass is a clean and renewable energy source with important social, economic,
and environmental impacts. Therefore, the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass
into biofuels and value-added chemicals has gained interest over the last
decade.
The challenges of this area are focused on the
generation of synthetic methodologies using the principles of green chemistry,
eliminating waste in the manufacture of chemicals, avoiding the use of toxic
and hazardous reagents, and using catalysts (substance that changes the
velocity of a reaction without itself being charged in the process). The latter
are particularity effective at catalyzing highly selective process with complex
substrates under mild conditions of reaction. In this context, the Environmental Sciences Research Group
at the Universidad del Quindío, “Ethnopharmacology, Natural Products and Food Research
Group” (GIEPRONAL) and and the Research Seedbed in Applied Chemistry
(SIQAP) at the Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia (UNAD) perform a full
range of research from exploring biomass at the molecular level through
biorefinery process optimization to bring biofuels, additives, and bio-products.
A representative example is the project developed by Paula Andrea Rojas, student
of the Master in Chemistry program, under the supervision of Ph.D Nahury
Castellanos (Figure 1). In this work, a lignocellulosic biomass (lignin) acknowledged for its
potential use to produce chemicals and biomaterials, was extracted from banana
pseudo-stem cultivated in the “Finca Jerusalén”,located in the department of
Quindío in the central-west of Colombia (Figure 2). Lignin is the second most
abundant natural polymer, making up to 10-25% of lignocellulosic biomass.
Lignin has energetic properties similar to those as solid fuels and can be used
for thermal and electrical energy production.
Figure 1. Nahury Castellanos, Researcher at UNAD
Figure 2. Paula
Andrea Rojas, Chemistry Engineer and MSc Chemistry student at the Universidad
del Quindío.
This study demonstrated the feasible utilization of banana residues for efficient and high lignin production after simply applying a minimal size reduction (Figure 3). The implementation of such a study will benefit society, especially, rural banana-producing areas for renewable energy generation and sustainable waste management.
Figure 3. Schematic
diagram of the chemical process of lignin extraction.
Chemistry
laboratory, Universidad Gran Colombia (Armenia, Quindío).
In this line of research, Alexandra Montealegre and
Sandra Benavides, members of SIQAP Research Group at the UNAD (Figure 4), have
investigated the catalytic conversion of furfural
and levulinic acid derived from biomass, into molecular platforms used as
additives to biofuels, such as furfuryl alcohol and ethyl levulinate. The
research results have been presented at national and international academic
events.
Figure 4. University
students and teachers benefited from the opportunity to present their research
at academic conferences (BS Chemistry. Alexandra Montealegre in XVIII Congreso
Nacional de Química Cauca-Popayán, and Ph.D. Nahury Castellanos in International
Conference on Polymers and Advances Materials POLYMAT Huatulco-México).
The development of academic projects aims to uncover innovative
methods to transform selected types of agricultural residues in Colombia, generating
a sustainable research ecosystem, between national and international networks,
academic groups and research seedbeds. “It is essential that academic research
solves real-world problems, in consequence, teachers and researchers have an
important role not only in the classroom but also in society. We need to make
rural communities and governments to understand how crucial is science to address their needs more effectively, using
technology and innovation capacity as a powerful engine for sustainable
development”, concludes Nahury Castellanos, team leader.
Por: Nahury Castellanos Blanco got a bachelor´s degree
in chemistry from the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional in 2008. She holds a master’s
degree and a Ph.D in Chemistry from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and
her research topic implied working on the transfer hydrogenation of ketones, unsaturated
using water, and other small molecules as hydrogen donors. In 2018, she joined
to the Energy, Materials and Environment Group at the Universidad de La Sabana
as a Colciencias postdoctoral fellow, where she worked on the application of
novel bimetallic catalyst for acetalization of biomass-derivatives. Since 2017,
she works as research professor at the Universidad Nacional Abierta y a
Distancia in Colombia. Her current research interests involve the discovery and
development of catalytic methodologies to extract biofuels from biomass.
Bibliography:
Castellanos-Blanco, N. Y., Taborda, G., Cobo-Angel, M. (2020). An Efficient Acetalization Method for
Biomass-Derived Furfural with Ethanol Using Al2O3
Supported Catalysts. Chemistry Select. (5), 3458-3470. https://doi.org/10.1002/slct.202000410
Huber, G. W., Iborra, S., Corma, A. (2006). Synthesis
of transportation fuels from Biomass: Chemistry, Catalysis and Engineering. Chemical Review. (106), 4044-4049. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr068360d
Twenergy (27 de noviembre del 2019). La biomasa en Colombia: el gran
reto para generar energía sustentable. https://twenergy.com/energia/biomasa/biomasa-en-colombia/
Vargas, Y., Pérez, L. (2018). Aprovechamiento de residuos agroindustriales para el mejoramiento de la calidad del ambiente. Revista Facultad de Ciencias Básicas. 14 (1), 2018, 59-72. http://revistas.unimilitar.edu.co/index.php/rfcb
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