HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 32 was published.  (Click)

■The 77th Hiroshima University Biomass Evening Seminar
(The 56th Hiroshima University ACE Seminar) was held.

Date & Time: Mon .9  Sep., 2019   16:20-17:50
Place: Engineering 110 Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University  

<Program>
Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

Lecture: Apip AMRULLAH　
   D3  Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

 “ Supercritical water gasification of sewage sludge with phosphorus recovery ” 

Nowadays, researches on biomass, which is the fourth largest energy resource after coal, oil, and natural gas, have attracted a tremendous attention due to the effort to mitigate climate change. One of the most promising biomass sources is sewage sludge as it is a low-cost material and available in a large amount. Moreover, sewage sludge contains a large amount of organic matters such as proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and lignin as well as nitrogen, and phosphorus. Various methods have been approached to convert sewage sludge into useful secondary energy via combustion, pyrolysis, and supercritical water gasification (SCWG). However, sewage sludge has a high moisture content (approximately 85 wt%), leading to high drying costs when combustion and pyrolysis are applied. On the other hand, SCWG is appropriate for converting biomass containing high-moisture biomass such as sewage sludge, as pre-drying of biomass is not required, and the gasification reaction takes place in water within a few minutes.  Even though studies on the conversion of sewage sludge into secondary energy using SCWG have been conducted, there are no comprehensive studies on gas generation combined with phosphorus recovery as well as detailed elucidation of the reaction kinetics for the SCWG of sewage sludge using a continuous reactor. Sewage sludge was gasified under supercritical conditions by using a continuous flow reactor. The reactor was made of SS316 steel tubing with a length of 12 m and the inner diameter of 2.17 mm. Experiments were conducted by varying the temperature (500−600 °C) and residence time (5−60 s), while the reaction pressure was fixed at 25 MPa. The results showed that a carbon gasification efficiency (CGE) as high as 0.73 was achieved at 600 °C after 50 s. Organic phosphorus was rapidly converted into inorganic phosphorus at short residence time of 10 s.  Since sewage sludge contains a high amount of phosphorus and considering that sub- and supercritical water gasification could leave the phosphorus behind, the study about phosphorus behavior and its kinetics under hydrothermal condition is crucial. Using a continuous reactor at a fixed pressure of 25 MPa, sewage sludge gasification under hydrothermal condition was performed at temperature range of 300−600 °C and reaction time 5−30 s. Under subcritical condition, the yield of organic phosphorus decreases, whereas the yield of inorganic phosphorus increases. Apparently, organic phosphorus is converted to inorganic phosphorus under the hydrothermal condition.

Finally, cell structure destruction and its kinetics during hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge was studied due to the fact that hydrothermal treatment requires high temperature, which will affect the morphological structure of sewage sludge. This is the first comprehensive studies to investigate the effect of hydrothermal treatment at various temperatures on the morphological structure of sewage sludge as well as the release of organic compounds inside the cells and its kinetics behavior. The effect of hydrothermal temperature (130−250 °C) on the total organic content (TOC) and morphology of sewage sludge was investigated for a residence time of 10 min under 5 MPa. HT damaged the sewage sludge cell structure, thereby releasing the cell contents and consequently increasing the TOC in the liquid phase. By using the Arrhenius equation, the pre-exponential factor and activation energy were successfully determined for the first time for the degradation of sewage sludge cells.

Lecture: LUO Gong Linfeng
    D2  Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University

“ Development of heat-permeabilized whole-cell catalyst based on  pyschrophile Shewanella livingstonesis Ac10 ” 

Compared to purified industrially used enzymes, whole-cell biocatalysts have numerous advantages including easy preparation and the ease of coenzyme recovery. However, the cell membrane sometimes hinder cytoplasmic diffusion of the substrate, leading to a poor biotransformation efficiency. This study aimed to generate a psychrophile-based simple biocatalyst using Shewanella livingstonensis Ac10. The cell membrane of psychrophiles are highly flexible and its permeability can be improved via heat treatment at a moderate temperature. The efficiency of the biocatalyst was increased via heat treatment at 45°C for 15 min and the productivity of the heat-treated cells was increased over 9-fold.  

Lecture: Rahmat Iman MAINIL
   D3  Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

“CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION OF PHOSPHORUS FROM PALM OIL MILL EFFLUENT (POME) BY SUPERCRITICAL WATER GASIFICATION” 

Increasing production of crude palm oil in Indonesia comes along with severe pollution of liquid waste. This waste called palm oil mill effluent (POME) is harmful for environment if no proper handling is carried out. Conventionally, biochemical technologies were employed to utilize POME as source of energy and valuable nutrients. However this method requires large treatment area as well as long reaction time. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) is a potential technology to overcome this problem. Here, SCWG was used to produce inorganic phosphorus from organics contained in raw POME. A continuous reactor was employed in this study and a set of experiments were developed to spotlight the behavior of phosphorus conversion from POME in SCWG. It was found that organic phosphorus was converted into inorganic phosphorus in the liquid phase, in which some precipitation of the inorganic phosphorus was observed in the reactor. The rate of this conversion increased with temperature. The discussions of this behavior were developed based on comparison of mathematical model and experimental results. 

Chair: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 31 was published.  (Click)

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 30 was published.  (Click)

The 76th Hiroshima University Biomass Evening Seminar
(The 55th Hiroshima University ACE Seminar) 

Date & Time: Thu.18 Jul., 2019   16:20-17:50
Place: Engineering 110 Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University
 

<Program> 

Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

Lecture:Yoshiko OKAMURA
  Associate Professor, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University

“Short-chain ester production by Nitratireductor sp. OM-1 using wastewater
Results from HU-DTU collaboration” 

Nitratireductor sp. OM-1 is a short-chain ester producing bacterium assimilating short-chain fatty acids found in wastewater. We, therefore, expected short-chain ester production by strain OM-1 using wastewater, however it was inhibited by ammonium in wastewater.
Professor Angelidaki and Dr. Zhan in Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have studied on ammonium removal in electrochemical reactor, so that I asked them to help our study and stayed at DTU to learn the experimental design and to discuss our collaborations.
This presentation will report some results from our collaborations.

Lecture: Yoshiteru AOI
   Professor, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University

“What are uncultivable microorganisms and how to grow them?”   

Although highly diverse microorganisms exist in natural environments, it is generally recognized that most microorganisms are not readily cultivable in the laboratory. Thus, most of them are remaining untapped, unknown, and unused, in　spite of its industrial, medical and scientific importance and potential. Therefore, innovations in microbial cultivation will have an impact on variety of fields. In this talk, I will introduce our recent progress on development of new cultivation methods and clarification of previously unknown growth controlling mechanisms.

Chair: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

HU-ACE was held the International Symposium ISFE2019 on July 8-10, 2019.

ISFE2019_poster.pdf

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 29 was published.  (Click)

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 28 was published.  (Click)

Date & Time: Thu.13 Jun., 2019   16:20-17:50
Place: Engineering 108Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University

  <Program> 

Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

Lecture: Hiroki YOKOYAMA
 M2  Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University　

“Oily Waste Water Treatment Using Microalgae” 

The Malaysian palm oil industry has grown rapidly. But, this industry has the problem of the enormous generation of oily wastewater from palm oil refining plant. Eco-friendly treatment methods of this wastewater are wanted, and algae biomass should be useful for this purpose. but there is no study about oil removal using microalgae. So, objective of this research is confirmation of the effect of microalgae on oil removal from model oily waste water. C. vulgaris was cultivated in tap water in which palm oil was emulsified. The results showed possibility that microalgae could remove oil from waste water.

 Lecture: Kenshi WATANABE
 Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University

“Studies on lipid metabolic enzymes, metabolic networks, and lipid fermentation ”   

Lipid is an important substance group in various industrial fields including food, medicines and fuels. Lipid fermentation by microorganisms can efficiently produce lipid species that are difficult to obtain in large quantities from conventional sources such as plant, fish, and animal lipids. Recently, lipid fermentation from various biomass has attracted attention due to environmental issues. In this presentation, I will introduce the research about functions of enzymes related to lipid biosynthesis and the metabolic network formed by these enzymes for diversification of lipid products and improvement of productivity. 

Lecture: Rahmat Iman MAINIL
 D3  Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University　

“Phosphorus recovery from palm oil mill effluent (POME) in supercritical water” 

The amount of liquid waste from palm oil production in Indonesia is increasing every year as the production capacity increases. Phosphorus in palm oil mill effluent (POME) could be the important potential phosphorus resource, considering the depletion of phosphate rock due to over exploitation. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) technology could convert POME into valuable gas coming along with phosphorus recovery. To acquire a good understanding about behavior of POME conversion in SCWG, a set of experiments were developed. Here, variation of temperature (500-600 °C) and residence time (5-50 s) with controlled pressure at 25 MPa were employed in a continuous reactor. A reaction model of conversion of organic phosphorus in POME to inorganic phosphorus was also proposed. As the results, the organic phosphor could be converted into inorganic phosphorus and precipitation took place in the reactor. The rate was faster at higher temperature. The reaction followed first order kinetics, and the model was found to fit well with experimental data.  

Chair: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University  

The 112th Mechanical System Seminar (The 54th Hiroshima University ACE Seminar) 

Date:  4 Jun, 2019   16：00-18：00

Place:  Engineering A3-131 Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University  

Lecture: Dr. Yangkyun Kim
Senior researcher, Fire Research Institute, Korea Institute of Construction and Building Technology, Korea

Title:  Development of fire suppression technology in subsea tunnel and drone technology for detection of hazardous gases

Abstract:
Numerical simulation on the water jet extinction system is carried out for systematical verification of its performance in subsea tunnel to enhance fire suppression performance. Numerical model applied is 2D Eulerian multiphase model, and its results is validated with the equation of motion and real-scale experiment. Simulation results show that volume fraction of water at all nozzle outlet pressures was less than 0.5. Also, water volume fraction on the ground of tunnel is increased according to an increase in jet discharge pressure in case of 0o of jet inclination angle, while water volume fraction on the ground of tunnel is decreased with an increase in jet discharge pressure in case of 5o and 11o of jet inclination angle. Gas detection test is carried out in open space through advanced open path infrared sensor (TOR sensor). In this study, chemometric method is applied to reduce interference in open space. Also, pyroelectric sensors and extra infrared lamps are applied to reduce its weight and size. The test is performed to detect gas concentration in 10 m with TOR sensor first in confined space, and real time gas detection test was successfully done eventually. Result shows that more than 0.9 correlation between supplied concentration and detected concentration by sensor. Eventually, real-time gas concentration in ppm is displayed on the geographical map to monitor gas safety.

Date & Time: Thu.16 May., 2019   16:20-17:50

Place: Engineering 108 Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University

<Program> 

Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

Lecture:Kanta OGAWA
 M1  Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University　

“Detection of Formic Acid from Hydrothermal Reaction Field by Using In-Situ Mass Spectrometry”
Hydrothermal reaction field is often employed for biomass conversion, but due to its high temperature and pressure, it is not easy to detect the chemical species in the reactor. Products are often analyzed after cooling down and depressurization, but the possibility of reaction during these steps cannot be denied. Thus, in-situ mass spectrometry has been proposed to directly analyze the chemical species in the reactor. However, so far this technology can be applied only to temperature lower than 250 ℃. In this study, we improved the operation so that analysis from the reactor temperature or 400 ℃ is successfully conducted. Decomposition of formic acid was observed.

 Lecture: Mojarrad Mohammad
  D2  Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University

“Simultaneous production of 3-Hydroxypropionic acid and 1,3-Propanediol by psychrophile-based simple biocatalysts in Shewanella sp.”
This study examines the potential of the Psychrophile-based Simple bioCatalyst approach in the production of 3-HP and 1,3-PDO compounds. The transformed psychrophile host bacteria by DhaB,DhaT, and PuuC, were tested and the desired result to measure the enzymatic activity for aldehyde dehydrogenase in transformed bacteria was obtained when the concentration of NADH was 0.5 and 1 mM, the optimum temperature was 40° C. All samples should be placed at 45° C for 15 minutes before measuring enzymatic activity. The same results revealed for both transformed bacteria by DhaT. We also are going to examine the potential of the PSCat approach in the production of and the co-production of these compounds.

 Lecture: Takahisa TAJIMA
  Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University

  “Itaconic acid production by Psychrophile-based Simple biocatalyst”
We constructed “psychrophile-base simple biocatalyst (PSCat)” to produce valuable chemicals effectively, because heat treatment of the cells have positive effects on the production; inactivation of the host metabolic enzymes producing byproducts and improvement of the cell membrane permeability of substrates. High yield itaconic acid production was achieved by the PSCat heterologously expressing two mesophilic conversion enzymes in the psychrophilic Shewanella sp. We are trying to improve the conversion process by immobilization of PSCat and creating fusion proteins of conversion enzymes.

We would like inform you to participate in International Symposium on Fuel and Energy (ISFE) hosted by Advanced Core for Energetics, Hiroshima University (HU-ACE)

https://home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~isfe/isfe2019/.

The symposium is held at Higashi Hiroshima Arts & Culture Hall ‘Kurara’, Hiroshima, Japan on July 8-10th.

We would like ask you to present your study in this international symposium (oral or poster presentation).
Please visit our ISFE2019 web site, and submit your presentation! (Submission Deadline: May 17th)
Thank you.

Secretariat: Yutaka Nakashimada, Takahisa Tajima (Hiroshima university)

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 27 was published. (Click)

Date & Time: Thu.7 Mar., 2019   16:20-17:50

Place: Engineering 110Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University

 <Program>

Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
 　Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

Lecture: Yoshiki FUJIWARA　　
　M1  Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University　

“Phosphate Recovery as Precipitation from Hydrothermally Treated ATP using Calcium”

Phosphorus is indispensable to agriculture as three major elements of fertilizer. Phosphorus of fertilizer is produced from phosphate rock. However, due to the decline of the quality of phosphate rock, alternative resources for production of phosphate fertilizers for agriculture must be fund. Sewage sludge is expected as new phosphorus resources. To recover phosphorus from sewage sludge, mineralization of phosphorus and removal from organics is needed. Hydrothermally treatment can decompose organic substances in short time. But, in the case of using supercritical water, heating to a critical temperature is necessary and the process becomes expensive. However, if add calcium ions and get precipitation can be recovered in the form of calcium phosphate, there is possibility that phosphorus can be recovered at low temperature. However, there is no report of investigation of the recovery of phosphorus from sewage sludge with calcium added under hydrothermal conditions. Thus, the main purpose that investigate the feasibility of precipitation recovery of phosphorus using calcium under hydrothermal conditions. Under hydrothermal condition at 300℃, phosphorus recovery by calcium was conducted with the residence time of 5, 10, 20s. The phosphate concentration of liquid sample got lower with the increase of residence time.

Lecture: Pattraporn CHANGSUWAN
　D3 Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

“Effect of the metal wall catalyst of reactor on a conversion of guaiacol in supercritical water”

In this study, the effect of the metal wall catalyst on product distribution of guaiacol as a model compound of lignin under supercritical condition was investigated. To demonstrate this, a stainless steel 316 reactor containing Fe, Ni and various metals, which acts as the catalyst for gasification of guaiacol, was employed. The experiments were performed in a continuous flow reactor at 600 ℃, 25 MPa and fixed the residence time at 90 s with different internal diameters of the reactor (2.17, 4.35 and 9.40 mm). The results indicated that the carbon yields of TOC, solid, and gas was not affected by the internal diameter of the reactor.

[Biomass Lecture Series]  “System”

Lecture: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

Biomasss resources are attracting attention as renewable and carbon neutral energy together with natural energy such as solar and wind because of energy depletion and global warming.  To utilize biomass, discussion from three aspects, resource, conversion, and system is wanted.  This time, concept required for biomass use from the viewpoint of system is introduced mainly in terms of energy, environment, and economy. 

 Chair: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 26 was published. (Click)

Date & Time: Thu.7 Feb., 2019   16:20-17:50
Place: Engineering 110Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University
https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/eng/access/lectureroom
https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/eng/access/building
https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/access/higashihiroshima 

<Program>
Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

Lecture: Apip Amrullah
  D3 Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University　 

“Behavior of Phosphorus during Sub ̶ and Supercritical Water Gasification of Sewage Sludge” 

Sewage sludge is one of the end-products, which also is a carrier of phosphorus (P) and represents an important resource for P recovery in wastewater treatment system. In this study, the behavior of phosphorus during sub ̶ and supercritical water gasification of sewage sludge was investigated using continuous reactor. A continuous reactor was employed, and experiments were conducted at various temperatures (300, 350, 500, and 550 °C), residence times (5 ̶ 30 s), and a fixed pressure of 25 MPa. The phosphorus in the liquid sample after the reaction was quantitively analyzed. The results showed that organic phosphorus (OP) was almost completely converted into inorganic phosphorus (IP) under supercritical water condition and shorter residence time (10 s).
 

Lecture: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

“Effect of Pulverization on Composition Change Using Hydrothermal Pulverization Pretreatment” 

The effectiveness of simultaneous hydrothermal pulverization has been reported. Also it is reported that some component of eucalyptus dissolved into liquid phase during hydrothermal pulverization pretreatment. However there is no research about what is dissolved and where dissolved compound came from. Therefore the objective of this research is confirmation of effect of pulverization on composition change using hydrothermal pulverization pretreatment. In this study, we analyzed two solid samples that were pulverized under hydrothermal condition with disk mill 0.5 or 1.5 mm gap size for the component change of eucalyptus as a feedstock using forage fiver analysis method. As a result, we could find that most of dissolved components were derived from lignin and hemicellulose.
And also, there is no difference between lignin amount at 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm.
This means that the effect of fine pulverization was small, and it is possible that hydrothermal dissolution was mainly occurred during this pretreatment. 

[Biomass Lecture Series]  “Biochemical conversion”

Lecture: Yutaka NAKASHIMADA
  Professor, Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University 

While depletion of energy resources is regarded as a problem, biomass resources produced by living organisms by using solar energy are attracting attention as renewable energy along with natural energy such as wind power and sunlight. For effective utilization of biomass, it is necessary to convert it to secondary energy by appropriate conversion.There are three types of biomass energy conversion: 1) physical conversion 2) thermochemical conversion 3) biochemical conversion. In this evening seminar, we will introduce the biochemical conversion of biomass.

 Chair: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 25 was published. (Click)

Date & Time: Thu.24 Jan, 2019   16:20-17:50

Place: Engineering 110Lecture Room, Higashi-Hiroshima Campus, Hiroshima University

 <Program>

Commentary: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University 

Lecture: Soshi HASHIMOTO
  M2 Student ,Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University
“ Characteristics of Mineralization of Organic Phosphorus and Gasification of Organic Material under Hydrothermal Condition ” 
Due to the recent problem about depletion of phosphate rock, researches about recovery of phosphorus from the waste like sewage sludge and utilization of them as alternative resource of phosphate rock has been conducted. Hydrothermal treatment is expected as the one of treatment for sewage sludge, but decomposition characteristics of organic phosphorus under hydrothermal treatment hasn’t been elucidated. In this study, hydrothermal treatment of DNA, which is one of major organic phosphorus contained in sewage sludge, was conducted. As the result, the characteristics of mineralization and gasification was elucidated.

Lecture: Kanta OGAWA
  B4 Student , School of Engineering, Hiroshima University
“In-situ Mass Spectrometry for Hydrothermal Reaction Field ”
Hydrothermal pretreatment is important for production of the second generation bioethanol. Thus, knowledge on the reaction occurring during pretreatment is needed. In previous study, Duangkaew et al. discovered substances that have not been detected in high pressure and high temperature condition using in-situ mass spectrometry, showing its effectiveness on reaction analysis for hydrothermal pretreatment. However, the allowable pressure was limited by the nozzle spray. In this study, we added needle valve to enable analysis at pressure and temperature higher than that of previous study. 

[Biomass Lecture Series]  “Thermochemical conversion”

Lecture: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University
While depletion of energy resources is regarded as a problem, biomass resources produced by living organisms by using solar energy are attracting attention as renewable energy along with natural energy such as wind power and sunlight. For effective utilization of biomass, it is necessary to convert it to secondary energy by appropriate conversion.There are three types of biomass energy conversion: 1) physical conversion 2) thermochemical conversion 3) biochemical conversion.In this evening seminar, we will introduce the thermochemical conversion of biomass. 

Chair: Yukihiko MATSUMURA
  Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima University

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 24 was published. (Click)

HU-ACE News Letter Vol. 23 was published. (Click)