3 Things You Need to Know About Bioproducts

Hello again everyone! Welcome back to the fourth rendition of my blog, and today I have an extremely interesting topic for you! So first off, how many of you could give me some examples of bioproducts? When I was first asked that question, I first wondered what truly was a bioproduct. Today, we will be taking a deep dive into the fascinating world of bioproducts! Sit back, relax, and try to learn something! In order to get our learning started, we are first going to talk about the process of fermentation! By definition, fermentation is "the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms." (Lesson 19) This process usually takes place under anaerobic conditions, which simply means there is no oxygen! In that definition, the word "substance" refers to either a six-carbon sugar or a disaccharide. Either of these substances is simple sugars, and they are key elements in the process of fermentation. In order to understand this entire process much more, let's look at one specific example, ethanol! In this process, we see the conversation of certain sugars such as glucose or sucrose into energy. This energy then produces ethanol, as well as carbon dioxide. Once again, this process takes place in without any inclusion of oxygen, which makes it an anaerobic process. The graph below shows the equation for glucose to ethanol, which is very interesting! Overall, fermentation is a very important process for bioproducts. Soon, you will see just how important it truly is!

Now that we have a rough understanding of fermentation, let's talk about some specific products we get from the process! These products are called bioproducts, and in this case, more specifically bioplastics! The first one I'd like us to take a look at is Polyethylene terephthalate (Bio-PET). In this process, sugar is fermented and distilled to ethanol. The ethanol is then used to make a certain chemical called MEG, which is then combined with another chemical called PTA (Lesson 20). Just by this process, it sounds like the end product would be extremely complex, however, that is most definitely not the case! This process creates bottles that can be used for pop/water, which is pictured below. If this process takes off, we could see a massive reduction in plastic being used. Even if you are not an environmentalist, you should know that less plastic is a good thing, which is exactly what we are seeing here!

So far, we have taken a look at the main way to make a bioproduct. This process is obviously known as fermentation, but what if I told you there were other ways to make bioproducts? The first one is a process called thermochemical conversion. Thermochemical conversion is a process where heat and chemicals are applied to biomass-based products (Lesson 21). This differs from fermentation mainly because it is an aerobic practice, which means it includes oxygen. However, not everything about thermochemical conversion is aerobic, as they're actually levels to the entire process. The first is pyrolysis, which does not require oxygen. Next is gasification, which requires little oxygen. Lastly, we move to combustion, where the most oxygen is required. They all share one thing in common, however, and that is the requirement for heat. As you move up a level, more and more heat is required. Besides THC, they're other ways to make bioproducts such as transesterification and hydrotreatment. I won't take any more of your time today on what these entail, but just know, you can make bioproducts with them. In this section, I have processes that all have two things in common: they are used to make bioproducts and they aren't economically viable. The reality is that none of them can compete with petroleum in today's current climate, but the hope is that someday, the bioproduct scene will be much more diverse.

In summary, I hope you learned a thing or two about bioproducts today (my hope is that you did). They are a changing industry with constant twists and turns, but they are a very important part of our sustainable future. In my last blog, I wrote that just because a new thing comes around, doesn't mean the old thing is better. However, I may contradict myself here, but in this case, bioproducts are usually better environmentally than their predecessors. Next time you have the option, look for a bioproduct. Besides, what could possibly go wrong? See you next time! Lesson 19 - Fermentation, BBE 1002, UMN Lesson 20 - Bioplastics, BBE 1002, UMN Lesson 21 - Other Biobased Products, BBE 1002, UMN https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.05c63f65d81070ffbc7f0051be936006?rik=IxJVEVEoqmPMMw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fpayload.cargocollective.com%2f1%2f3%2f99619%2f1347619%2fcoke_plant-bottle_860.jpg&ehk=2lY%2bLaZKJXnzQaUrGX5TfjzbnJMv5aGzY4kBJZ7z1QY%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Ethanol_fermentation-1.svg/1200px-Ethanol_fermentation-1.svg.png https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334963358/figure/download/fig1/AS:788378949795842@1564975597530/Possible-products-of-thermochemical-conversion-of-biomass.png https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/bioproduct-production