Waste-to-Resource: Pyrolytic Biochar as a key contributor to the Circular Economy

传统的废物利用和处置管理制度造成了原材料的枯竭、适合填埋的场地的枯竭、有毒物质在环境中的扩散以及温室气体的产生。因此，模仿自然，提出了“循环经济”的概念，目的是通过利用一个过程的产出作为另一个过程的投入，保持产品、副产品和废物的效用并保留其价值，从而实现零废物解决方案和闭环系统。发现和创新最丰富的领域往往是传统学科的交叉点。因此，拟议的研究旨在发现和研究生物和热转化的整合机会，以找到新的解决方案，最大限度地提高环境和经济效益，并为“循环经济”做出贡献。Discovery赠款的长期目标是开发解决方案，从各种不同的低价值或负价值的可持续原料中生产增值能源和化学品。短期目标包括研究先进反应和分离工艺技术的协同组合和集成，旨在使液体和固体产品增值，重点是优化热解生物炭的多种用途，作为循环经济的关键贡献者。这些目标将通过4个项目来实现：（1）富含木质素的厌氧消化固体残渣的热解转化（2）通过厌氧消化将通过分级冷凝分离的含水热解产物馏分生物转化为甲烷;（3）使用生的和改性的生物炭作为来自气体（二氧化碳和H2S）和液体流出物（有毒金属、药物、激素等）的污染物的吸附剂。（4）利用生物炭优化厌氧消化过程，减少抑制作用，为细菌活动创造最佳环境。预计将发现新的转化途径，这将转移到科学界和工业界的利益，产生经济和环境价值，同时教育和培训准备充分的HQP。

The traditional waste management system of using and disposing contributes to the depletion of raw resources, the exhaustion of sites suitable for landfilling, the dispersion of toxic materials in the environment, and the generation of greenhouse gases. As a result, mimicking nature, the concept of “circular economy” has been proposed, aiming at maintaining the utility of products, co-products and wastes and retain their value by utilizing the outputs of one process as the input to another, leading to zero-waste solutions and closed-loop systems. Often the most fertile areas of discovery and innovation lie at the intersection of traditional disciplines. Therefore, the proposed research aims at discovering and studying the integration opportunities of bio- and thermo-conversion to find new solutions and maximize environmental and economic benefits and contribute to the “circular economy”. The long-term goal of the Discovery grant is the development of solutions to produce value-added energy and chemicals from a variety of different sustainable feedstocks of low or negative value. The short-term goals include the investigation of a synergistic combination and integration of technologies for advanced reaction and separation processes, aimed at valorizing both liquid and solid products, focusing on optimizing multiple uses of pyrolytic bio-char as a key contributor to the circular economy. These objectives will be achieved through 4 projects addressing (1) the pyrolytic conversion of the lignin-rich anaerobic digestion solid residues (digestate) into quality bio-char and phenolic-rich bio-oil; (2) the bio-conversion of the aqueous pyrolysis product fraction, separated by fractional condensation, into methane by anaerobic digestion; (3) the use of raw and modified bio-chars as adsorbents of contaminants from the gaseous (carbon dioxide and H2S) and liquid effluents (toxic metals, pharmaceuticals, hormones,..) of the anaerobic digestion process and for other potential uses as value-added materials (catalysts, fillers, electrical components, food and feed additives,); and (4) the use of bio-char to optimize the anaerobic digestion process by reducing inhibition and creating optimal environments for bacterial activity. It is expected that new conversion pathways will be discovered which will be transferred to the benefits of both the scientific community and industry, generating economic and environmental value, while educating and training well prepared HQP.