Welcome to the Biorefinery Group | Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila

The term “Biorefinery“ of 2nd and 3rd generation refers to the biomass conversion into high added-value compounds and bioenergy (advanced biofuels). The Biorefinery Group is active in various aspects for lignocellulosic and aquatic (micro and macro – algae) biomass conversion: 1) Intensification of hydrothermal processing, 2) Chemical characterization and applications, 3) Biological systems engineering, 4) Microalgae and cyanobacteria based biorefinery in the context of circular bioeconomy.

We invite you to explore the pages of this web site and see the different activities that this group is developing in order to find new alternatives for the biorefinery concept.

WorkTeam – Biorefinery Group

1) Intensification of hydrothermal processing:

Hydrothermal processing at different scale levels from bench to pilot scale reactors (autohydrolysis , steam explosion, liquid hot water (LHW), high pressure technology using subcritical and supercritical water ) for biomass fractionation and extraction of the main components of lignocellulosic, micro and macro – algae biomass. 

2) Chemical characterization and applications:

Extraction , optimization process, chemical characterization and applications of  cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, fucoidan, carrageenan, alginate, laminarin, galactan, xylooligosaccharides, fucoxanthin, mannitol, phycocyanin, nanocrystalline cellulose in the production of commodity and specialty biochemicals.

3) Biological systems engineering:

Research in this area has focused on new process configurations for enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic and aquatic biomass, fermentations strategy at high solid loading, as well as on development of mathematical models for both descriptive and predictive purposes, and bioreactor design.

4) Microalgae and cyanobacteria based biorefinery:

Our interest in this area centre on the design of photobioreactors and the cultivation systems and use of micro-algal biomass for bio-based products (new foods, food additives and high added-value compounds: (lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, phycocyanin) in terms of biorefinery.