Demonstration of cellulosic ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse in Australia : the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant

The ready availability of sugarcane bagasse at an existing industrial facility and the potential availability of extra fibre through trash collection make sugarcane fibre the best candidate for early stage commercialisation of cellulosic ethanol technologies. The commercialisation of cellulosic ethanol technologies in the sugar industry requires both development of novel technologies and the assessment of these technologies at a pre-commercial scale. In 2007, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) received funding from the Australian and Queensland Governments to construct a pilot research and development facility for the production of bioethanol and other renewable biocommodities from biomass including sugarcane bagasse. This facility has been built on the site of the Racecourse Sugar Mill in Mackay, Queensland and is known as the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant (MRBPP). This research facility is capable of processing cellulosic biomass by a variety of pretreatment technologies and includes equipment for enzymatic saccharification, fermentation and distillation to produce ethanol. Lignin and fermentation co-products can also be produced in the pilot facility.

Development of a high-level gene expression system for the production of bioplastics in sugarcane

Despite various approaches, the production of biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) in transgenic plants has met with limited success due largely to low expression levels. Even in the few instances where high levels of protein expression have been reported, the transgenic plants have been stunted indicating PHB is phytotoxic (Poirier 2002). This PhD describes the application of a novel virus-based gene expression technology, termed InPAct („In Plant Activation.), for the production of PHB in tobacco and sugarcane. InPAct is based on the rolling circle replication mechanism by which circular ssDNA viruses replicate and provides a system for controlled, high-level gene expression. Based on these features, InPAct was thought to represent an ideal system to enable the controlled, high-level expression of the three phb genes (phbA, phbB and phbC) required for PHB production in sugarcane at a preferred stage of plant growth. A Tobacco yellow dwarf virus (TbYDV)-based InPAct-phbA vector, as well as linear vectors constitutively expressing phbB and phbC were constructed and different combinations were used to transform tobacco leaf discs. A total of four, eight, three and three phenotypically normal tobacco lines were generated from discs transformed with InPAct-phbA, InPAct-phbA + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC- 35S T, p1300-35S P-phbA-NOS T + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T and InPAct-GUS, respectively. To determine whether the InPAct cassette could be activated in the presence of the TbYDV Rep, leaf samples from the eight InPActphbA + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T plants were agroinfiltrated with p1300- TbYDV-Rep/RepA. Three days later, successful activation was indicated by the detection of episomes using both PCR and Southern analysis. Leaf discs from the eight InPAct-phbA + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T transgenic plant lines were agroinfiltrated with p1300-TbYDV-Rep/RepA and leaf tissue was collected ten days post-infiltration and examined for the presence of PHB granules. Confocal microscopy and TEM revealed the presence of typical PHB granules in five of the eight lines, thus demonstrating the functionality of InPActbased PHB production in tobacco. However, analysis of leaf extracts by HPLC failed to detect the presence of PHB suggesting only very low level expression levels. Subsequent molecular analysis of three lines revealed low levels of correctly processed mRNA from the catalase intron contained within the InPAct cassette and also the presence of cryptic splice sites within the intron. In an attempt to increase expression levels, new InPAct-phb cassettes were generated in which the castorbean catalase intron was replaced with a synthetic intron (syntron). Further, in an attempt to both increase and better control Rep/RepA-mediated activation of InPAct cassettes, Rep/RepA expression was placed under the control of a stably integrated alc switch. Leaf discs from a transgenic tobacco line (Alc ML) containing 35S P-AlcR-AlcA P-Rep/RepA were supertransformed with InPAct-phbAsyn or InPAct-GUSsyn using Agrobacterium and three plants (lines) were regenerated for each construct. Analysis of the RNA processing of the InPAct-phbAsyn cassette revealed highly efficient and correct splicing of the syntron, thus supporting its inclusion within the InPAct system. To determine the efficiency of the alc switch to activate InPAct, leaf material from the three Alc ML + InPAct-phbAsyn lines was either agroinfiltrated with 35S P-Rep/RepA or treated with ethanol. Unexpectedly, episomes were detected not only in the infiltrated and ethanol treated samples, but also in non-treated samples. Subsequent analysis of transgenic Alc ML + InPAct-GUS lines, confirmed that the alc switch was leaky in tissue culture. Although this was shown to be reversible once plants were removed from the tissue culture environment, it made the regeneration of Alc ML + InPAct-phbsyn plant lines extremely difficult, due to unintentional Rep expression and therefore high levels of phb expression and phytotoxic PHB production. Two Alc ML + InPAct-phbAsyn + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T transgenic lines were able to be regenerated, and these were acclimatised, alcohol-treated and analysed. Although episome formation was detected as late as 21 days post activation, no PHB was detected in the leaves of any plants using either microscopy or HPLC, suggesting the presence of a corrupt InPAct-phbA cassette in both lines. The final component of this thesis involved the application of both the alc switch and the InPAct systems to sugarcane in an attempt to produce PHB. Initial experiments using transgenic Alc ML + InPAct-GUS lines indicated that the alc system was not functional in sugarcane under the conditions tested. The functionality of the InPAct system, independent of the alc gene switch, was subsequently examined by bombarding the 35S Rep/RepA cassette into leaf and immature leaf whorl cells derived from InPAct-GUS transgenic sugarcane plants. No GUS expression was observed in leaf tissue, whereas weak and irregular GUS expression was observed in immature leaf whorl tissue derived from two InPAct- GUS lines and two InPAct-GUS + 35S P-AlcR-AlcA P-GUS lines. The most plausible reason to explain the inconsistent and low levels of GUS expression in leaf whorls is a combination of low numbers of sugarcane cells in the DNA replication-conducive S-phase and the irregular and random nature of sugarcane cells bombarded with Rep/RepA. This study details the first report to develop a TbYDV-based InPAct system under control of the alc switch to produce PHB in tobacco and sugarcane. Despite the inability to detect quantifiable levels of PHB levels in either tobacco or sugarcane, the findings of this study should nevertheless assist in the further development of both the InPAct system and the alc system, particularly for sugarcane and ultimately lead to an ethanol-inducible InPAct gene expression system for the production of bioplastics and other proteins of commercial value in plants.

Congo Red adsorption by ball-milled sugarcane bagasse

The adsorption of Congo Red (CR) by ball-milled sugarcane bagasse was evaluated in an aqueous batch system. CR adsorption capacity increased significantly with small changes in bagasse surface area. CR removal decreased with increasing solution pH from 5.0 to 10.0. Maximum adsorption capacity was 38.2 mg/g bagasse at a CR concentration of 500 mg/L. The equilibrium isotherm fitted the Freundlich model and the adsorption kinetics obeyed pseudo-second order equation. CR adsorption obeyed the intra-particle diffusion model very well with bagasse surface area in the range of 0.58–0.66 m2/g, whereas it was controlled by multi-adsorption stages with bagasse surface area in the range of 1.31–1.82 m2/g. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the adsorption process is an exothermic and spontaneous process. Fourier transform infrared analysis of bagasse containing adsorbed CR indicated interactions between the carboxyl and hydroxyl groups of bagasse and CR function groups.

Multi-sensor data fusion for UAV navigation during landing operations

This paper presents a practical framework to synthesize multi-sensor navigation information for localization of a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV) and estimation of unknown ship positions when the RUAV approaches the landing deck. The estimation performance of the visual tracking sensor can also be improved through integrated navigation. Three different sensors (inertial navigation, Global Positioning System, and visual tracking sensor) are utilized complementarily to perform the navigation tasks for the purpose of an automatic landing. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is developed to fuse data from various navigation sensors to provide the reliable navigation information. The performance of the fusion algorithm has been evaluated using real ship motion data. Simulation results suggest that the proposed method can be used to construct a practical navigation system for a UAV-ship landing system.

Application of operations research techniques to improve efficiency in the emergency department

The main aim of this thesis is to analyse and optimise a public hospital Emergency Department. The Emergency Department (ED) is a complex system with limited resources and a high demand for these resources. Adding to the complexity is the stochastic nature of almost every element and characteristic in the ED. The interaction with other functional areas also complicates the system as these areas have a huge impact on the ED and the ED is powerless to change them. Therefore it is imperative that OR be applied to the ED to improve the performance within the constraints of the system. The main characteristics of the system to optimise included tardiness, adherence to waiting time targets, access block and length of stay. A validated and verified simulation model was built to model the real life system. This enabled detailed analysis of resources and flow without disruption to the actual ED. A wide range of different policies for the ED and a variety of resources were able to be investigated. Of particular interest was the number and type of beds in the ED and also the shift times of physicians. One point worth noting was that neither of these resources work in isolation and for optimisation of the system both resources need to be investigated in tandem. The ED was likened to a flow shop scheduling problem with the patients and beds being synonymous with the jobs and machines typically found in manufacturing problems. This enabled an analytic scheduling approach. Constructive heuristics were developed to reactively schedule the system in real time and these were able to improve the performance of the system. Metaheuristics that optimised the system were also developed and analysed. An innovative hybrid Simulated Annealing and Tabu Search algorithm was developed that out-performed both simulated annealing and tabu search algorithms by combining some of their features. The new algorithm achieves a more optimal solution and does so in a shorter time.

Cellulosic ethanol from sugarcane bagasse in Australia : exploring industry feasibility through systems analysis, techno-economic assessment and pilot plant development

Overcoming many of the constraints to early stage investment in biofuels production from sugarcane bagasse in Australia requires an understanding of the complex technical, economic and systemic challenges associated with the transition of established sugar industry structures from single product agri-businesses to new diversified multi-product biorefineries. While positive investment decisions in new infrastructure requires technically feasible solutions and the attainment of project economic investment thresholds, many other systemic factors will influence the investment decision. These factors include the interrelationships between feedstock availability and energy use, competing product alternatives, technology acceptance and perceptions of project uncertainty and risk. This thesis explores the feasibility of a new cellulosic ethanol industry in Australia based on the large sugarcane fibre (bagasse) resource available. The research explores industry feasibility from multiple angles including the challenges of integrating ethanol production into an established sugarcane processing system, scoping the economic drivers and key variables relating to bioethanol projects and considering the impact of emerging technologies in improving industry feasibility. The opportunities available from pilot scale technology demonstration are also addressed. Systems analysis techniques are used to explore the interrelationships between the existing sugarcane industry and the developing cellulosic biofuels industry. This analysis has resulted in the development of a conceptual framework for a bagassebased cellulosic ethanol industry in Australia and uses this framework to assess the uncertainty in key project factors and investment risk. The analysis showed that the fundamental issue affecting investment in a cellulosic ethanol industry from sugarcane in Australia is the uncertainty in the future price of ethanol and government support that reduces the risks associated with early stage investment is likely to be necessary to promote commercialisation of this novel technology. Comprehensive techno-economic models have been developed and used to assess the potential quantum of ethanol production from sugarcane in Australia, to assess the feasibility of a soda-based biorefinery at the Racecourse Sugar Mill in Mackay, Queensland and to assess the feasibility of reducing the cost of production of fermentable sugars from the in-planta expression of cellulases in sugarcane in Australia. These assessments show that ethanol from sugarcane in Australia has the potential to make a significant contribution to reducing Australia’s transportation fuel requirements from fossil fuels and that economically viable projects exist depending upon assumptions relating to product price, ethanol taxation arrangements and greenhouse gas emission reduction incentives. The conceptual design and development of a novel pilot scale cellulosic ethanol research and development facility is also reported in this thesis. The establishment of this facility enables the technical and economic feasibility of new technologies to be assessed in a multi-partner, collaborative environment. As a key outcome of this work, this study has delivered a facility that will enable novel cellulosic ethanol technologies to be assessed in a low investment risk environment, reducing the potential risks associated with early stage investment in commercial projects and hence promoting more rapid technology uptake. While the study has focussed on an exploration of the feasibility of a commercial cellulosic ethanol industry from sugarcane in Australia, many of the same key issues will be of relevance to other sugarcane industries throughout the world seeking diversification of revenue through the implementation of novel cellulosic ethanol technologies.

Operations research for mining : a classification and literature review

In this paper, we describe the main processes and operations in mining industries and present a comprehensive survey of operations research methodologies that have been applied over the last several decades. The literature review is classified into four main categories: mine design; mine production; mine transportation; and mine evaluation. Mining design models are further separated according to two main mining methods: open-pit and underground. Moreover, mine production models are subcategorised into two groups: ore mining and coal mining. Mine transportation models are further partitioned in accordance with fleet management, truck haulage and train scheduling. Mine evaluation models are further subdivided into four clusters in terms of mining method selection, quality control, financial risks and environmental protection. The main characteristics of four Australian commercial mining software are addressed and compared. This paper bridges the gaps in the literature and motivates researchers to develop more applicable, realistic and comprehensive operations research models and solution techniques that are directly linked with mining industries.

Using operations research methodologies to improve operating theatre scheduling

A hospital consists of a number of wards, units and departments that provide a variety of medical services and interact on a day-to-day basis. Nearly every department within a hospital schedules patients for the operating theatre (OT) and most wards receive patients from the OT following post-operative recovery. Because of the interrelationships between units, disruptions and cancellations within the OT can have a flow-on effect to the rest of the hospital. This often results in dissatisfied patients, nurses and doctors, escalating waiting lists, inefficient resource usage and undesirable waiting times. The objective of this study is to use Operational Research methodologies to enhance the performance of the operating theatre by improving elective patient planning using robust scheduling and improving the overall responsiveness to emergency patients by solving the disruption management and rescheduling problem. OT scheduling considers two types of patients: elective and emergency. Elective patients are selected from a waiting list and scheduled in advance based on resource availability and a set of objectives. This type of scheduling is referred to as ‘offline scheduling’. Disruptions to this schedule can occur for various reasons including variations in length of treatment, equipment restrictions or breakdown, unforeseen delays and the arrival of emergency patients, which may compete for resources. Emergency patients consist of acute patients requiring surgical intervention or in-patients whose conditions have deteriorated. These may or may not be urgent and are triaged accordingly. Most hospitals reserve theatres for emergency cases, but when these or other resources are unavailable, disruptions to the elective schedule result, such as delays in surgery start time, elective surgery cancellations or transfers to another institution. Scheduling of emergency patients and the handling of schedule disruptions is an ‘online’ process typically handled by OT staff. This means that decisions are made ‘on the spot’ in a ‘real-time’ environment. There are three key stages to this study: (1) Analyse the performance of the operating theatre department using simulation. Simulation is used as a decision support tool and involves changing system parameters and elective scheduling policies and observing the effect on the system’s performance measures; (2) Improve viability of elective schedules making offline schedules more robust to differences between expected treatment times and actual treatment times, using robust scheduling techniques. This will improve the access to care and the responsiveness to emergency patients; (3) Address the disruption management and rescheduling problem (which incorporates emergency arrivals) using innovative robust reactive scheduling techniques. The robust schedule will form the baseline schedule for the online robust reactive scheduling model.

Models of South-East Asian organised crime drug operations in Queensland

In 2002, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a report entitled Results of a pilot survey of forty selected organized criminal groups in sixteen countries which established five models of organised crime. This paper reviews these and other common organised crime models and drug trafficking models, and applies them to cases of South East Asian drug trafficking in the Australian state of Queensland. The study tests the following hypotheses: (1) South-East Asian drug trafficking groups in Queensland will operate within a criminal network or core group; (2) Wholesale drug distributors in Queensland will not fit consistently under any particular UN organised crime model; and (3) Street dealers will have no organisational structure. The study concluded that drug trafficking or importation closely resembles a criminal network or core group structure. Wholesale dealers did not fit consistently into any UN organised crime model. Street dealers had no organisational structure as an organisational structure is typically found in mid- to high-level drug trafficking.

Considering the importance of a systems approach to integrating ESD with campus operations

Society faces an unprecedented global education challenge to equip professionals with the knowledge and skills to address emerging 21st Century challenges, spanning climate change mitigation through to adaptation measures to deal with issues such as temperature and sea level rise, and diminishing fresh water and fossil fuel reserves. This paper discusses the potential for systemic and synergistic integration of curriculum with campus operations to accelerate curriculum renewal towards ESD, drawing on the authors' experiences within engineering education. The paper begins by a providing a brief overview of the need for timely curriculum renewal towards ESD in tertiary education. The paper then highlights some examples of academic barriers that need to be overcome for integration efforts to be successful, and opportunities for promoting the benefits of such integration. The paper concludes by discussing the rational for planning green campus initiatives within a larger system of curriculum renewal considerations, including awareness raising and developing a common understanding, identifying and mapping graduate attributes, curriculum auditing, content development and strategic renewal, and bridging and outreach.

The composition of sugarcane juices dervied from burnt cane and whole green cane crop

There has been substantial interest within the Australian sugar industry in product diversification as a means to reduce its exposure to fluctuating raw sugar prices and in order to increase its commercial viability. In particular, the industry is looking at fibrous residues from sugarcane harvesting (trash) and from sugarcane milling (bagasse) for cogeneration and the production of biocommodities, as these are complementary to the core process of sugar production. A means of producing surplus residue (biomass) is to process whole sugarcane crop. In this paper, the composition of different juices derived from different harvesting methods, viz. burnt cane with all trash extracted (BE), green cane with half of the trash extracted (GE), and green cane (whole sugarcane crop) with trash unextracted (GU), were investigated and the results and comparison presented. The determination of electrical conductivity, inorganic composition, and organic acids indicate that both GU and GE cane juice contain a higher proportion of soluble inorganic ions and ionisable organic acids, compared to BE cane juice. It is important to note that there are considerably higher levels of Na ions and citric acid, but relatively low P levels in the GU samples. A higher level of reducing sugars was analysed in the GU samples than the BE samples due to the higher proportion of impurities found naturally in sugarcane tops and leaves. The purity of the first expressed juice (FEJ) of GU cane was on average higher than that of FEJ of BE cane. Results also show that GU juices appear to contain higher levels of proteins and polysaccharides, with no significant difference in starch levels.