Infrastructure

In terms of infrastructure, E-RENOVA has a built area within FEQ of approximately 11,762 m2, with around 6,000 m2 dedicated to research laboratories. The Laboratory of Biomass Characterization, Analytical Resources, and Calibration (LRAC) stands out in the laboratory infrastructure of FEQ/UNICAMP as the main facility to be used in the research activities of E-RENOVA. Established in 1998, the laboratory is equipped with modern and regularly updated instruments for morphological, structural, and chemical characterization of various types of materials, making it a powerful tool for experimental data collection. Recently, LRAC expanded its facilities with unique infrastructure for biomass characterization, as far as known in Brazil.

Among the analysis equipment for biomass characterization, the laboratory is equipped with a CHNS analyzer, thermogravimetric analyzers for moisture, volatile matter, ash, and fixed carbon analysis, acid hydrolysis for structural analysis of carbohydrates, Soxhlet extractors for extractives, liquid chromatography for sugar analysis, UV-Vis spectrophotometer for soluble lignin quantification, muffle furnaces, ovens, balances, optical microscopes, sieve set for particle size measurement, water purifier, ice machine, bulk density measurement equipment, as well as the entire infrastructure for sample preparation, grinding, and homogenization of solid samples. In addition to these, other existing equipment in LRAC is also of great utility in biomass, catalyst, and other materials characterization, including laser diffraction particle size analyzers, gas adsorption surface area analyzers, scanning electron microscope with elemental analysis (SEM/EDS), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF), helium picnometer, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), ion chromatograph, calorimeters, field emission scanning electron microscope (FEG/EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), among other preparation equipment such as furnaces, presses, cutters, and balances.

Here is a list of equipment that can be used in the development of research projects at E-RENOVA:

Equipment:
1. Gasification and pyrolysis pilot plant
2. Fermentation pilot plant (6,000 liters)
3. Laboratory fermenters
4. Hydrolysis reactors
5. Shakers
6. Pilot Molecular Distillation Unit
7. Lyophilizer
8. Microreactor for hydrogen production from ethanol
9. Supercritical reactor
10. Pilot electrostatic oil treatment unit
11. Batch Distillation Unit (pilot scale)
12. Intensified Biodiesel Reactor
13. Pilot unit for multiple-effect evaporation water treatment
14. Autoclave for biomass pretreatment systems
15. Software: Biorefinery simulation and reactors for acid hydrolysis
16. Air Lift reactor for microalgae
17. Graphene production reactor
18. Centrifugal Molecular Distillation Unit
19. Atomic absorption spectrometer
20. Degassing preparation station
21. Automatic helium gas pycnometer
22. Mercury intrusion porosimeter (PcHg)
23. Surface area and particle analyzer
24. Calorimeter
25. Gas chromatograph SHIMADZU, model GC2010 AFT
26. Ion chromatograph – Mehtron
27. Zeta Potential Anton Paar
28. Incubators with temperature controllers
29. Autoclave for sterilization
30. Automated fixed-bed liquid percolation module
31. Optical microscope (Leica) with platinum heating (Linkam)
32. Flash point analyzer (Grabner) – MiniFlash FPLH
33. Micro-Ebulliometer
34. CFD software
35. High-performance workstation for pre and post-processing
36. Computational cluster (800 cores)
37. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) – ThermoFisher
38. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) – K-alpha