Progress of Lignocellulose Pretreatment Technologies

'Cradle-to-grave' assessment of existing lignocellulose pretreatment technologies.

Pretreatment is considered to be a central unit process in a biorefinery to convert lignocellulosic biomass into fuels and chemicals, affecting all other operations in the process. A variety of technologies to pretreat lignocellulosic biomass are available today, which encompass a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological based processes. Among these, chemical based pretreatments are con...

Lignocellulose pretreatment in a fungus-cultivating termite.

Depolymerizing lignin, the complex phenolic polymer fortifying plant cell walls, is an essential but challenging starting point for the lignocellulosics industries. The variety of ether- and carbon-carbon interunit linkages produced via radical coupling during lignification limit chemical and biological depolymerization efficiency. In an ancient fungus-cultivating termite system, we reveal unpr...

Progress on Membrane Distillation and Related Technologies

Lignocellulose pretreatment severity - relating pH to biomatrix opening.

In cellulose-to-ethanol processes a physico-chemical pretreatment of the lignocellulosic feedstock is a crucial prerequisite for increasing the amenability of the cellulose to enzymatic attack. Currently published pretreatment strategies span over a wide range of reaction conditions involving different pH values, temperatures, types of catalysts and holding times. The consequences of the pretre...

Process and economic analysis of pretreatment technologies.

Five pretreatment processes (dilute acid, hot water, ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX), ammonia recycle percolation (ARP), and lime) for the liberation of sugars from corn stover are compared on a consistent basis. Each pretreatment process model was embedded in a full bioethanol facility model so that systematic effects for variations in pretreatment were accounted in the overall process. Economi...