Characteristics of Moso Bamboo with Chemical Pretreatment

The world’s present economy is highly dependent on various fossil energy sources such as oil, coal, natural gas, etc [1]. There are several alternative energies which can replace fossil fuels in the future, such as hydro, solar, wind, biomass and ocean thermal energy. Among these energy sources, biomass is the only carbon-based sustainable energy and is utilized by most people around the world [2]. Furthermore, it is also confirmed that the petroleum-based fuels can be replaced by biomass fuels such as bioethanol, bio-diesel, bio-hydrogen, which derives from agricultural residues, forestry residues, municipal solid waste, manufacturing waste, vegetable oils, dedicated energy crops, etc [3]. Recently, it is a growing interest in manufac‐ turing bioethanol using biomass materials. It is well known that production of ethanol from biomass includes three major processes, such as pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation. One of the most important processes is biomass pretreatment in the production of biofuel. Biomass pretreatment can remove lignin and hemicelluloses, which significantly enhance the hydrolysis of cellulose. It is required to alter the biomass macroscopic and microscopic size and structure as well as its submicroscopic structural and chemical composition to facilitate rapid and efficient hydrolysis of carbohydrates to fermentable sugars [4]. Figure 1 shows simplified impact of pretreatment on biomass [5].