The conversion of biomass into chemicals, fuels and energy using the bio-refinery concept has attracted lot of attention. In particular, lignocellulosic biomass, consisting of cellulose (ca. 50%), hemicellulose (ca. 30%) and lignin (ca. 20%) is of special interest because it is non-edible and in plentiful supply. Hemicellulose is a heterogeneous polymer, made up of C5 and C6 sugars (such as xyl...

Previously, the primary product distribution resulting from fast pyrolysis of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin was quantified. This study extends the analysis to the examinations of interactions between cellulose−hemicellulose and cellulose−lignin, which were determined by comparing the pyrolysis products from their native mixture, physical mixture, and superposition of individual component...

Biomass pretreatment (BP) plays a crucial role in a lignocellulose feedstock-based biorefinery (LCFBR) for processing of three major output streams (cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin) into chemicals and biofuels. BP includes processing of lignocellulosic material (LCM) under aqueous, dilute acid or alkaline media to obtain a cellulosic fraction, which is then fermented to produce bioethanol....

Cellulosic biomass can be pretreated with dilute sulfuric acid to recover high yields of sugars directly from hemicellulose and subsequently by enzymatic hydrolysis of the residual cellulose, and these sugars can be used to produce fuels and chemicals with unique and powerful economic, environmental, and strategic benefits. Pretreatment is costly for such biological routes, and we seek to bette...