A consolidated review of commercial-scale high-value products from lignocellulosic biomass

Abstract

For decades, lignocellulosic biomass has been introduced to the public as the most important raw material for the environmentally and economically sustainable production of high-valued bioproducts by microorganisms. However, due to the strong recalcitrant structure, the lignocellulosic materials have major limitations to obtain fermentable sugars for transformation into value-added products, e.g., bioethanol, biobutanol, biohydrogen, etc. In this review, we analyzed the recent trends in bioenergy production from pretreated lignocellulose, with special attention to the new strategies for overcoming pretreatment barriers. In addition, persistent challenges in developing for low-cost advanced processing technologies are also pointed out, illustrating new approaches to addressing the global energy crisis and climate change caused by the use of fossil fuels. The insights given in this study will enable a better understanding of current processes and facilitate further development on lignocellulosic bioenergy production.

Recent advances, perspectives and challenges on levulinic acid production from residual biomass

“…In another context, Bonatto et al . used seawater and wastewater from shrimp production to produce second‐generation ethanol using papaya waste as a substrate 83‐86 . Expanding to the present study, the volume of water in the reaction medium after the synthesis of LA can represent a problem in later stages, resulting in higher energy costs for its removal, 31 mainly linked to the need for upstream reagents and effluent treatment.…”

“…In another context, Bonatto et al used seawater and wastewater from shrimp production to produce second-generation ethanol using papaya waste as a substrate. [83][84][85][86] Expanding to the present study, the volume of water in the reaction medium after the synthesis of LA can represent a problem in later stages, resulting in higher energy costs for its removal, 31 mainly linked to the need for upstream reagents and effluent treatment. Thus, a prospect for future work is using wastewater or process water recycling to obtain LA, which is vital for environmental issues and approaching a closed cycle with zero generation of effluents and waste.…”

Hydrothermal and microwave‐assisted synthesis of levulinic acid from watermelon residue

“…The result of LA was calculated according to Eqn (1) and was based on S:L, in g L −1 , which allowed the comparison of reaction systems:where Y LA is the percentage yield of LA, LA and SLR are the concentration of LA in the final product, and the solid/liquid ratio of biomass used (weighted mass of each sample in grams/catalyst volume in L), both in g L −1 . In the literature, calculations of yields based on mol, mol%, and the ratio between the final product and total carbohydrates are found when using only cellulose or only fructose, and even biomass in which the cellulose content is predominant, but, in this case, the yield was approached between the ratio of the product obtained and the total amount of substrate used in the reaction 16–18 . Residual watermelon biomass contains free sugars in LF; however, SF contains cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin.…”

“…between the final product and total carbohydrates are found when using only cellulose or only fructose, and even biomass in which the cellulose content is predominant, but, in this case, the yield was approached between the ratio of the product obtained and the total amount of substrate used in the reaction. [16][17][18] Residual watermelon biomass contains free sugars in LF; however, SF contains cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. As the SF was dried at a temperature of 40 °C, degradation of sugars was not evident, which led to an amount of glucose and fructose present in the SF.…”

Tailoring a suitable partner system for cholinium cation to build effective solvents for biomass deconstruction

“…It is also a critical step for further conversion of lignin into valuable downstream products. 5,6 In the past few decades, ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted increasing attention and opened new opportunities for effective biomass processing. 7,8 Cholinium-based ILs have generated increasing interest in the past few years since cholinium amino acid ILs have been reported to be promising solvents because they are less expensive, biodegradable, biocompatible and more powerful in dissolving lignin as compared with some traditional ILs.…”