Biomass Compositional Analysis for Conversion to Renewable Fuels and Chemicals

Abstract

As the world continues to deplete its nonrenewable resources, there has begun a shift toward using renewable materials for the production of fuels and chemicals. Terrestrial biomass, as well as municipal solid wastes, provides renewable feedstocks for fuel and chemical production. However, one of the major challenges to using biomass as a feedstock for fuel and chemical production is the great amount of innate variability between different biomass types and within individual biomass species. This inconsistency arises from varied growth and harvesting conditions and presents challenges for conversion processes, which frequently require physically and chemically uniform materials. This chapter will examine intrinsic biomass compositional characteristics including cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives/volatiles, and ash for a wide array of biomass types. Additionally, extrinsic properties, such as moisture content and particle grind size, will be examined for their effect on biomass conversion to fuels using four major conversion processes: direct combustion, pyrolysis, hydrothermal liquefaction, and fermentation. A brief discussion on recent research for the production of building block chemicals from biomass will also be presented.

Feedstock choice, pyrolysis temperature and type influence biochar characteristics: a comprehensive meta-data analysis review

“…In general, manure/biosolids-based biochars typically contained the greatest available nutrient concentrations as compared to other biochars (Table 4). This is not surprising given that these feedstocks contain, overall, greater nutrient contents as compared to other feedstocks (e.g., Williams et al 2017). All other feedstock-based biochars generally were grouped together in terms of nutrient availability, potentially a consequence of lower ash content leading to lower nutrient retention (e.g., Williams et al 2016).…”

Identification of Milk Thistle Shatter‐Resistant Mutant Lines with Altered Lignocellulosic Profile for the Complete Domestication of the Species

“…The ash content observed here is lower that what was previously reported (Ledda et al, 2013). The observed total C content is high compared with other annual species; on the contrary, total N content is lower than average (Williams et al, 2017). As for mutant's biomass, all lines showed major differences in biomass composition compared with the wild type, highlighting an association between fruit shattering resistance and modifications of biomass composition in the three lines.…”

“…Compositional analysis of biomass insoluble sugars revealed the presence of only glucose and xylose, indicating that in this species, hemicellulose is composed of xylans. Moreover, the species is characterized by high cellulose/hemicellulose ratio compared with other herbaceous species (Williams et al, 2017). The ash content observed here is lower that what was previously reported (Ledda et al, 2013).…”

Straw in Clay Bricks and Plasters—Can We Use Its Molecular Decay for Dating Purposes?

“…The idea to use molecular changes for the discrimination of different ages has also been discussed for charcoal [10], since wood-dating tools based on the molecular decay already have been developed [11]. These models gave reasons for the presented study, as the molecular composition of straw and wood contains the same main components [12]. Infrared spectroscopy is a suitable method to describe molecular changes.…”