Lignocelluloses Feedstock Biorefinery as Petrorefinery Substitutes

Abstract

Lignocelluloses Feedstock Biorefinery as Petrorefinery Substitutes 349The LCF Biorefinery is a promising alternative due to the abundance and variety of available raw materials and the good position of the conversion products on the market [14]. Its profitability is also dependent on the technology employed to alter the structure of lignocellulosic biomass in order to produce high value co-products from its three main fractions i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin [15].Currently the main feedstock for biorefineries is still based on starch. The practiced technologies in fuel ethanol industry are primarily based on the fermentation of sugars derived from starch and sugar crops, which are quite mature with little possibility of process improvements. However, using starch and sugar crops to produce ethanol also has been questioned since it draws its feedstock from a food stream. Lignocellulosic biomass is a more promising renewable resource as it is available in large quantities and does not compete with food or feed. Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable resource that stores energy from sunlight in its chemical bonds, with great potentials for the production of affordable fuel ethanol [16,17]. Its main obstacle for a major breakthrough is the high production costs for bioenergy products.On the other hand, lignocellulosic biomass-derived products can significantly reduce green house gas emissions, compared to fossil-based products. Also, many common petrochemicals could be obtained with lower green house gas emissions from bio-based feedstocks. The maturity and economics of the conversion processes and logistics is a major challenge for lignocellulosic biomass [18].

A Path Transition Towards a Bioeconomy—The Crucial Role of Sustainability

“…This amount of GHG-emissions is equivalent to roughly one third of the whole available CO 2 -budget if climate change is to be limited to less than 2 • C, and it is equivalent to more than three quarters of the available CO 2 -budget if climate change is to be limited to 1.5 • C [96]. Instead, wood and wood-based materials can serve as examples for climate-compatible construction materials demanding less energy and resources for production and transport, emitting less GHG and serving as carbon sinks [55,98,99]. Due to these advantages, wood buildings are constituted as no-regret-option for climate protection [100,101].…”

“…e.g., References [122,123]) and negative GHG-balances of fossil resource use, it is hypothesised that in most cases wood-based products are more sustainable in the long term. Wood-based products act as temporary carbon sinks due to the assimilation and storage of carbon in wood and therefore often show better GHG-balances than fossil resource substitutes [55,98].…”

“…Besides sustainability advantages of wood-based products in feedstock production, wood processing can be improved by enhancing resource productivity due to innovative technologies such as lignocellulosic biorefineries using organosolv pulping [98]. Moreover, transport efficiency can be increased and CO 2 -emissions of transportation can be reduced [99] by weight reduction of wood-based products or products with an admixture of wood compared to conventional products, e.g., concrete [111].…”

Polysaccharides from Bioagro-Waste for New Biomolecules

“…Although the latter could be a more sustainable and efficient process, some problems are still to be solved, such as the different temperature operation's conditions required from enzymes and yeasts. For these reasons recently the so-called consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) has received increasing attention: in such a biotechnological process, biomass would be converted in ethanol by using a single engineered strain able to carry out the cellulase enzyme production, the saccharification of cellulose, and the fermentation of monomer sugars to ethanol (Cheng and Wang 2013). It is noteworthy to underline that a commercially available microorganism able to perform a CBP process has not yet been reported, but research in this field is still going on (Pandey and Nigam 2009).…”

Wet-Spun Composite Filaments from Lignocellulose Nanofibrils/Alginate and Their Physico-Mechanical Properties

“…Biodegradable or biomass-based materials have gained increasing attention [ 6 ]. Lignocellulose is a biomaterial that can be obtained from wood, plants, and agricultural products, and it is an abundant, biodegradable, and sustainable material [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”