Platform and fine chemicals from woody biomass: demonstration and assessment of a novel biorefinery

Abstract

The aim of this study was the experimental demonstration and assessment of a novel lignocellulose biorefinery (LCB) for the integration of beech wood-based products as platform and fine chemicals. The process sequence included organosolv pulping followed by pulp bleaching, hydrothermal conversion of hemicellulose to xylose and its purification, fermentation of xylose to malic acid, and base-catalyzed lignin depolymerization (BCD). The resulting products were dissolving pulp, phenolic BCD-oligomers, and malic acid. The state of the art for these technologies is their experimental proof of concept and validation at a laboratory- and pilot-scale and has a technology readiness level (TRL) of 3–4. By integrating and optimizing the single-process steps into one LCB, the TRL could be increased to 5. Based on the findings of the experimental studies, a LCB converting 50,000 dry metric tonnes ($$ \hat{=} $$=̂ 38.7 MW) of beech wood annually was simulated with Aspen Plus. Mass and energy balances showed that 14,616 dry metric tonnes of dissolving pulp, 5174 dry metric tonnes of BCD-oligomers, and 4077 dry metric tonnes of malic acid annually could be produced. The total energy efficiency is 40.3%. The calculation of specific production costs demonstrated the marketability of dissolving pulp (1350 €/t) and BCD-oligomers (2180 €/t), whereas malic acid (4750 €/t) is not yet competitive. Environmental assessment showed reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the production of BCD-oligomers and malic acid and higher GHG emissions from the production of dissolving pulp compared with the reference products. In total, the examined LCB would contribute to the mitigation of global warming.

Synthesis and Characterizations of Eco-Friendly Organosolv Lignin-Based Polyurethane Coating Films for the Coating Industry

“…Wood materials and wood-based products are increasingly considered the materials of the future, fully in line with modern concepts of a bio-circular economy [ 1 , 2 ]. However, the intrinsic biodegradability of wood is the most important weakness, which limits a wider end use, and thus the improvement of wood durability is still one of the major challenges [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Demonstration and Assessment of Purification Cascades for the Separation and Valorization of Hemicellulose from Organosolv Beechwood Hydrolyzates

“…Both purification cascades were scaled to the same plant size and input concentration. A previous study presented an organosolv process, converting 50,000 dry metric tons of beechwood annually, resulting in 258,400 metric tons of BWH [55]. This dimension was found to be reasonable for a demonstration plant [56,57].…”

“…In purification cascade 1, 63% of the oligomeric hemicellulose in BWH 3 is converted to monomeric xylose and subsequently separated from potential inhibitors and concentrated to 200 g/L at a VR of 0.76. The resulting purified xylose stream of 7.8 t/h can be fermented, for example, to lactic acid [77], xylitol [78], or malic acid [55]. The advantage of this cascade is that no other input streams, such as additional chemicals, are needed.…”

“…Since no costs are assumed for the BWH [55], the operating costs, mainly labor, account for a large share of the total costs. For purification cascade 1, this cost position is with 42% the most significant cost driver.…”

Techno‐economic and life‐cycle assessment of a wood chips‐based organosolv biorefinery concept for production of lignin monomers and oligomers by base‐catalyzed depolymerization

“…Organosolv lignin can be used to a small extent, depolymerized lignin can replace phenol by 50% 20 to 70%, 21 yielding lower environmental impacts than its fossil counterpart. 22 Wood-based biorefineries were assessed before in capacities ranging from 40 000 23 to 1 000 000 24 annual tons of input, with valorization of the C6 into sugars, 24 maleic acid, 25 or bioethanol with subsequent dehydration to yield bioethylene. 26 While the C5 fraction is mostly converted to biogas to fuel the plant's operation, organosolv lignin is mostly sold as a product on its own 23,24,26 and further depolymerization 25 only recently received attention in economic and environmental assessments.…”