Steam explosion and its combinatorial pretreatment refining technology of plant biomass to bio‐based products

Abstract

Pretreatment is a key unit operation affecting the refinery efficiency of plant biomass. However, the poor efficiency of pretreatment and the lack of basic theory are the main challenges to the industrial implementation of the plant biomass refinery. The purpose of this work is to review steam explosion and its combinatorial pretreatment as a means of overcoming the intrinsic characteristics of plant biomass, including recalcitrance, heterogeneity, multi-composition, and diversity. The main advantages of the selective use of steam explosion and other combinatorial pretreatments across the diversity of raw materials are introduced. Combinatorial pretreatment integrated with other unit operations is proposed as a means to exploit the high-efficiency production of bio-based products from plant biomass. Finally, several pilot- and demonstration-scale operations of the plant biomass refinery are described. Based on the principle of selective function and structure fractionation, and multi-level and directional composition conversion, an integrated process with the combinatorial pretreatments of steam explosion and other pretreatments as the core should be feasible and conform to the plant biomass refinery concept. Combinatorial pretreatments of steam explosion and other pretreatments should be further exploited based on the type and intrinsic characteristics of the plant biomass used, the bio-based products to be made, and the complementarity of the processes.

Xylose production from corn stover biomass by steam explosion combined with enzymatic digestibility

“…various degradation products (Sharma et al, 2015;Mood et al, 2013;Agbor et al, 2011). Corn stover, corncob, and other agricultural stalks are rich in hemicellulose, which is the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (Mood et al, 2013;Chen and Liu, 2015). The ultimate goal of biomass refinery is 'zero waste', meaning that all sugars or carbons fixed in lignocellulosic biomass must be utilized efficiently (Zeng et al, 2014).…”

“…Lignocellulosic biomass, which can be converted into alternative fuels such as ethanol, should be the primary energy resource due to its high annual production worldwide (1 Â 10 10 MT/year) (Alvira et al, 2010;Chen and Qiu, 2010). It can be obtained as the wastes of the agriculture and forestry industries, or from energy crops especially cultivated for the purpose (Chen and Liu, 2015;Ko et al, 2015). Corn stover is a potential feedstock for ethanol production due to high sugar content and low price of preparation (Ou et al, 2014;Luo et al, 2009).…”

Cellulose Biorefinery Based on a Combined Catalytic and Biotechnological Approach for Production of 5‐HMF and Ethanol

“…The structure of the isolated 5-HMF wasc onfirmed by 1 Ha nd 13 CNMR spectroscopy ( Figures S2-S4). The purity of the isolated 5-HMF was confirmedb yq uantitative 13 CNMR spectroscopy ( Figure S2) and revealed that isobutanol is an admixture.…”

“…[8] The main products of its processing are holocellulose and cellulose. They can be separated from lignin by various pretreatment methods, [9] including hydrolysis with dilute and concentrated sulfuric acid, [10] alkaline hydrolysis, [11] the organosolv process, [12] steam explosion, [13] ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX), [14] etc. The relative simplicity of cellulose processing allows aw ide variety of products that are so-called "platform molecules" for industrial applicationst ob eo btained.…”

The application of microwave heating in bioenergy: A review on the microwave pre-treatment and upgrading technologies for biomass

“…A number of alternative pre-treatment technologies are currently being applied for the intensification of biomass and waste, which include ultrasound assisted processing [34][35][36][37], steam explosion [38][39][40], ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX) [41][42][43], and extrusion [44][45][46].…”