Moving from residual lignocellulosic biomass into high‐value products: Outcomes from a long‐term international cooperation

Abstract

Major progress in the bioprocessing of lignocellulose to fuels and value‐added chemicals has created the possibility of a low carbon‐footprint economy. However, the current complexity and associated costs of lignocellulose conversion result in a higher price for ethanol than for fossil fuels. The cost of cellulosic ethanol production will be lowered by further progress in development of biorefinery technology that produces both ethanol and high‐value chemicals with bio‐based products that are beginning to penetrate consumer markets in the USA, Brazil, and worldwide. The cost‐effectiveness of low carbon‐footprint bioproducts will benefit from advances in supplying large amounts of biomass solids to the biorefinery. We describe here outcomes from a successful long‐term international cooperation between the Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE) at Purdue University in the United States and Brazil's Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) and Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), which has contributed practical pathways to enhance the biorefinery concept. This paper gives an overview of developments that address fundamental knowledge of lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment hydrolysis under optimized operational conditions and bioreactor configurations, and the science and engineering that contributes to the effective production of fuel and ethanol and value‐added products from biomass. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Cellulose Nanocrystals from Sugar Cane Bagasse Using Organic and/or Inorganic Acids: Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment

“…Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are highly crystalline nanostructures well known for their functional and intrinsic properties, abundance, renewability, and potential to enhance the performance of different type of materials. − Given these attractive characteristics, the applications of CNCs have been widely studied in the fields of materials science, tissue engineering, biomedicine, sensors and biosensors, food, packaging, and water remediation . More recently, the isolation of CNCs has been exploited within the biorefinery concept, since lignocellulose-based materials such as sugar cane biomass can be used to obtain a diversity of compounds (soluble sugars), structures (microfibers and nanofibers), , biofuels, and other biobased products …”

“…4 More recently, the isolation of CNCs has been exploited within the biorefinery concept, since lignocellulose-based materials such as sugar cane biomass can be used to obtain a diversity of compounds (soluble sugars), structures (microfibers and nanofibers), 5,6 biofuels, and other biobased products. 7 The sulfuric acid hydrolysis route is the most consolidated protocol for the isolation of CNCs, both in the scientific literature and on an industrial scale, resulting in nanostructures with good colloidal stability in aqueous media, high crystallinity index, and high specific surface area. 1,4,8 However, there are limitations related to the thermal stability of CNCs isolated using sulfuric acid, which especially compromise their application in composite polymeric materials.…”

Combined Sugarcane Pretreatment for the Generation of Ethanol and Value-Added Products

“…The high resistance of cellulose to degradation is the main biological barrier to lignocellulosic processing on a large scale (Ximenes et al, 2021). To overcome that, the application of mild and ecofriendly pretreatment techniques have been preferred instead of traditional acid or alkali pretreatments that have been previously proposed for lignocelluloses.…”

Characterization of thermo/halo stable cellulase produced from halophilic Virgibacillus salarius BM-02 using non-pretreated biomass

“…Elimination of lignocellulosic materials from the environment is an urgent need to solving many global problems such as energy requirements, resources shortages, environmental pollution, and food safety. Many studies have been conducted to establish efficient strategies for converting cellulosic and lignocellulosic biomass into high-valuble compounds (Harnvoravongchai et al 2020;Ximenes et al 2021). However, the persistence nature of lignocellulosic biomass has posed a significant barrier to cellulosic biomass conversion and exploitation.…”