Introduction to Lignocellulose-based Products

Abstract

Ethanol is the most dominant type of biofuel that can be used either as a neat fuel or in the blended form with gasoline. Sugars, starches, lignocellulosic materials, and more recently algal biomass are the main raw materials used for ethanol production. Among these raw materials, lignocellulosic feedstocks are abundant and available at low price that make them suitable and potentially inex- pensive feedstocks for the sustainable production of fuel ethanol. However, unlike sugar- and grain-based ethanol (first generation), technology for cellulosic ethanol production (second generation) is more sophisticated and needs further develop- ment. Biochemical processing and thermochemical processing are two main con- version pathways of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. This chapter covers different aspects of ethanol production including global market situation, various raw materials, status, and recent advances of the applied technologies, future per- spective, and environmental merits of fuel ethanol. In addition, some of the publicly announced pilot and demonstration cellulosic-based ethanol plants constructed worldwide, along with information on type of raw material, applied technology, capacity, products, and future plan, are presented. Finally, technical challenges encountered in development of the biomass-based ethanol are presented and potential approaches to overcome these technical barriers and to improve the economy of the whole process such as process integration and multiple product lines using biorefinery concept are presented and discussed in detail.