Selective extraction and conversion of lignin in actual biomass to monophenols: A review

Our over dependency on the fossil resource for industrial chemicals and fuels faces great challenges.Recently, the production of monophenols from lignin in lignocellulosic biomass is regarded as a promising process for sustainable biofuels. This article discusses the conversion of lignin in actual biomass directly to monophenols. The two step way including extraction of lignin from biomass and further degradation of the lignin oligomers to monophenols is especially discussed. The obtained monophenols can also be converted to chemicals with low-oxygen content via hydrodeoxygenation process. For extraction of lignin,co-solvent system is the most adopted for hydrolysis or solvolysis of lignin assisted by acid or alkaline catalysts. The structure of the obtained oligomers derived from lignin is discussed in detail. For lignin depolymerization, hydrogenolysis is an efficient method with the use of gaseous hydrogen or alcohols as hydrogen source. At the meantime, depolymerization mechanism and the route for repolymerization of the reaction intermediates are presented here. In hydrodeoxygenation process, metal catalysts, especially noble metal catalysts are required. The precise effects of the reaction solvents and catalysts on extraction and degradation of lignin need to be further investigated, and this will benefit to design more efficient strategies for lignin utilization.     

Controlled pinewood fractionation with supercritical ethanol: A prerequisite toward pinewood conversion into chemicals and biofuels

The objective of this work was to investigate the ability of supercritical (SC) ethanol conditions to attack preferentially the lignin fraction against the carbohydrate fraction and their effects on the product distribution among gases, light products, bio-oils, and chars. In this study, the conversion of each pinewood component was determined by the analysis of solid residues to quantify cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and char contents. It is shown that, by tuning the temperature, hemicellulose and lignin are already transformed in subcritical ethanol conditions, lignin being more reactive than hemicellulose. In contrast, native wood cellulose is recalcitrant to liquefaction in SC ethanol near the critical point (T_c = 241 °C and P_c = 61 bar), but 20% of native wood cellulose is converted in SC ethanol at 280 °C. Besides, the severity of the conditions, in terms of temperature and treatment time, does not significantly influence the yields of gases, light products, and bio-oils but strongly enhances char formation. Interestingly, the increase in SC ethanol density does not change the conversion of biomass components but has a marked effect on bio-oil yield and prevents char formation. The optimum fractionation conditions to convert the lignin component, while keeping unattacked the cellulose fraction with a minimum formation of char, are dense SC ethanol, at 250 °C for 1 h, in batch conditions. However, although lignin is more reactive than hemicellulose under these conditions, these fractions are converted, in a parallel way, to around 50% and 60%, respectively.     

The lignol approach to biorefining of woody biomass to produce ethanol and chemicals

Processes that produce only ethanol from lignocellulosics display poor economics. This is generally overcome by constructing large facilities having satisfactory economies of scale, thus making financing onerous and hindering the development of suitable technologies. Lignol Innovations has developed a biorefining technology that employs an ethanol-based organosolv step to separate lignin, hemicellulose components, and extractives from the cellulosic fraction of woody biomass. The resultant cellulosic fraction is highly susceptible to enzymatic hydrolysis, generating very high yields of glucose (>90% in 12–24h) with typical enzyme loadings of 10–20 FPU (filter paper units)/g. This glucose is readily converted to ethanol, or possibly other sugar platform chemicals, either by sequential or simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. The liquor from the organosolv step is processed by well-established unit operations to recover lignin, furfural, xylose, acetic acid, and a lipophylic extractives fraction. The process ethanol is recovered and recycled back to the process. The resulting recycled process water is of a very high quality, low BOD₅, and suitable for overall system process closure. Significant benefits can be attained in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as per the Kyoto Protocol. Revenues from the multiple products, particularly the lignin, ethanol and xylose fractions, ensure excellent economics for the process even in plants as small as 100 mtpd (metric tonnes per day) dry woody biomass input—a scale suitable for processing wood residues produced by a single large sawmill.     

Pretreatment of softwood by acid-catalyzed steam explosion followed by alkali extraction

A process for converting lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol hydrolyzes the hemicellulosic fraction to soluble sugars (i.e., pretreatment), followed by acid- or enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of the cellulosic fraction. Enzymatic hydrolysis may be improved by using an alkali to extract a fraction of the lignin from the pretreated material. The removal of the lignin may increase the accessibility of the cellulose to enzymatic attack, and thus improve overall economics of the process, if the alkali-treated material can still be effectively converted to ethanol. Pretreated Douglas fir produced by a sulfuric-acid-catalyzed steam explosion was treated with NaOH, NH₄OH, and lime to extract some of the lignin. The treated material, along with an untreated control sample, was tested by an enzymatic-digestion procedure, and converted to ethanol by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation using a glucose-fermenting yeast. NaOH was most effective at removing lignin (removed 29%), followed by NH4OH and lime. However, the susceptibility of the treated material to enzymatic digestion was lower than the control and decreased with increasing lignin removal. Ethanol production was similar for the control and NaOH-treated material, and lower for NH₄OH- and lime-treated material.     

乙醇催化制氢研究进展*

氢是未来理想的清洁能源之一,燃料电池特别是燃料电池电动车的发展对氢源和制氢方法提出了新的要求,从乙醇催化制氢已经受到普遍关注。本文对乙醇催化制氢发展的最新研究进展进行了比较详细的综述和讨论。     

一种适用于生物油低温制氢的碳纳米纤维促进的镍催化剂

氢气作为一种高热值的清洁能源广泛地应用于工业中. 研究证明: 生物质通过化学过程可以转化为多种气体燃料(氢气), 液体燃料以及高附加值的化学品. 生物质作为一种环境友好型再生洁净能源, 其研究越来越受到关注. 本文旨在探讨利用生物油为原料, 通过水蒸汽重整方法制备富氢合成气的过程. 利用均匀浸渍的方法制备了一种高分散的碳纳米纤维促进的镍(Ni/CNFs)催化剂, 并将普通的Al₂O₃作为载体的Ni/Al₂O₃催化剂和Ni/CNFs作对比. 研究了重整温度以及水蒸汽和碳摩尔比(n_S/n_C)对生物油水蒸汽重整制氢的影响. 结果表明: 碳纳米纤维作为载体用于生物油水蒸汽重整制氢的效果要远优于普通的Al₂O₃载体, 利用22% Ni/CNFs 催化剂时, 在实验温度范围内(350-550℃), 最高生物油转化率和氢气产率分别达到了94.7%和92.1%, 通过研究重整条件以及对催化剂进行表征探讨了生物油在水蒸汽重整过程中催化剂的构效关系.     

The Impact of Biomass Availability and Processing Cost on Optimum Size and Processing Technology Selection

Biomass processing plants have a trade-off between two competing cost factors: as size increases, the economy of scale reduces per unit processing cost, while a longer biomass transportation distance increases the delivered cost of biomass. The competition between these cost factors leads to an optimum size at which the cost of energy produced from biomass is minimized. Four processing options are evaluated: power production via direct combustion and via biomass integrated gasification and combined cycle (BIGCC), ethanol production via fermentation, and syndiesel via Fischer Tropsch. The optimum size is calculated as a function of biomass gross yield (the biomass available to the processing plant from the total surrounding area) and processing cost (capital recovery and operating costs). Higher biomass gross yield and higher processing cost each lead to a higher optimum size. For most cases, a small relaxation in the objective of minimum cost, 3%, leads to a halving of plant size. Direct combustion and BIGCC each produce power, with BIGCC having a higher capital cost and conversion efficiency. When the delivered cost of biomass is high, BIGCC produces power at a lower cost than direct combustion. The crossover point at which this occurs is calculated as a function of the purchase cost of biomass and the biomass gross yield.     

Evaluation and Optimization of Organic Acid Pretreatment of Cotton Gin Waste for Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Bioethanol Production

This paper investigates the efficiency of the organic acids on the pretreatment of an industrially generated cotton gin waste for the removal of lignin, thereby releasing cellulose and hemicellulose as fermentable sugar components. Cotton gin waste was pretreated with various organic acids namely lactic acid, oxalic acid, citric acid, and maleic acid. Among these, maleic acid was found to be the most efficient producing maximum xylose sugar (126.05?±?0.74 g/g) at the optimum pretreatment condition of 150 °C, 500 mM, and 45 min. The pretreatment efficiency was comparable to the conventional dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment. A lignin removal of 88% was achieved by treating maleic acid pretreated biomass in a mixture of sodium sulfite and sodium chlorite. The pretreated biomass was further evaluated for the release of sugar by enzymatic hydrolysis and subsequently bioethanol production from hydrolysates. The maximum 686.13 g/g saccharification yield was achieved with maleic acid pretreated biomass which was slightly higher than the sulfuric acid (675.26 g/g) pretreated waste. The fermentation of mixed hydrolysates(41.75 g/l) produced 18.74 g/l bioethanol concentration with 2.25 g/l/h ethanol productivity and 0.48 g/g ethanol yield using sequential use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia stipitis yeast strains. The production of bioethanol was higher than the ethanol produced using co-culture in comparison to sequential culture. Thus, it has been demonstrated that the maleic acid pretreatment and fermentation using sequential use of yeast strains are efficient for bioethanol production from cotton gin waste.     

煤和生物质共气化制备富氢气体的实验研究

在煤处理量为8kg/h的小型流化床反应器上,以富氧空气和水蒸气为气化介质,对煤和生物质共气化制取富氢燃气进行了实验研究。在850℃～1 050℃主要考察了空气当量比、水碳比、生物质比例和生物质种类对燃气组成和气体产率的影响。结果表明,对煤和稻草混合体系,稻草质量比为33%时,空气当量比增加,CO2含量显著增加,H2、CO和CH4含量减少,气体产率增加;水碳比增加,CO2和CH4含量增加,CO和H2含量减小,气体产率先增加后减小;生物质比例增加,CO2、H2和CH4含量增加,CO含量降低,气体产率先增加后减小,当生物质比例小于50%时,可以实现体系的稳定运行。对于三种不同的煤与生物质混合体系,煤与高粱秆共气化所得煤气中H2含量最高,气体产率的顺序为:煤/木屑煤/高粱秆煤/稻草煤。实验中H2在煤气中的体积分数最高可达37.25%,最大产率为0.54m3/kg。     

电催化木质素升级转化成高附加值化学品和燃料的研究进展

为节能减排和能源结构调整以快速实现"碳中和",发展可再生、清洁与绿色的能源以替代传统化石能源已成为当今世界高质量发展的重要共识.生物质能作为一种典型的可再生能源,具有储量丰富、分布广泛、可有效转化成各种化工原料和燃料等特点逐步受到广泛关注并成为科研热点.木质素是生物质的重要组成部分,其含氧量低、热值高,可转化成高热值燃料;同时,木质素富含芳香结构单元,可以转化成各类高附加值化工原料及医药中间体.木质素解聚及其对应单体升级转化是木质素高效转化利用的关键技术.当前,传统热催化是其主要应用技术手段.然而,该类方法常在高温高压下进行,需消耗大量能源及众多繁琐操作步骤,不易规模化生产.相对而言,电催化技术能实现常温常压的木质素解聚及对应单体的升级转化,采用由可再生能源(例如风能、太阳能等)获得的清洁电力,则能实现完全绿色可持续生产,对未来经济社会的发展及"碳中和"的目标具有重大意义.本文综述了近年来电催化技术在木质素升级转化成高附加值燃料和化学品方面的应用,尤其是在木质素解聚及其对应单体于水溶液相关电解质中升级转化方面的应用.(1)针对总体研究背景进行了概述,总结了木质素研究的重要意义并概括了当前木质素研究的主要思路,并简单介绍了木质素结构单元及连接键等基本性质;(2)针对电催化技术在木质素应用方面进行了总结,包括反应类型和反应路径等;(3)总结了木质素常用的几种典型表征技术手段,如GC-MS、NMR、IR等;(4)总结了电催化木质素解聚及其单体升级转化研究现状,对电催化木质素解聚应用中木质素前体类型、电解质种类和电还原/氧化催化剂进行了详细介绍及客观评价,并对几种代表性单体的电催化加氢反应及氧化反应做了详细评述.在此基础上展望了电催化技术在木质素升级转化中的应用前景,指出了当前电催化技术在木质素升级转化应用中存在的实际问题,提出了电催化技术在木质素升级转化中的发展方向.     

Lignin Peroxidase from Streptomyces viridosporus T7A: Enzyme Concentration Using Ultrafiltration

It is well known that lignin degradation is a key step in the natural process of biomass decay whereby oxidative enzymes such as laccases and high redox potential ligninolytic peroxidases and oxidases play a central role. More recently, the importance of these enzymes has increased because of their prospective industrial use for the degradation of the biomass lignin to increase the accessibility of the cellulose and hemicellulose moieties to be used as renewable material for the production of fuels and chemicals. These biocatalysts also present potential application on environmental biocatalysis for the degradation of xenobiotics and recalcitrant pollutants. However, the cost for these enzymes production, separation, and concentration must be low to permit its industrial use. This work studied the concentration of lignin peroxidase (LiP), produced by Streptomyces viridosporus T7A, by ultrafiltration, in a laboratory-stirred cell, loaded with polysulfone (PS) or cellulose acetate (CA) membranes with molecular weight cutoffs (MWCO) of 10, 20, and 50 KDa. Experiments were carried out at 25 °C and pH 7.0 in accordance to the enzyme stability profile. The best process conditions and enzyme yield were obtained using a PS membrane with 10 KDa MWCO, whereby it was observed a tenfold LiP activity increase, reaching 1,000 U/L and 90% enzyme activity upholding.     

Characterization of Lignin Compounds at the Molecular Level: Mass Spectrometry Analysis and Raw Data Processing

Lignin is the second most abundant natural biopolymer, which is a potential alternative to conventional fossil fuels. It is also a promising material for the recovery of valuable chemicals such as aromatic compounds as well as an important biomarker for terrestrial organic matter. Lignin is currently produced in large quantities as a by-product of chemical pulping and cellulosic ethanol processes. Consequently, analytical methods are required to assess the content of valuable chemicals contained in these complex lignin wastes. This review is devoted to the application of mass spectrometry, including data analysis strategies, for the elemental and structural elucidation of lignin products. We describe and critically evaluate how these methods have contributed to progress and trends in the utilization of lignin in chemical synthesis, materials, energy, and geochemistry.     

利用原位水热合成在二氧化硅陶瓷管上制备高性能的Silicalite-1分子筛膜

 利用原位水热合成法在二氧化硅陶瓷管上成功制备出高性能的silicalite-1分子筛膜,并利用扫描电子显微镜进行了表征. 结果表明,在二氧化硅陶瓷管上合成的分子筛膜比在氧化铝陶瓷管上合成的分子筛膜具有更高的分离性能和热稳定性,说明二氧化硅载体更适合制备高性能的silicalite-1分子筛膜.     

Carboxylate Platform: The MixAlco Process Part 2: Process Economics

The MixAlco process employs a mixed culture of acid-forming microorganisms to convert biomass to carboxylate salts, which are concentrated via vapor-compression evaporation and subsequently chemically converted to other chemical and fuel products. To make alcohols, hydrogen is required, which can be supplied from a number of processes, including gasifying biomass, separation from fermentor gases, methane reforming, or electrolysis. Using zeolite catalysts, the alcohols can be oligomerized into hydrocarbons, such as gasoline. A 40-tonne/h plant processing municipal solid waste ($45/tonne tipping fee) and using hydrogen from a pipeline or refinery ($2.00/kg H₂) can sell alcohols for $1.13/gal or gasoline for $1.75/gal with a 15% return on investment ($0.61/gal of alcohol or $0.99/gal of gasoline for cash costs only). The capital cost is $1.95/annual gallon of mixed alcohols. An 800-tonne/h plant processing high-yield biomass ($60/tonne) and gasifying fermentation residues and waste biomass to hydrogen ($1.42/kg H₂) can sell alcohols for $1.33/gal or gasoline for $2.04/gal with a 15% return on investment ($1.08/gal of alcohol or $1.68/gal of gasoline for cash costs only). The capital cost for the alcohol and gasification plants at 800 tonnes/h is $1.45/annual gallon of mixed alcohols.     

Molecular Cloning,Characterization, and Expression Analysis of Lignin Genes from Sugarcane Genotypes Varying in Lignin Content

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is one of the highest biomass-producing plant and the best lignocellulosic feedstock for ethanol production. To achieve more efficient conversion of biomass to ethanol, a better understanding of the main factors affecting biomass recalcitrance is needed. Therefore, with this objective, here, we report a systematic study on lignin content, deposition, identification, and cloning of genes involved in lignin biosynthesis and their differential expression in five sugarcane clones, EC11003, EC11010, IK 76-91, IK 76-99, and Co 86032. Lignin content among the clones varied from 26.87 to 23.19 % with the highest in the clone EC11010 and the lowest in high sugar Co86032. Lignin deposition studied through phloroglucinol staining of the cell walls implied that the sclerenchyma cells of the energy canes (EC11010 and EC11003) have more lignin deposition followed by the Erianthus (IK 76-91 and IK 76-99) clones whereas Co86032 has the minimum amount of lignin deposition. We cloned partial coding regions of important genes of lignification COMT (650 bp), CCR (332 bp), and PAL (650 bp) from Erianthus, wild relative of sugarcane followed by the expression analysis through real-time PCR. Differential expression analysis showed high level of expression for the three genes in the energy cane EC11010.     

Influence of the interaction of components on the pyrolysis behavior of biomass

There has been much interest in the utilization of biomass-derived fuels as substitutes for fossil fuels in meeting renewable energy requirements to reduce CO₂ emissions. In this study, the pyrolysis characteristics of biomass have been investigated using both a thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (TG-FTIR) and an experimental pyrolyzer. Experiments have been conducted with the three major components of biomass, i.e. hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, and with four mixed biomass samples comprising different proportions of these. Product distributions in terms of char, bio-oil, and permanent gas are given, and the compositions of the bio-oil and gaseous products have been analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography (GC). The TG results show that the thermal decomposition of levoglucosan is extended over a wider temperature range according to the interaction of hemicellulose or lignin upon the pyrolysis of cellulose; the formation of 2-furfural and acetic acid is enhanced by the presence of cellulose and lignin in the range 350-500 °C; and the amount of phenol, 2,6-dimethoxy is enhanced by the integrated influence of cellulose and hemicellulose. The components do not act independently during pyrolysis; the experimental results have shown that the interaction of cellulose and hemicellulose strongly promotes the formation of 2, 5-diethoxytetrahydrofuran and inhibits the formation of altrose and levoglucosan, while the presence of cellulose enhances the formation of hemicellulose-derived acetic acid and 2-furfural. Pyrolysis characteristics of biomass cannot be predicted through its composition in the main components.     

Soaking Pretreatment of Corn Stover for Bioethanol Production Followed by Anaerobic Digestion Process

The production of ethanol and methane from corn stover (CS) was investigated in a biorefinery process. Initially, a novel soaking pretreatment (NaOH and aqueous-ammonia) for CS was developed to remove lignin, swell the biomass, and improve enzymatic digestibility. Based on the sugar yield during enzymatic hydrolysis, the optimal pretreatment conditions were 1?% NaOH?+?8?% NH₄OH, 50°C, 48?h, with a solid-to-liquid ratio 1:10. The results demonstrated that soaking pretreatment removed 63.6?% lignin while reserving most of the carbohydrates. After enzymatic hydrolysis, the yields of glucose and xylose were 78.5?% and 69.3?%, respectively. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of pretreated CS using Pichia stipitis resulted in an ethanol concentration of 36.1?g/L, corresponding only to 63.3?% of the theoretical maximum. In order to simplify the process and reduce the capital cost, the liquid fraction of the pretreatment was used to re-soak new CS. For methane production, the re-soaked CS and the residues of SSF were anaerobically digested for 120?days. Fifteen grams CS were converted to 1.9?g of ethanol and 1337.3?mL of methane in the entire process.     

Variation of S/G ratio and lignin content in a Populus family influences the release of xylose by dilute acid hydrolysis

Wood samples from second generation Populus cross were shown to have different lignin contents and S/G ratios (S: syringyl-like lignin structures; G: guaiacyl-like lignin structures). The lignin contents varied from 22.7% to 25.8% and the S/G ratio from 1.8 to 2.3. Selected samples spanning these ranges were hydrolyzed with dilute (1%) sulfuric acid to release fermentable sugars. The conditions were chosen for partial hydrolysis of the hemicellulosic fraction to maximize the expression of variation among samples. The results indicated that both lignin contents and S/G ratio significantly affected the yield of xylose. For example, the xylose yield of the 25.8% lignin and 2.3 S/G (hihg lignin, high S/G) sample produced 30% of the theoretical yield, whereas the xylose yield of the 22.7% lignin and 1.8 S/G (low lignin, low S/G) was 55% of the theoretical value. These results indicate that lignin content and composition among genetic variants within a single species can influence the hydrolyzability of the biomass.     

Thermophilic Bacillus coagulans Requires Less Cellulases for Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation of Cellulose to Products than Mesophilic Microbial Biocatalysts

Ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass depends on simultaneous saccharification of cellulose to glucose by fungal cellulases and fermentation of glucose to ethanol by microbial biocatalysts (SSF). The cost of cellulase enzymes represents a significant challenge for the commercial conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into renewable chemicals such as ethanol and monomers for plastics. The cellulase concentration for optimum SSF of crystalline cellulose with fungal enzymes and a moderate thermophile, Bacillus coagulans, was determined to be about 7.5 FPU g^?1 cellulose. This is about three times lower than the amount of cellulase required for SSF with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Zymomonas mobilis, or Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis whose growth and fermentation temperature optimum is significantly lower than that of the fungal cellulase activity. In addition, B. coagulans also converted about 80% of the theoretical yield of products from 40 g/L of crystalline cellulose in about 48 h of SSF with 10 FPU g^?1 cellulose while yeast, during the same period, only produced about 50% of the highest yield produced at end of 7 days of SSF. These results show that a match in the temperature optima for cellulase activity and fermentation is essential for decreasing the cost of cellulase in cellulosic ethanol production.     

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural: A key intermediate for efficient biomass conversion

Biomass has been widely accepted as a "zero-emission" energy carrier to take place fossil fuels, while its catalytic conversion is still limited by low efficiency of carbon atoms. Biomass conversion via 5-hydroxymethylfurfural(HMF) as a platform chemical is highly attractive because almost all carbon atoms could be retained in the downstream chemicals under mild reaction conditions. Here we summarize recent fundamental researches and industrial progresses on all involved processes including biomass degradation to hexoses, HMF formation, hydrogenation and oxidation of HMF.