Chapter 16 - Fractionation of Lignocellulosic Biomass Materials With Wet Explosion Pretreatment

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass resources have great potential for the widespread production of sustainable biofuels, chemicals, and bioproducts worldwide. However, the deconstruction of the cell wall components to facilitate microbial conversion has been a major challenge due to its recalcitrant nature. Thus pretreatment is a prerequisite for efficient hydrolysis of lignocellulose, and the cost for such treatment is about one-third of the overall processing costs in a cellulosic biorefinery. The development of a cost-effective pretreatment method is essential to bring the lignocellulosic biorefineries into commercial reality. Wet explosion (WEx), a thermochemical pretreatment method using oxygen as a catalyst, has been successfully applied in combination with microbial fermentation/digestion processes using agricultural/forest residues as well as manure fibers. Presented here is a review of the parameters involved in WEx pretreatment and its performance on varieties of biomass materials.