Optimization of Energy Valorization from Lignocellulosic Biomass and Their Pure Woody Pseudo-Components Using a Green Technology

Lignocellulosic Biomass: As Future Alternative for Bioethanol Production

Depletion of fossil fuel resources along with their disadvantages including greenhouse gas emission, pollution, price enhancement, and increased demand of fuel leads to search for alternative fuel sources from renewable substrates. One of the major bottlenecks of global economy as well as environment sustainability is an urgent requirement for alternative fuel production and climate alteration diminution. Bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels is an unavoidable necessity for development of green economy. Biorefining of lignocellulosic biomass provides sustainable development of socioeconomic strategies. Low-value lignocellulose biomass (weed, by-products of wood, agro-residues, and recycle paper) is a favorable resource over traditional substrates. The biofuel production from lignocelluloses biomass by fungal consortium is cost-effective and eco-friendly process. Lignocellulosic plant sources consist of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in various proportions. The hydrolysis of these polymeric components by fungal enzymes is a promising green approach. The development of fungal consortium and selection of microbial strains are a concern in this process. The fungal consortium composed of complex and diversified strains include cellulase, laccase, and xylanase enzyme-producing fungal strains along with ethanol-producing strains. Potential degradation of whole lignocellulosic substrates is possible by white-rot fungi. White-rot fungi is ubiquitous in nature; various strains including Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Trametes versicolor, Pleurotus ostreatus, Cyathus stercoreus, etc. are significant strains for lignin degradation. Several advantages were reported by fungal consortium for biofuel (ethanol) production with high productivity and sustainable approach for solid waste management by green technology.

A green extraction technology of lignocellulose from cassava residue by mechanical activation-assisted ternary deep eutectic solvent

Over the last decade, there has been increasing research interest in the value of biosourced materials from lignocellulosic biomass. Abundant sources of lignocellulosic biomass such as palm,napiergrass,luceanatree, urban waste, municipal solid waste, agricultural waste and other waste have the potential to become a sustainable source of biofuel. In Malaysia, dissolution of cellulose from palm biomass to produce ethanol as future biofuels is very promising since palm residues from palm industry are highly abundant. In addition, cellulose contents in palm wastes or residues are relatively high for instance from empty fruit bunch or palm trunk. An efficient pretreatment is highly required prior to processes which convert the lignocellulosic palm biomass to bioethanol. The kinds of processes needed nowadays are called as green technology based techniques which are environmental friendly. Various solvents have been applied to dissolve cellulose including various types of ionic liquid as well. Previously, other method such as acid hydrolysis pretreatment process cause many drawbacks due to their low rates of hydrolysis and extreme acidic conditions. The dissolution process of the lignocellulosic biomass with ionic liquids is at its better advantage due to better dissolution as compared to by using organic or inorganic solvents. Therefore, at the moment, ionic liquid is becoming more preferable in dissolving the lignocellulosic biomass or any palm residues for instance.

In order to move to a greener economy, Panel Industry needs to imply convention development and environmental sustainability. The three important measures to characterize environmentally friendly solutions would comprise of 1) the raw material from sustainable sources, 2) minimal waste generation and 3) process conformance with health and safety standards. In a bid to become more environmentally friendly sustainable, Indian plywood Industries Research and training Institute has carried out research on the suitability of fast growing plantations species for the manufacture of wood composites viz plywood, particle board, medium density fiber board, compregs, laminated veneer lumber. These panel products conform to the requirements of Indian standards. Adhesives from renewable sources such as lignin, tannin, soya, black liquor etc. by replacing phenol in Phenol formaldehyde adhesives. Technology for utilisation of various agro and forest residue such as rice straw, rice husk, wheat straw, casurina, chirpine needle, Coir as raw material to manufacture wood alternatives has been successfully developed by IPIRTI. Low formaldehyde or no formaldehyde emission adhesives for panel products that conform to International standards have led to the development of green technology by minimizing the greenhouse gas emissions. Utilising the industrial waste such as fly ash for the manufacture of wood geopolymer composite would be a new insight for the green construction industry. The Efforts made by IPIRTI in innovating green technology/process have stood the Indian wood based industry in good stead for the benefits of people of the country. Keywords: Green technology, Plantations species, Forest conservation, Environment

BACKGROUNDCresol is an important industrial raw material, which is mainly derived from lignocellulosic biomass. High‐purity creosol can significantly improve the quality of its downstream product. The extraction of creosol with ultra‐high purity (>99.5%) and low cost has attracted extensive attention in recent years. A new and simple green heterogeneous extraction technology for separating ultra‐high‐purity creosol is proposed in this paper.RESULTSWhen a certain amount of creosol is gradually dripped into Ca2+ solution, the chemicals in three reaction stages are successively monitored by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The molar ratio of creosol and Ca2+ in the end‐product of this reaction reaches four. Three different chemical bonds in three reaction stages are successively monitored: ion bond, coordination bond formed by ionic compound, and coordination bond formed by creosol molecule. This collected end‐product can be decomposed easily. The vapors released in this decomposed process is determined to be high‐purity creosol. Meanwhile, the molar ratio of creosol to Ca2+ in the residual solid after decomposition of the end‐product reduces to two.CONCLUSIONBased on the reaction mechanism between Ca2+ and creosol, a new route for the separation and purification of creosol was proposed in this study. The creosol extraction rate reached 91.5% when excessive Ca2+ solution was added to the creosol solution. The purity of creosol reaches up to 99.7% when the end‐product of the reaction between Ca2+ and creosol is decomposed at 170 °C. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

The most potential feedstock for industrial civilizations is lignin derived from biomass. The most prevalent aromatic polymer on earth and one of the most difficult materials for commercial application is lignin. Reducing sugars, which can be used to make biofuels and some other products, are among the many chemicals that lignocellulose biomass releases during pretreatment. Lignocellulosic material (LCMS) is a material that is easily accessible, renewable, recyclable, and plentiful. Sustainability has gained traction as a result of climate change and environmental harm. The need for a flexible strategy to meet rising global energy demands has led many academics to concentrate on renewable biofuel made from sustainable sources. Construction of industrial biorefineries using lignocellulose feedstock for biofuel production and other bioproducts. The effective and scalable valorization of lignin is one of the main issues. Its presence prevents the biochemical conversion of lignocelluloses into fuels and chemicals, which depends on the extraction of cellulose and hemicellulose. To produce sustainable energy, lignocellulosic biomass must undergo pretreatment to speed up fragmentation and reduce lignin content. Temperature, time, particle size, and solid loading are the controlling factors for lignin extraction. This study covers the working conditions, parameters, yield percentages, techno-economic evaluations, challenges, and recommended next steps for the direct conversion of biomass to hydrogen. It detailed how green pre-treatment techniques can be used to produce green biofuels, and prospects for the application of green pre-treatment technologies on an industrial scale are also provided. The sustainable lignocellulose biorefinery has a path forward thanks to effective lignin recovery and valorization techniques.

Lignocellulosic biomasses have a tremendous potential to cover the future demand of bio-based chemicals and materials, breaking down our historical dependence on petroleum resources. The development of green chemical technologies, together with the appropriate eco-politics, can make a decisive contribution to a cheap and effective conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks into sustainable and renewable chemical building blocks. In this regard, the use of an indirect H-source for reducing the oxygen content in lignocellulosic biomasses and in their derived platform molecules is receiving increasing attention. In this contribution we highlight recent advances in the transfer hydrogenolysis of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and of their derived model molecules promoted by heterogeneous catalysts for the sustainable production of biofuels and biochemicals.

Chapter 20 - Pretreatment of plant feedstocks and agrofood waste using ionic liquids

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) is one of the major biomass wastes produced from palm oil extraction process. Due to high cellulose content in OPEFB, the cellulose fibers in OPEFB can be extracted and utilized in versatile applications as a sustainable process technology development. Among multiple pre-treatment processes, chemical pre-treatment is most efficient for the removal of hemicellulose and lignin in extracting high purity cellulose from lignocellulosic biomass. With the undisputed importance of green technology for the progress of our society, it is vital to engage and leverage on green technology in chemical pre-treatment method for extracting cellulose from OPEFB. The objective of this study is to explore a green extraction method for cellulose from OPEFB using low concentration and eco-friendly chemicals. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscope was used to detect the functional groups and to observe the surface morphology of OPEFB, de-waxed OPEFB fibers, delignified OPEFB fibers, acid hydrolyzed OPEFB fibers, and OPEFB extracted cellulose fibers at different stages in confirming the removal of wax, lignin, and hemicellulose from OPEFB extracted cellulose at the end of the extraction process. Crystallinity index increased from 28% for OPEFB to 72% for the OPEFB extracted cellulose, affirms the degradation of OPEFB’s amorphous structure and transforms into higher crystallinity structure. This work has successfully developed a green extraction method for OPEFB cellulose fibers as part of sustainable process technology which would promote the utilization of lignocellulosic agricultural waste from palm oil industry in various applications.

Recently, plant biomass has been attracting attention due to global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass (i.e., wood, straw, and bagasse) is attracting attention as an abundant renewable resource that does not compete with the food resources. It is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin and is a potential resource that can be converted into high-value-added substances, such as biofuels, raw materials for chemical products, and cellulose nanofibers. However, due to its complicated structure, an appropriate pretreatment method is required for developing its biorefinery process. Steam explosion is one of the simplest and environmentally friendly pretreatments to decompose lignin structure, which converts cellulose into low-molecular-weight lignin with high efficiency. It has received significant attention in the field of not only biofuel but also biochemical production. Steam explosion involves the hydrolysis of plant biomass under high-pressure steam and the sudden release of steam pressure induces a shear force on the plant biomass. Moreover, it is a green technology that does not use any chemicals. Thus, a steam explosion-based biorefinery system is highly effective for the utilization of lignocellulosic into useful materials, such as ethanol, methane gas, antioxidant material, epoxy resin, and cellulose nanofiber.

The hardest obstacle to make use of lignocellulosic biomass by using green technology is the existence of lignin. It can hinder enzyme reactions with cellulose or hemicellulose as a substrate. Oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs) consist of hemicellulose with xylan as the main component. Xylitol production via fermentation could use this xylan since it can be converted into xylose. Several pretreatment processes were explored to increase sugar recovery from lignocellulosic biomass. Considering that hemicellulose is more susceptible to heat than cellulose, the hydrothermal process was applied to OPEFB before it was hydrolyzed enzymatically. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of temperature, solid loading, and pretreatment time on the OPEFB hydrothermal process. The xylose concentration in OPEFB hydrolysate was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results indicated that temperature was more important than pretreatment time and solid loading for OPEFB sugar recovery. The optimum temperature, solid loading, and pretreatment time for maximum xylose recovery from pretreated OPEFB were 165 °C, 7%, and 60 min, respectively, giving a xylose recovery of 0.061 g/g of pretreated OPEFB (35% of OPEFB xylan was recovered).

The green biorefinery concept relies on economically feasible processing to achieve a complete utilization of most lignocellulosic biomass components using green technologies. Among the main component of lignocellulosic biomass, lignin is one of the most interesting components since its aromatic nature makes lignin unique. The study presented here was focused on the enhancement of the organosolv lignin produced from olive wood from the point of view of not only operational conditions but also taking into account the purity and contamination of the obtained lignin. The results showed that the amount of lignin recovered in the liquor was strongly influenced by the process temperature. The ethanol concentration presented the opposite behavior with lignin, reaching high yields at low concentrations. Then, the obtained lignins under optimized conditions were analyzed in order to verify their purity. Almost all the obtained lignins presented hemicellulose contamination but there were differences between the pol...

Biopurification system (BPS) or biobeds are low-cost system for decontamination of on-farm generated pesticide waste. A biobed contains a mixture of soil, lignocellulosic biomass and organic matter source (compost/peat) and works on the principal of retention of pesticide in high organic matter matrix and its subsequent degradation by microbes. Bioaugmentation, a green technology, is defined as the improvement of the degradative capacity of biobeds by augmenting specific microorganisms. During last 20 years, several studies have evaluated pesticide degradation in biobeds augmented with bacterial and fungal species and prominent microorganism include genus Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Arthrobacter, Phanerochaete, Stereum, Delftia, Trametes, Streptomyces etc. Degradation of pesticides belonging to major classes have been studied in the bioaugmented biobeds. Studies suggested that some pesticides were degraded faster in the bioaugmented biobeds subject to survival and proliferation of degrading microbe. However, no effect of bioaugmentation was observed on degradation of some pesticides and no clear reason for the same was evident. Bioaugmentation with pesticide degrading microorganisms/consortium in combination with rhizosphere-assisted biodegradation could be an optimal strategy for accelerating the degradation of pesticides in biobeds.

Recent advances in the extraction of nanocellulose from lignocellulosic waste for wastewater treatment applications.