Encyclopedia of Renewable Energy. James G. Speight

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      Biofuels – Platforms

      The technical platform chosen for second-generation biofuel production will be determined in part by the characteristics of the biomass available for processing. The majority of terrestrial biomass available is typically derived from agricultural plants and from wood grown in forests, as well as from waste residues generated in the processing or use of these resources. Much of the biomass being used for first-generation biofuel production includes agricultural crops that are rich in sugars and starch. Because of the prevalence of these feedstocks, the majority of activity toward developing new products in the United States has focused on the bioconversion platform.

      Bioconversion isolates sugars from biomass, which can then be processed into value-added products. Native sugars found in sugarcane and sugar beet can be easily derived from these plants, and refined in facilities that require the lowest level of capital input. Starch, a storage molecule which is a dominant component of cereal crops such as corn and wheat, is comprised wholly of glucose. Starch may be subjected to an additional processing in the form of an acid- or enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis step to liberate glucose using a single family of enzymes, the amylases, which makes bioconversion relatively simple. Downstream processing of sugars includes traditional fermentation, which uses yeast to produce ethanol; other types of fermentation, including bacterial fermentation under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, can produce a variety of other products from the sugar stream.

      Forest biomass or agricultural residues are almost completely comprised of lignocellulosic molecules (wood), a structural matrix that gives the tree or plant strength and form. This type of biomass is a prime feedstock for combustion, and indeed remains a major source of energy for the world. The thermochemical platform utilizes pyrolysis and gasification processes to recover heat energy as well as the gaseous components of wood, known as synthesis gas (or syngas) which can then be refined by the Fischer-Tropsch process into synthetic fuels such as hydrocarbon liquids, methanol, and ethanol.

      Lignocellulose is a complex matrix combining cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, along with a variable level of extractives. Cellulose is comprised of glucose, a six-carbon sugar, while hemicellulose contains both five- and six-carbon sugars, including glucose, galactose, mannose, arabinose, and xylose. The presence of cellulose and hemicellulose therefore makes lignocellulose a potential candidate for bioconversion. The ability of the bioconversion platform to isolate these components was initially limited, as the wood matrix is naturally resistant to decomposition. Recent advances, however, have made this process more commercially viable. Costs remain higher than for starch-based bioconversion, but there is added potential for value-added products that can utilize the lignin component of the wood.

In order to incorporate all aspects of biofuel production, including the value of co-products and the potential of the industry to diversify their product offering, we employ the biorefinery concept. The biorefinery concept is important because it offers many potential environmental, economic, and security-related benefits to society. Biorefineries provide the option of co-producing high-value, low-volume products for niche markets together with lower-value commodity products, such as industrial platform chemicals, fuels, or energy, which offsets the higher costs that are associated with processing lignocellulosic materials.

      The two technological platforms being explored for the lignocellulose-based biorefinery are complementary. Each technological platform provides different intermediate products for further processing. It is the range of these intermediates that dictates the types of end products that are likely to be successful in a commercial sense.

      See also: Bioalcohols, Bioconversion Platform, Biodiesel, Biogas, Fischer-Tropsch Process, Thermochemical Platform, Vegetable Oil.