Analysis of Lignocellulosic Biofuels

Biofuels have emerged as a widely used renewable source of energy in the recent years. However, the rising demand for biofuels in developed as well as developing countries has put a lot of pressure on feedstocks such as corn, sorghum, and soy, which are food crops. To ease off this pressure on food crops, scientists around the world are working on methods to convert lignocelluloses from plant waste material into biofuels, instead of utilizing more food crops.

Any types of biomass derived from plant such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin are known as lignocellulosic biomass. It is possible to categorize lignocellulosic biomass into four categories: energy crops, wood residues, agricultural residues and municipal paper waste.

Lignocellulosic biofuels have the potential to provide a large portion of cheap fuel for transportation especially if the available conversion processes are made cost effective. If technological hurdles are overcome, then a wide variety of lignocellulosic biomass can be converted into biofuels.

Taiyou Research focuses on Lignocellulosic Biofuels in its research report Analysis of Lignocellulosic Biofuels.

The report begins with an introduction to the basics of lignocellulosic biofuels. The section on Introduction to Lignocellulosic Biofuels analyzes the potential of lignocellulosic biofuels, the feasibility of using lignocellulosic biofuels to produce fuels, types of biofuels that can be produced from lignocellulosic biofuels, the structure of lignocellulosic biomass, and the conversion process involved in changing biomass to fuels.

The report Analysis of Lignocellulosic Biofuels analyzes the following in the scope of its research:

• Production of biofuels from biomass that has been catalytically processed
• Various feedstocks that used for lignocellulosic biofuels
• The various conversion routes and technologies used in the production of fuels from lignocellulosic biofuels, such as gasification of biomass, conversion of synthesis gas, conversion of syngas, hydrothermal upgrading, and many more.
• The routes closer to achieving a commercial breakthrough such as hydrolysis and fermentation of sugar, gasification, fermentation of synthesis gas, are analyzed.
• Thermal processing of cellulosic biomass and lignin is analyzed through an analysis of the complete process. Technology used, barriers and trends in the process of fast pyrolysis and liquefaction are all analyzed comprehensively.
• Techniques used for petroleum refining that are applied for biofuel production are analyzed, including production of hydrocarbon-based liquid biofuels.
• Catalytic processing of biomass-derived compounds in the liquid phase is analyzed, along with an analysis of feedstocks that are used such as cellulose, lignin, starch, proteins, and plant and animal glycerides.
• Factors affecting the quality of biomass is included along with an analysis of lignocellulosic ethanol.
• The pretreatment process of lignocellulosic biomass to increase the yield of biofuels is analyzed. The methods analyzed include pyrolysis, steam explosion, AFEX, carbon dioxide explosion, among others.
• Projects and pilot plants around the world are analyzed.
• Players driving the industry such as Abengoa, BP Plc, BRI Energy, Iogen, and many others are analyzed, along with a look at their major lignocellulosic biofuel projects.
• The appendix covers generalized information on biofuels, such as requirements for a good fuel, bio-oil fermentation, life cycle assessment of biofuels, and much more.

Contents

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2. INTRODUCTION TO LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOFUELS

2.1 What are Lignocellulosic Biofuels?
2.2 Potential of Lignocellulosic Biofuels
2.3 Is it Feasible to Produce Fuels from Lignocellulosic Biomass?
2.4 Types of Biofuels Produced from Lignocellulosic Biomass
2.5 Structure of Lignocellulosic Biomass
2.6 Conversion Process of Biomass to Fuel

3. PRODUCING BIOFUELS FROM CATALYTIC PROCESSING OF BIOMASS

4. REQUIREMENT OF NEXT GENERATION BIOREFINERIES FOR PRODUCING LIQUID FUELS

5. FEEDSTOCKS FOR LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOFUELS

6. CONVERSION ROUTES & TECHNOLOGIES

6.1 Gasification of Biomass into Synthesis Gas
6.2 Conversion of Synthesis Gas with the Fischer Tropsch Process
6.3 Conversion of Syngas with a Bacterium Conversion
6.4 Hydrothermal Upgrading
6.5 Pyrolysis
6.6 Production of Ethanol by Hydrolysis and Fermentation

7. ANALYSIS OF ROUTES CLOSER TO COMMERCIAL BREAKTHROUGH

7.1 Overview
7.2 Hydrolysis and Fermentation of Sugar
7.3 Gasification
7.4 Fermentation of Synthesis Gas
7.5 Fischer- Tropsch Reactor fed by Syngas

8. THERMAL PROCESSING OF CELLULOSIC BIOMASS AND LIGNIN

8.1 Introduction
8.2 Understanding the Process
  8.2.1 Fast Pyrolysis
  8.2.2 Liquefaction
8.3 Biomass-derived Fuels
  8.3.1 Products from Fast Pyrolysis
  8.3.2 Products from, Liquefaction
8.4 Subset of Biomass Liquefaction: Catalytic Reforming of Biomass
8.5 Comparing the Economics of Fast Pyrolysis versus Liquefaction
8.6 Technology, Barriers & Trends in Fast Pyrolysis
8.7 Technology, Barriers & Trends in Liquefaction

9. USING PETROLEUM REFINING TECHNIQUES FOR PRODUCING BIOFUELS

9.1 Introduction
9.2 Understanding the Process
9.3 Production of Hydrocarbon-based Liquid Biofuels
9.4 Economics and Potential
9.5 Technology, Barriers & Trends
  9.5.1 Overview
  9.5.2 Feedstock Issues
  9.5.3 Scientific Issues
  9.5.4 Technological Options
  9.5.5 Research Requirements
  9.5.6 Challenges in Future Fuels Development for Next Generation Internal Combustion Engines
  9.5.7 Other Barriers

10. CATALYTIC PROCESSING OF BIOMASS-DERIVED COMPOUNDS IN LIQUID PHASE

7.1 Introduction
7.2 Understanding the Process
7.3 Feedstocks Used
  7.3.1 Cellulose
  7.3.2 Lignin
  7.3.3 Starch
  7.3.4 Plant & Animal Glycerides
  7.3.5 Proteins
7.4 Catalytic Reactions for Liquid Phase Processing
  7.4.1 Processing in Liquid Phase versus Gas Phase
  7.4.2 Thermodynamics for Liquid Phase Processing
  7.4.3 Reactions Involved in the Conversion of Biomass-derived Feeds to Fuels and Chemicals
    7.4.3.1 Hydrolysis
    7.4.3.2 Dehydration
    7.4.3.3 Isomerization
    7.4.3.4 Reforming Reactions
    7.4.3.5 Formation of Carbon-Carbon Bonds
    7.4.3.6 Hydrogenation
    7.4.3.7 Selective Oxidation
    7.4.3.8 Hydrogenolysis
    7.4.3.9 Aqueous-Phase Hydrogenation
7.5 Advantages of Liquid Phase Processing
7.6 Technology, Barriers & Trends

11. FACTORS IMPACTING THE QUALITY OF BIOMASS

8.1 Cellulose Biosynthesis and Deposition
8.2 Lignin Biosynthesis and Deposition
8.3 Wood Extracts

12. PRETREATMENT OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS FOR BETTER YIELD OF BIOFUELS

10.1 Introduction
10.2 Why Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Materials is Necessary?
10.3 Comminution of Lignocellulosic Materials
10.4 Pyrolysis
10.5 Steam Explosion
10.6 Ammonia Fiber Explosion (AFEX)
10.7 Carbon Dioxide Explosion
10.8 Ozonolysis
10.9 Acid Hydrolysis
10.10 Alkaline Hydrolysis
10.11 Oxidative Delignification
10.12 Biological Pretreatment
10.13 Pulsed-electric Field (PEF) Pretreatment 10.14 Conclusion

13. ANALYSIS OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC ETHANOL

6.1 Overview
6.2 Importance of Size Reduction
6.3 Purpose of Pre-Treatment
6.4 Purpose of Hydrolysis
6.5 Fermentation
6.6 Distillation
6.7 Process Integration
6.8 Issues and Challenges

14. PILOT PROJECTS AND PLANTS

14.1 Pilot Plants Producing Ethanol
  14.1.1 BRI Energy’ Bacterium Fermentation of Syngas
  14.1.2 EthanolTeknik Project in Sweden
  14.1.3 Iogen’s Project of Producing Ethanol from Straw
  14.1.4 US DOE Bioethanol Pilot Plant
  14.1.5 BC International Corporation’s Project
14.2 Gasification Pilot Plants and Fischer Tropsch Reactors
  14.2.1 Güssing Project
  14.2.2 Värnamo Project
  14.2.3 Freiberg Fischer-Tropsch Plant

15. MAJOR PLAYERS

15.1 Abengoa
15.2 BP Plc
15.3 BRI Energy
15.4 Etek Etanolteknik AB
15.5 Iogen
15.6 Mascoma Corporation
15.7 Novozymes
15.8 Petrobras
15.9 Poet
15.10 Shell
15.11 TMO Biotech

16. APPENDIX

16.1 Requirements for a Good Fuel
16.2 Producing Biofuels with High-Efficiency, Small-Scale Reactors
16.3 Producing Distributed Biofuels with Fast Pyrolysis
16.4 Developing Kinetic Mechanisms for Biomass Compounds
16.5 Bio-oil Fermentation
16.6 Bio-oil Hydroprocessing
16.7 Opportunities for Biorenewables in Petroleum Refineries
16.8 Production of Green Gasoline by Integrated Syn-Gas & Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis
16.9 Deriving Green Diesel & Jet Fuel Range Alkanes
16.10 Life Cycle Assessment of Biofuels

17. GLOSSARY Skip to top