Title: Recent advances in the pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for enhanced biofuel production

Authors: Oznur Yildirim; Rahime Songür; Emine Bayraktar; Ahmet Demir; Bestami Ozkaya

Addresses: Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey ' Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey ' Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey ' Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey ' Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract: Lignocellulosic biomass has a hard matrix consisting of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, which stores carbon and chemical energy in its structure. Although its structure is resistant to biodegradation, it should be considered as an important raw material of high added value products such as ethanol and butanol. During the biologically refining of these products with a bio-refinery approach, it is essential to breakdown this structure with pre-hydrolysis. Therefore, the optimisation and feasibility of biological processes strictly depend on the pretreatment step. This study aimed to contribute to ensuring accelerated biofuel production by examining all the applications adopted for the preliminary hydrolysis process in recent years. Another considerable point is being to release toxic compounds from the degradation of hemicellulose and cellulose during the pretreatment step, which is one of the discussed key points in this study. This study set out the challenges and implications in the pretreatment step of lignocellulosic biomass, which will contribute to the commercialisation of the biotransformation systems refining of high added value products with the biorefinery approach.

Keywords: lignocellulosic biomass; pre-hydrolysis; toxicity; bio-ethanol; bio-butanol; biomethane; biohydrogen.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2020.110874

International Journal of Global Warming, 2020 Vol.22 No.3, pp.342 - 374

Received: 02 May 2020
Accepted: 18 May 2020
Published online: 30 Oct 2020 *

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