Increasing the revenue from lignocellulosic biomass: maximizing feedstock utilization

Abstract

The production of renewable chemicals and biofuels must be cost- and performance- competitive with petroleumderived equivalents to be widely accepted by markets and society. We propose a biomass conversion strategy that maximizes the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (up to 80% of the biomass to useful products) into high-value products that can be commercialized, providing the opportunity for successful translation to an economically viable commercial process. Our fractionation method preserves the value of all three primary components: (i) cellulose, which is converted into dissolving pulp for fibers and chemicals production; (ii) hemicellulose, which is converted into furfural (a building block chemical); and (iii) lignin, which is converted into carbon products (carbon foam, fibers, or battery anodes), together producing revenues of more than $500 per dry metric ton of biomass. Once de-risked, our technology can be extended to produce other renewable chemicals and biofuels.

Citation

Alonso, David Martin; Hakim, Sikander H.; Zhou, Shengfei; Won, Wangyun; Hosseinaei, Omid; Tao, Jingming; Garcia-Negron, Valerie; Montagamwala, Ali Hussain; Mellmer, Max A.; Huang, Kefeng; Houtman, Carl J.; Labbe, Nicole; Harper, David P.; Maravelias, Christos; Runge, Troy; Dumesic, James A. 2017. Increasing the revenue from lignocellulosic biomass: maximizing feedstock utilization. Science Advances. 3(e1603301): 1-7.