REMOVING LIGNIN AND HEMICELLULOSES FROM LIGNOCELLULOSIC MATERIALS FOR AN EFFICIENT BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION

摘要

Lignocellulosic materials such as cereal straw, wood, sugarcane bagasse, and grass have been recognized as potential sustainable sources of mixed sugars for fermentation to bioethanol. However, current technology could not afford an economically feasible production process, providing a rational cost of biofuel to compare with petroleum industry. The ability to fractionate lignocellulosic material, rather than simply pretreating it, enables the parallel production of low value, high volume bioethanol from cellulose, and high value, low volume chemicals/biomaterials from hemicelluloses and lignin. Technological advances, e.g., environmentally friendly removal of lignin and hemicelluloses from lignocellulosic biomass prior to bioconversion of cellulose into bioethanol, has the potential to provide for sustainable and cost effective production of biofuel. This paper presents technical advances in lignocellulosic materials fractionation and bioconversion from a biorefining perspective. The structural characterization of the isolated hemicelluloses and lignin as well as further chemical modification or utilization of these two polymers will also be summarized.