Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 May 19;3(5):e1603301.
doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1603301. eCollection 2017 May.

Increasing the revenue from lignocellulosic biomass: Maximizing feedstock utilization

David Martin Alonso  1   2 , Sikander H Hakim  2 , Shengfei Zhou  3   4 , Wangyun Won  1   4 , Omid Hosseinaei  5 , Jingming Tao  5 , Valerie Garcia-Negron  5 , Ali Hussain Motagamwala  1   4 , Max A Mellmer  1   4 , Kefeng Huang  1 , Carl J Houtman  6 , Nicole Labbé  5 , David P Harper  5 , Christos Maravelias  1   4 , Troy Runge  3   4 , James A Dumesic  1   4
Affiliations

Increasing the revenue from lignocellulosic biomass: Maximizing feedstock utilization

David Martin Alonso et al. Sci Adv. .

Abstract

The production of renewable chemicals and biofuels must be cost- and performance- competitive with petroleum-derived 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.

Keywords: biomass; cellulose; dissolving pulp; furfural; hemi-cellulose; lignin; viscose.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. TriVersa Process.
Lignocellulosic biomass can be fractionated into its main components to replace petroleum-derived chemicals used in daily life. Initial composition of white birch (dry weight): hexosan, 45.0 wt %; pentosan, 25.3 wt %; lignin, 21.7 wt %. The yields have been calculated on the basis of our techno-economic analysis.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Process flow diagram.
Overview of the process flow diagram to produce furfural, lignin, and dissolving pulp from lignocellulosic biomass.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Sankey diagram.
Sankey diagram for the integrated process to produce furfural, lignin, and dissolving pulp from lignocellulosic biomass. LA, levulinic acid.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alonso D. M., Bond J. Q., Dumesic J. A., Catalytic conversion of biomass to biofuels. Green Chem. 12, 1493–1513 (2010).
    1. Ragauskas A. J., Williams C. K., Davison B. H., Britovsek G., Cairney J., Eckert C. A., Frederick W. J. Jr, Hallett J. P., Leak D. J., Liotta C. L., Mielenz J. R., Murphy R., Templer R., Tschaplinski T., The path forward for biofuels and biomaterials. Science 311, 484–489 (2006). - PubMed
    1. Ibrahim A. A., Nada A. M. A., Hagemann U., El Seoud O. A., Preparation of dissolving pulp from sugar cane bagasse, and its acetylation under homogeneous solution condition. Holzforschung 50, 221–225 (1996).
    1. K. J. Zeitsch, The Chemistry and Technology of Furfural and its Many By-Products (Elsevier, 2000).
    1. García-Negrón V., Phillip N. D., Li J., Daniel C., Wood D., Keffer D. J., Rios O., Harper D. P., Processing-structure-property relationships for lignin-based carbonaceous materials used in energy storage applications. Energy Technol. 10.1002/ente.201600646 (2017).