User:Dylanc9918/Lignocellulosic biomass

Intro

 * It is the most abundantly available raw material on the Earth for the production of biofuels . It is composed of two kinds of carbohydrate polymers, cellulose and hemicellulose, and an aromatic-rich polymer called lignin . Any biomass rich in cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin are commonly referred to as lignocellulosic biomass . Each component has a distinct chemical behavior

Article body

 * A particular problem is that hemicellulose is covalently linked to ligin, usually through ferulic acid component of the lignin. This makes it difficult to extract the sugars necessary for conversion to biofuels. Next to cellulose hemicellulose is the second most abundant source of carbohydrates in a plant.


 * cellulose is a homopolymer of glucose and the most abundant source of carbohydrates in a plant . It is very poorly soluble in most solvents, so glucose is extracted through chemical and biological breakdown achieved by cellulolytic enzymes . This extraction is made easier by the fact that the strands of cellulose are integrated into, but not covalently attached to the lignin-hemicellulose component.

Pulp and paper industry
Lignocellulosic biomass is the feedstock for the pulp and paper industry. In this process lignin and hemicellulose are typically separated from the plant material leaving the fibrous cellulose component to be processed for paper production, or ‘chemical cellulose’. Through the pulp process most of the lignin is removed and discharged as waste material in the form of effluent/wastewater before then being used as low-value fuel to generate electricity and heat.

Research[edit]
Some chemicals could be obtained from lignocellulosic biomass. Almost all are derived from the sugars obtained by hydrolysis of the cellulose component.

Lignocellulosic biomasses has been considered in the production of biocomposites materials such as particle panels, wood-plastic composites, and cement/geopolymer wood composites. Even though the production of biocomposites material rely mostly on wood resources, in less forest-covered countries or in countries where wood resources are already being overused, it is possible to utilize alternative sources of biomass such as invasive plants, agricultural and sawmills residues for the creation of new "green" composites.

Biocomposites produced with lignocellulosic biomasses as alternative to conventional materials, are attracting the attention because are renewable and cheaper but also because they fit perfectly into the policy of the "cascade utilization" of the resources.