7-06: Third generation biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass materials

In the presentation we will present our integrated concept for production of biofuels and bioproducts using both bio-chemical as well as thermo-chemical reactions. Wheat straw will be our base raw material. The initial step will consist of a pretreatment constructed to make the carbohydrates ready for enzymatic hydrolysis. This pentose fraction can be collected by separation from this stream and used for bioethanol production or as a feedstock for production of new chemicals using microbial catalysts producing chemicals such as succinic acid, acetoin, threonine. In the presentation we will show data from bioethanol production in pilot scale using Thermoanaerobacter BGL1.  Furthermore, pentoses can be converted using chemicals catalysis into other chemical products, for example, furfural, furfural alcohol, and levulinic acid and it’s derivates. The remaining stream contains the solids including the polymers of carbohydrates which can be hydrolyzed by cellulases into mainly glucose and minority portion of other sugars.Lignin-containing residues from biorefineries have previously received little attention except as a fuel for producing the power for fuelling the biorefinery. In the presentation we will show potential alternative ways to thermochemically convert lignin-containing residues into 1) advanced biofuels (hydrocarbons), for example via pyrolysis and/or hydrothermal liquefaction and downstream processing, 2) methane, for example via wet gasification, or 3) chemical products.  We will further show our initial economical assessment of the different options and how these different steps will affect the overall economics of the biorefinery.