Lignocellulosic Biomass
Lignocellulosic biomass is defined as a plant, or plant-derived, material that is mostly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Lignocellulosic feedstocks are highly abundant, covering many biomass types including grasses, wood, energy crops (e.g. Miscanthus and coppices), agricultural residues (e.g. straws and corn stover), and municipal wastes.Need for Pretreatment
For this reason, most hydrolysis technologies employ pre-treatment processes that aim to break apart the matrix (and in particular the associations between lignin and cellulose), reduce cellulose crystallinty, and hydrolyse hemicelluloses, hence separating the hydrolysate from cellulose which can then undergo more severe/targeted treatment.Effects of Different LHW Conditions
An advantage of LHW at lower temperatures is that hemicelluloses can be efficiently hydrolysed without significant amounts of degradation products (e.g. furfural from pentoses and hydroxymethylfurfural from hexoses). The products of hemicellulose hydrolysis can be oligosaccharides (sugar oligomers), monosaccharides (e.g. xylose, arabinose), or a combination of these, depending on the process conditions.Factors to Consider in LHW Pretreatment
Advantages of Hydrothermal Pretreatment
Disadvantages of LHW Pretreatment