title: Pyrolysis based bio-refinery for the production of bioethanol from demineralized ligno-cellulosic biomass.
abstract: This paper evaluates a novel biorefinery approach for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass from pinewood. A combination of thermochemical and biochemical conversion was chosen with the main product being ethanol. Fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomasss with fractional condensation of the products was used as the thermochemical process to obtain a pyrolysis-oil rich in anhydro-sugars (levoglucosan) and low in inhibitors. After hydrolysis of these anhydro-sugars, glucose was obtained which was successfully fermented, after detoxification, to obtain bioethanol. Ethanol yields comparable to traditional biochemical processing were achieved (41.3% of theoretical yield based on cellulose fraction). Additional benefits of the proposed biorefinery concept comprise valuable by-products of the thermochemical conversion like bio-char, mono-phenols (production of BTX) and pyrolytic lignin as a source of aromatic rich fuel additive. The inhibitory effect of thermochemically derived fermentation substrates was quantified numerically to compare the effects of different process configurations and upgrading steps within the biorefinery approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luque
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street London, Ontario, Canada; Sustainable Process Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Roel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Westerhof
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street London, Ontario, Canada; Sustainable Process Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Guus
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Van Rossum
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Process Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Stijn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oudenhoven
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Process Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sascha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kersten
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berruti
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: lrehmann@uwo.ca.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rehmann
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels; D018533:Biomass; D000431:Ethanol / Q000378:metabolism*; D008031:Lignin / Q000378:metabolism*; D028223:Pinus; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism; D014934:Wood / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D010938:Plant Oils; C036909:lignocellulose; D000431:Ethanol; D008031:Lignin
keywords: Biorefinery; Ethanol; Lignocellulose; Modeling; Pyrolysis