Use of mechanical refining to improve the production of low-cost sugars from lignocellulosic biomass.
Mechanical refining is widely used in the pulp and paper industry to enhance the end-use properties of products by creating external fibrillation and internal delamination. This technology can be directly applied to biochemical conversion processes. By implementing mechanical refining technology, biomass recalcitrance to enzyme hydrolysis can be overcome and carbohydrate conversion can be enhanced with commercially attractive levels of enzymes. In addition, chemical and thermal pretreatment severity can be reduced to achieve the same level of carbohydrate conversion, which reduces pretreatment cost and results in lower concentrations of inhibitors. Refining is versatile and a commercially proven technology that can be operated at process flows of ∼ 1500 dry tons per day of biomass. This paper reviews the utilization of mechanical refining in the pulp and paper industry and summarizes the recent development in applications for biochemical conversion, which potentially make an overall biorefinery process more economically viable.
Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Junyeong
J
Park
Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Brandon
B
Jones
SK Innovation, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Bonwook
B
Koo
National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80127, USA.
Xiaowen
X
Chen
National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80127, USA.
Melvin
M
Tucker
Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Ju-Hyun
JH
Yu
Andritz, Montréal, QC H8T 3H4, Canada.
Thomas
T
Pschorn
Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Richard
R
Venditti
Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA; Department of Forest Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: sunkyu_park@ncsu.edu.
Sunkyu
S
Park
D018533:Biomass; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000191:economics*; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008031:Lignin / Q000737:chemistry*; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena
D002241:Carbohydrates; C036909:lignocellulose; D008031:Lignin
Biomass conversion; Enzymatic hydrolysis; Mechanical refining