title: Biomass pretreatments capable of enabling lignin valorization in a biorefinery process.
abstract: Recent techno-economic studies of proposed lignocellulosic biorefineries have concluded that creating value from lignin will assist realization of biomass utilization into valuable fuels, chemicals, and materials due to co-valorization and the new revenues beyond carbohydrates. The pretreatment step within a biorefinery process is essential for recovering carbohydrates, but different techniques and intensities have a variety of effects on lignin. Acidic and alkaline pretreatments have been shown to produce diverse lignins based on delignification chemistry. The valorization potential of pretreated lignin is affected by its chemical structure, which is known to degrade, including inter-lignin condensation under high-severity pretreatment. Co-valorization of lignin and carbohydrates will require dampening of pretreatment intensities to avoid such effects, in spite of tradeoffs in carbohydrate production.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Narron
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States.
authors.forename: Hoyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States.
authors.forename: Hou-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jameel
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Biomaterials, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, United States. Electronic address: sunkyu_park@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Sunkyu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002241:Carbohydrates; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006868:Hydrolysis; D008031:Lignin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D008031:Lignin