Improvement of Anaerobic Digestion of Lignocellulosic Biomass by Hydrothermal Pretreatment

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Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass, comprising of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, is a difficult-to-degrade substrate when subjected to anaerobic digestion. Hydrothermal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass could enhance the process performance by increasing the generation of methane, hydrogen, and bioethanol. The recalcitrants (furfurals, and 5-HMF) could be formed at high temperatures during hydrothermal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass, which may hinder the process performance. However, the detoxification process involving the use of genetically engineered microbes may be a promising option to reduce the toxic effects of inhibitors. The key challenge lies in the scaleup of the hydrothermal process, mainly due to necessity of upholding high temperature in sizeable reactors, which may demand high capital and operational costs. Thus, more efforts should be towards the techno-economic feasibility of hydrothermal pre-treatment at full scale.

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Hemicelluloses.

Henrik Scheller, Peter Ulvskov (2010)

Hemicelluloses are polysaccharides in plant cell walls that have beta-(1-->4)-linked backbones with an equatorial configuration. Hemicelluloses include xyloglucans, xylans, mannans and glucomannans, and beta-(1-->3,1-->4)-glucans. These types of hemicelluloses are present in the cell walls of all terrestrial plants, except for beta-(1-->3,1-->4)-glucans, which are restricted to Poales and a few other groups. The detailed structure of the hemicelluloses and their abundance vary widely between different species and cell types. The most important biological role of hemicelluloses is their contribution to strengthening the cell wall by interaction with cellulose and, in some walls, with lignin. These features are discussed in relation to widely accepted models of the primary wall. Hemicelluloses are synthesized by glycosyltransferases located in the Golgi membranes. Many glycosyltransferases needed for biosynthesis of xyloglucans and mannans are known. In contrast, the biosynthesis of xylans and beta-(1-->3,1-->4)-glucans remains very elusive, and recent studies have led to more questions than answers.

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Methods for Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Efficient Hydrolysis and Biofuel Production

Parveen Kumar, Diane M Barrett, Michael J. Delwiche … (2009)

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Pretreatments to enhance the digestibility of lignocellulosic biomass.

A T W M Hendriks, G. Zeeman (2009)

Lignocellulosic biomass represents a rather unused source for biogas and ethanol production. Many factors, like lignin content, crystallinity of cellulose, and particle size, limit the digestibility of the hemicellulose and cellulose present in the lignocellulosic biomass. Pretreatments have as a goal to improve the digestibility of the lignocellulosic biomass. Each pretreatment has its own effect(s) on the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin; the three main components of lignocellulosic biomass. This paper reviews the different effect(s) of several pretreatments on the three main parts of the lignocellulosic biomass to improve its digestibility. Steam pretreatment, lime pretreatment, liquid hot water pretreatments and ammonia based pretreatments are concluded to be pretreatments with high potentials. The main effects are dissolving hemicellulose and alteration of lignin structure, providing an improved accessibility of the cellulose for hydrolytic enzymes.