Increasing the revenue from lignocellulosic biomass: Maximizing feedstock utilization

David Martin Alonso, Sikander H. Hakim, Shengfei Zhou, Wangyun Won, Omid Hosseinaei, Jingming Tao, Valerie Garcia-Negron, Ali Hussain Motagamwala, Max A. Mellmer, Kefeng Huang, Carl J. Houtman, Nicole Labbé, David P. Harper, Christos T. Maravelias, Troy Runge, James A. Dumesic

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

381 Scopus citations

Abstract

The production of renewable chemicals and biofuels must be cost-and performance-competitive with petroleumderived equivalents to be widely accepted by markets and society. We propose a biomass conversion strategy that maximizes the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (up to 80% of the biomass to useful products) into high-value products that can be commercialized, providing the opportunity for successful translation to an economically viable commercial process. Our fractionation method preserves the value of all three primary components: (i) cellulose, which is converted into dissolving pulp for fibers and chemicals production; (ii) hemicellulose, which is converted into furfural (a building block chemical); and (iii) lignin, which is converted into carbon products (carbon foam, fibers, or battery anodes), together producing revenues of more than $500 per dry metric ton of biomass. Once de-risked, our technology can be extended to produce other renewable chemicals and biofuels.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere1603301
JournalScience Advances
Volume3
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2017
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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