A thermochemical–biochemical hybrid processing of lignocellulosic biomass for producing fuels and chemicals

doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2015.10.006

Biotechnology Advances

Volume 33, Issue 8, December 2015, Pages 1799-1813

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2015.10.006 Get rights and content

Abstract

Thermochemical–biological hybrid processing uses thermochemical decomposition of lignocellulosic biomass to produce a variety of intermediate compounds that can be converted into fuels and chemicals through microbial fermentation. It represents a unique opportunity for biomass conversion as it mitigates some of the deficiencies of conventional biochemical (pretreatment–hydrolysis–fermentation) and thermochemical (pyrolysis or gasification) processing. Thermochemical–biological hybrid processing includes two pathways: (i) pyrolysis/pyrolytic substrate fermentation, and (ii) gasification/syngas fermentation. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these two hybrid processing pathways, including the characteristics of fermentative substrates produced in the thermochemical stage and microbial utilization of these compounds in the fermentation stage. The current challenges of these two biomass conversion pathways include toxicity of the crude pyrolytic substrates, the inhibition of raw syngas contaminants, and the mass-transfer limitations in syngas fermentation. Possible approaches for mitigating substrate toxicities are discussed. The review also provides a summary of the current efforts to commercialize hybrid processing.

Section snippets

Introduction: hybrid processing and its advantages

Producing fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass has been traditionally achieved through two platform technologies. The first is the biochemical process in which the biomass is converted into reducing sugars through pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis followed by microbial fermentation into fuel products. The second is the thermochemical process in which biomass is treated by gasification or pyrolysis for producing intermediates such as syngas or bio-oil, which are further upgraded

Fast pyrolysis of biomass for pyrolytic substrates production

Fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass is a thermochemical decomposition of the biomass materials, in the absence of oxygen, that produces an energy rich liquid (bio-oil), a flammable gas mixture (syngas), and a carbon- and nutrient-rich solid (biochar) (Bridgwater and Peacocke, 2000, Oasmaa and Czernik, 1999). Bio-oil is a liquid mixture approximately containing (based on dry weight of biomass) 15 wt.% carboxylic acids, 25 wt.% sugars, 4 wt.% alcohols, 10 wt.% aldehydes, 2 wt.% esters, 7 wt.%

Pyrolytic sugars

Levoglucosan as a fermentative substrate can be hydrolyzed into glucose or directly metabolized. Acid-hydrolyzed levoglucosan has been used as a substrate for yeasts and fungi to produce ethanol or lipids (Table 1). This method, however, can result in some sugar loss during the neutralization of the acid hydrolysate (Sluiter et al., 2012). Some microorganisms can utilize levoglucosan naturally as the sole carbon and energy source (Table 2). Levoglucosan kinase (lgk) is the key enzyme for these

Toxicity of crude pyrolytic substrates

The toxicity of the contaminant compounds in crude pyrolytic substrate is the major challenge in the pyrolysis-fermentation hybrid process. Crude pyrolytic substrate stream is a highly heterogeneous mixture containing hundreds of chemical compounds (Ruddy et al., 2014). Some of the compounds may lead to severe inhibitions. For example, compounds such as organic acids, furfural, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) have been well-known for inhibiting the growth and fermentation of ethanologenic

Efforts in commercialization of hybrid process

Despite much research having been conducted, the hybrid process based on the pyrolysis- fermentation pathway remains in its infancy. Considering the fact that production of pyrolytic sugar appears to be economically viable (Zhang et al., 2013b) and the tremendous progress that has been made on microbial engineering (Peralta-Yahya et al., 2012), pyrolytic sugar fermentation holds great promise for the production of fuels and chemicals.

Compared to the pyrolysis-fermentation pathway, the

Conclusion and perspectives

This paper provides a comprehensive review of two thermochemical–biochemical hybrid processes (pyrolysis-fermentation, gasification-fermentation) including their features, challenges and mitigating strategies. The hybrid processing provides an alternative platform for efficient production of biofuels and commodities from lignocellulosic biomass.

Fast pyrolysis produces fermentable pyrolytic sugars, carboxylic acids and lignin derivatives, which can be utilized by microorganisms to produce

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the NSF Process and Reaction Engineering (CBET-1438042), NSF Energy for Sustainability (CBET-1133319), and NSF Iowa ESPCoR, Iowa Energy Center (#11-02) for the financial support of this project.

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Research review paperA thermochemical–biochemical hybrid processing of lignocellulosic biomass for producing fuels and chemicals

Abstract

Section snippets

Introduction: hybrid processing and its advantages

Fast pyrolysis of biomass for pyrolytic substrates production

Pyrolytic sugars

Toxicity of crude pyrolytic substrates

Efforts in commercialization of hybrid process

Conclusion and perspectives

Acknowledgments

Biomass Bioenergy

Fuel

Bioresour. Technol.

Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev.

Biomass Bioenergy

Fuel

Fuel

Bioresour. Technol.

Process Biochem.

Bioresour. Technol.

Desalination

J Anal Appl Pyrol.

J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis

J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis

Res. Microbiol.

Catal. Today

Curr. Opin. Chem. Eng.

Curr. Opin. Biotechnol.

Bioresour. Technol.

Bioresour. Technol.

J. Ferment. Bioeng.

J. Biotechnol.

Metab. Eng.

Carbohydr. Res.

Curr. Opin. Biotechnol.

Biochem. Eng. J.

Curr. Opin. Chem. Eng.

Metab. Eng.

Process Biochem.

Bioresour. Technol.

Fuel

Fuel

Enzym. Microb. Technol.

Clostridium autoethanogenum, sp. nov., an anaerobic bacterium that produces ethanol from carbon monoxide

Arch. Microbiol.

Fermentation of biomass-generated synthesis gas: effects of nitric oxide

Biotechnol. Bioeng.

Alkalibaculum bacchi gen. nov., sp. nov., a CO-oxidizing, ethanol-producing acetogen isolated from livestock-impacted soil

Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol.

Semi-Continuous Syngas Fermentation in a Trickle Bed Reactor. AIChE Annual Meeting

Metabolism of multiple aromatic compounds in corn stover hydrolysate by Rhodopseudomonas palustris

Environ. Sci. Technol.

Producing glucose-6-phosphate from cellulosic biomass: structural insights into levoglucosan bioconversion

Lactose-inducible system for metabolic engineering of Clostridium ljungdahlii

Appl. Environ. Microbiol.

Bacterial synthesis gas (syngas) fermentation

Environ. Technol.

Specific photosynthetic rate enhancement by cyanobacteria coated onto paper enables engineering of highly reactive cellular biocomposite “leaves”

Biotechnol. Bioeng.

Cre-lox66/lox71-based elimination of phosphotransacetylase or acetaldehyde dehydrogenase shifted carbon flux in acetogen rendering selective overproduction of ethanol or acetate

Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol.

Elimination of acetate production to improve ethanol yield during continuous synthesis gas fermentation by engineered biocatalyst Clostridium sp. MTEtOH550

Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol.

Selective production of acetone during continuous synthesis gas fermentation by engineered biocatalyst Clostridium sp. MAceT113

Lett. Appl. Microbiol.

Selective n-butanol production by Clostridium sp. MTButOH1365 during continuous synthesis gas fermentation due to expression of synthetic thiolase, 3-hydroxy butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, crotonase, butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, butyraldehyde dehydrogenase, and NAD-dependent butanol dehydrogenase

Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol.

Regulation of carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and hydrogenase in Rhodospirillum rubrum: effects of CO and oxygen on synthesis and activity

J. Bacteriol.

Clostridium aceticum (Wieringa), a microorganism producing acetic acid from molecular hydrogen and carbon dioxide

Arch. Microbiol.

Reactor design issues for synthesis-gas fermentations

Biotechnol. Prog.

Mass-transfer properties of microbubbles. 1. Experimental studies

Biotechnol. Prog.

Research review paper
A thermochemical–biochemical hybrid processing of lignocellulosic biomass for producing fuels and chemicals