Chapter 16 - Pretreatment technologies for lignocellulosic biomass deconstruction within a biorefinery perspective

Abstract

Lignocellulosic biomass will definitely contribute to the implementation of a bio-based economy toward mitigating the negative environmental impacts promoted by the extensive use of oil-derived fuels. In a biorefinery context, lignocellulosic sugars constitute an interesting platform to be transformed into a wide range of products (fuels, chemicals, and materials) through fermentative processes. Moreover, lignin also represents an important source for producing certain oxygen-containing aromatic compounds. Nevertheless, the highly recalcitrant structure of lignocellulose limits these conversion processes by hindering the accessibility of biomass. The development of an effective fractionation technology is therefore of utmost importance for the optimal valorization of lignocellulose components into the targeted products. In the last few years, several pretreatment processes have been evaluated, some of them even at commercial scale, for increasing the accessibility of different lignocellulosic feedstocks. This chapter includes an updated revision of the most interesting pretreatment technologies for lignocellulosic conversion in a fermentation-based biorefinery, highlighting the most recent results and the main challenges to overcome toward cost-effective industrial processes.