Role of hydrothermal pretreatment towards sustainable biorefinery

Anusuiya Singh; Mei-Ling Tsai; Chiu-Wen Chen; Reeta Rani Singhania; Anil Kumar Patel; Vaibhav Tambat; Cheng-Di Dong

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128271

Role of hydrothermal pretreatment towards sustainable biorefinery

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Jan:367:128271. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128271. Epub 2022 Nov 10.

Authors

Anusuiya Singh¹, Mei-Ling Tsai², Chiu-Wen Chen³, Reeta Rani Singhania³, Anil Kumar Patel⁴, Vaibhav Tambat⁵, Cheng-Di Dong⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 81157, Taiwan; Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan.
² Department of Seafood Science, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
³ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 81157, Taiwan; Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan; Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Lucknow 226 029, India.
⁴ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 81157, Taiwan; Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, Lucknow 226 029, India; Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
⁵ Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 81157, Taiwan; Sustainable Environment Research Center, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City 81157, Taiwan; Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Electronic address: cddong@nkust.edu.tw.

PMID: 36351534
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128271

Abstract

Recently, the world is experiencing a shift from petroleum refineries to biorefineries due to fossil fuel depletion and environmental concerns. To achieve sustainable development of biorefineries and other components of the biofuel production process, eco-friendly and cost-effective approaches are necessary. Therefore, lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) must be exploited in biorefineries for the generation of a broad spectrum of products. The complex structure of LCB prevents its direct saccharification by enzymatic means, so pretreatment is necessary. There are several pretreatment technologies for disrupting the lignocellulosic structure, but hydrothermal pretreatment is the leading pretreatment technology for recovering hemicellulose fraction with a low number of inhibitors and an increased amount of cellulose. The severity of hydrothermal pretreatment plays a principal role in affecting cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin structure. A detailed account of microwave-assisted hydrothermal pretreatment technologies and the cost-effectiveness, eco-friendliness, and upcoming challenges of this technology for commercialization with the probable solution is presented.

Keywords: Biorefinery; Commercialization; Microwave-assisted hydrothermal pretreatment; Severity factor.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biofuels*
Biomass
Cellulose
Lignin* / chemistry

Substances

Lignin
Biofuels
Cellulose