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Resource Utilization of Agricultural/Forestry Residues via Fractionation into Cellulose, Hemicellulose and Lignin

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Advanced and Emerging Technologies for Resource Recovery from Wastes

Part of the book series: Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology ((GCST))

Abstract

This chapter reviews advances in the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass to its three main components, cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, as a pre-treatment process for resource utilization of agricultural/forestry residues for biofuels and bio-based chemicals/materials. Different pre-treatment methods such as physical, chemical, physio-chemical and biological processes are discussed with their advantages/disadvantages and challenges. Physical pre-treatments are considered eco-friendly methods as they do not require chemicals, but they have high energy consumption. Chemical methods are more popular owing to their high efficiency for almost all types of biomass. Among the chemical processes, the Kraft pulping and organosolv pulping methods have been widely used for biomass delignification and fractionation to produce lignocellulosic components (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin). Kraft pulping is the most popular chemical pulping process applied on industrial scale, operating in water under a high pH condition with alkaline reagents. In contrast, organosolv pulping operates at mild conditions in organic solvents or their aqueous solution for fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass. Recently, ionic liquids have attracted a lot of attention as an alternative to volatile and unstable organic solvents for biomass fractionation, but they are associated with high cost, difficulty in recycling and reuse; thus, further investigation is required to make the process feasible for large scale application. Compared with other pre-treatment methods, the organosolv pre-treatment has many advantages such as high efficiency, mild operating conditions, easy solvent recovery and recycling, and relatively high purity of the biomass fractionation products. However, the inevitable loss and flammability of organic solvents are the main obstacles for industrial applications of these processes. Whereas, with the development of biorefinery, where the fractionation products (i.e., cellulose and lignin) could be valorized for the production of various high-value bioproducts, e.g., sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), phenol–formaldehyde adhesives, epoxy resins, and polyurethane foams, organosolv fractionation offers immense opportunities for resource utilization of agricultural/forestry residues.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Laleh Nazari

  2. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Chunbao (Charles) Xu

  3. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Madhumita B. Ray

Authors
  1. Laleh Nazari
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  2. Chunbao (Charles) Xu
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  3. Madhumita B. Ray
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Correspondence to Laleh Nazari .

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Nazari, L., Xu, C.(., Ray, M.B. (2021). Resource Utilization of Agricultural/Forestry Residues via Fractionation into Cellulose, Hemicellulose and Lignin. In: Advanced and Emerging Technologies for Resource Recovery from Wastes. Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9267-6_7

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