Abstract
The pressing need for climate change mitigation has focused attention on reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide by effectuating the transition from fossil-based chemicals manufacture to a carbon neutral alternative based on lignocellulosic waste. The first step involves fractionation of the lignocellulose into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Subsequently, a cellulase enzyme cocktail is used to catalyze the hydrolysis of the polysaccharides into their constituent sugars. This is followed by selective conversion of the carbohydrates into commodity chemicals using a variety of sustainable bio- and chemocatalytic methodologies. These include, inter alia, fermentative production of alcohols, diols, and carboxylic acids and a variety of chemocatalytic reductions and oxidations. Hence, the transition from fossil feedstocks to lignocellulose represents a switch from hydrocarbons to carbohydrates as the primary basic chemicals. To compare these renewable biomass-based routes with their petrochemical equivalents, it is necessary to develop reliable sustainability metrics.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 4464-4480 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2 Apr 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Accepted Author ManuscriptKeywords
- Carbohydrates
- Enzyme immobilization
- Ethanol equivalent
- Lignin
- Lignocellulose
- Magnetic enzymes
- Renewable biomass
- Sustainability metrics