Biorefinery Feedstock: Biomass
Biorefinery Feedstock: Biomass
• Biorefinery concept relies on the availability of lignocellulosic biomass as
feedstock
• Biomass feedstock is the starting point for planning and designing biorefineries
• Biomass includes all organic matter available on a renewable or recurring basis
• Biomass production reduces the global warming potential impact of biorefinery
products
• Lignocellulosic feedstocks are promising options to overcome the debate about
deviating food and feed for biofuels
• Crop residues have the advantage of being cheap and do not need added land for
production
Biomass as an energy source
v Biomass is an organic matter derived from living plants or animals
v Dead organisms other than the fossilized remains of organisms are also called as biomass
v Bioenergy can be produced from a variety of biomass feed stocks, including forest, agricultural
and livestock residues; short-rotation forest plantations; energy crops; the organic component of
municipal solid waste; and other organic waste streams
Biomass a decentralized source
v Biomass for power generation is attractive for supplying electricity locally or for isolated
communities as well as co-firing with coal to reduce CO2 emissions (decentralized mechanism)
v Thermal conversion (combustion, burning) of lignocellulosic biomass is an ancient but inefficient
means of liberating the energy content of the biological material
v Compared with solid and liquid fossil fuels, traditionally used biomass has only 0.33–0.50 of their
energy densities
Biomass fuel briquettes
v Finely ground wood chips, bark, sawdust, or wood charcoal powder can be mixed (after drying) with
a vegetable oil and pressed into briquettes or ingots
v This “organically clean biomass fuel” serves as a clean burning, nontoxic fuel for domestic heating
(as well as for igniting charcoal on barbecues) and offers an alternative route for using
vegetable oils as biofuels
Sample of briquettes produced using a manually operated piston press
Biorefinery Feedstock: Biomass
Dedicated biomass feedstocks for biorefining
1. Agricultural and forestry residues and energy crops: wood, short rotation
coppice, poplar, switchgrass and miscanthus
2. Grass: leaves, green plant materials, grass silage, empty fruit bunch,
immature cereals
3. Oily crops and Jatropha
4. Oily residues: waste cooking oils and animal fat
5. Aquatic: algae and seaweed
6. Organic residues: municipal waste, manure and sewage
Chemical nature of biomass
The composition of biomass is largely diverse:
Residues of plant origin are mainly composed of:
v Cellulose
v Hemicellulose and
v Lignin
Cattle manure is rich in:
v Proteins
Cereals are mainly composed of:
v Starch
Since biomass has different chemical structures, they result in different chemical properties
Chemical Nature of Biorefinery Feedstocks
• Biomass feedstock is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, ash, and
extractives with a wide range of chemical structures
• Sugars from sugar crops (sugarcane and sugar beet) are readily fermentable and
used for bioethanol production
• Starch from cereals, roots, and tubers stores energy in the form of minute granules
of glucose and consists of amylose & amylopectin – requires enzymatic
pretreatment
• Lignocellulosic feedstocks (wood, grasses, and agricultural and forestry residues)
contains mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin forming a three-dimensional
polymeric composite called lignocellulose
• Lipids in biomass, such as esters formed between glycerol and fatty acids, are the
main fraction in oily feedstocks (oil seeds, algae, animal fat, waste cooking oil, etc.)
Chemical Nature of Biorefinery Feedstocks
• Proteins and other valuable biomass components, such as vitamins, dyes, flavoring,
phytochemicals, may be useful for the production of amino acids and other
nutraceutical products
ØHigh protein content in wheat can be a negative factor for bioethanol production,
necessitating pre-extraction by mechanical processes like pearling
ØExample: extraction of arabinoxylan from wheat bran before fermentation to
bioethanol production is well-known
• Organic residues, such as fruit shells, plant pruning, food processing wastewater,
animal manure, and domestic food waste, can be exploited as substrate for
anaerobic digestion to generate biogas or hydrogen
• Understanding the chemical nature of biomass feedstocks is essential for efficient
conversion to high functional material and chemical production
Chemical composition of some lignocellulosic
feedstocks
