CHAPTER 4: Lignin Modification to Reduce the Recalcitrance of Biomass Processing
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Published:04 Nov 2013
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Special Collection: 2013 ebook collection , ECCC Environmental eBooks 1968-2022 , 2011-2015 environmental chemistry subject collectionSeries: Energy and Environment Series
B. B. Hallac and A. J. Ragauskas, in Biological Conversion of Biomass for Fuels and Chemicals: Explorations from Natural Utilization Systems, ed. J. Sun, S. Ding, and J. D. Peterson, The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013, pp. 37-52.
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Lignocellulosic bioethanol is currently being explored as a substitution to fossil fuels. The process involves the extraction of hemicelluloses and lignin; while leaving the cellulose to be enzymatically digested to fermentable sugars. One way to achieve favorable overall economics for such scheme is to adapt the concept of biorefinery, in which all components of biomass are fully used. Sunstantial research is being focused on producing high value-added chemicals and materials from lignin. Industries have come to realize that there are no economically viable processes without lignin utilization. Ethanol organosolv lignin (EOL) has many attractive chemical characteristics that make it suitable for high value-added chemical/materials. From this perspective, understanding the structure of EOL is essential in order to identify future applications for this valuable biopolymer. The focus of this chapter is to discuss the fundamental characteristics of EOL as studied by: two NMR spectroscopy techniques and molecular weight analysis.