Feedstocks for Lignocellulosic Biofuel Production

Many different feedstocks are used in the production of biofuels. Lignocellulosic biofuels are those produced by feedstocks that contain lignocellulosic biomass, composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. These will normally be non-foods materials that are abundant and easily available.  Examples would be agriculture residues like corn stover, wheat or rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, and soybean straw. Other examples would be forestry residues like branches, tree tops, sawdust or bark, energy crops like switchgrass or miscanthus, industrial or municipal wastes, and algae.

If the process route consists of gasification/pyrolysis followed by a Fisher-Tropsch process, most feedstocks will behave similarly.  However, if the route is enzymatic followed by fermentation, the feedstocks behave differently.  Most will require pre-treatment prior to hydrolysis. Pre-treatment methods would include mechanical grinding, steam explosion, acids, and strong or weak bases. These methods have been applied successfully to corn stover, switchgrass, various types of cane, ground wood, beet pulp, corn fiber, and several others.  When using paper stock waste or municipal solid waste, these may not be pretreated, thus resulting in longer hydrolysis times.

The type of feedstock, method of pretreatment, feeding strategy, and percentage of solids will determine the agitation requirements in the hydrolysis reactor and subsequent processing steps. Because each normally has some unique features, there is no “one-size-fits-all” agitator design for these applications. Generally, wet testing plus scale-up will be required to ensure a successful installation.

With over 150 experts worldwide, Lee Enterprises Consulting has experts in this area, plus many others clean and renewable areas like anaerobic digestion, fermentation, biomass, conversion technologies for things like tires and railroad ties, organic synthesis, fuel additives, ethanol gas, biodiesel fuel including algae biofuels, solid state and industrial fermentation, green energy grants, ag biotech, agricultural waste, alcohol fuels, alternative proteins and animal-free products, sustainable foods, beverage fermentation, biocatalysis, biodiesel conversion, biogas production, biomass power, carbon intensity, co2 utilization, combined heat & power, Fischer-Tropsch technology, food waste, hydrothermal carbonization, industrial enzymes, landfill management, microbial fermentation, organic synthesis, plastic pyrolysis, plastic recycling, plastic waste, pyrolysis oil, reactor design, renewable identification number, the Renewable Fuel Standard (rfs2), solid recovered fuels, torrefaction and torrefied biomass, waste to energy, and waste-to-hydrogen.   This is a multidisciplinary group of green energy consultants that is a virtual “one-stop-shop” for any client need and handles projects of all types and sizes.

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