Premium
The use of high‐solids loadings in biomass pretreatment—a review
Author(s) -
Modenbach Alicia A.,
Nokes Sue E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.24464
Subject(s) - suspended solids , biomass (ecology) , total dissolved solids , pulp and paper industry , environmental science , pellets , total suspended solids , process engineering , raw material , biofuel , waste management , chemistry , materials science , environmental engineering , wastewater , engineering , agronomy , biology , chemical oxygen demand , organic chemistry , composite material
The use of high‐solids loadings (≥15% solids, w/w) in the unit operations of lignocellulose conversion processes potentially offers many advantages over lower‐solids loadings, including increased sugar and ethanol concentrations and decreased production and capital costs. Since the term lignocellulosic materials refers to a wide range of feedstocks (agricultural and forestry residues, distillery by‐products, and dedicated energy crops like grasses), the term “solids loading” here is defined by the amount of dry material that enters the process divided by the total mass of material and water added to the material. The goal of this study is to provide a consolidated review of studies using a high‐solids pretreatment step in the conversion process. Included in this review is a brief discussion of the limitations, such as the lack of available water to promote mass transfer, increased substrate viscosity, and increased concentration of inhibitors produced affecting pretreatment, as well as descriptions and findings of pretreatment studies performed at high solids, the latest reactor designs developed for pretreatment at bench‐ and pilot‐scales to address some of the limitations, and high‐solids pretreatment operations that have been scaled‐up and incorporated into demonstration facilities. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2012; 109:1430–1442. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.