Aqueous Pretreatment of Plant Biomass for Biological and Chemical Conversion to Fuels and Chemicals / Wiley Series in Renewable Resources (ePub)

Plant biomass is attracting increasing attention as a
sustainable resource for large-scale production of renewable fuels
and chemicals. However, in order to successfully compete with
petroleum, it is vital that biomass conversion processes are
designed to minimize costs and maximize yields. Advances in
pretreatment technology are critical in order to develop
high-yielding, cost-competitive routes to renewable fuels and
chemicals.

Aqueous Pretreatment of Plant Biomass for Biological and
Chemical Conversion to Fuels and Chemicals presents a
comprehensive overview of the currently available aqueous
pretreatment technologies for cellulosic biomass, highlighting the
fundamental chemistry and biology of each method, key attributes
and limitations, and opportunities for future advances.

Topics covered include:

* The importance of biomass conversion to fuels

* The role of pretreatment in biological and chemical
conversion of biomass

* Composition and structure of biomass, and
recalcitrance to conversion

* Fundamentals of biomass pretreatment at low, neutral
and high pH

* Ionic liquid and organosolv pretreatments to
fractionate biomass

* Comparative data for application of leading
pretreatments and effect of enzyme formulations

* Physical and chemical features of pretreated
biomass

* Economics of pretreatment for biological
processing

* Methods of analysis and enzymatic conversion of
biomass streams

* Experimental pretreatment systems from multiwell
plates to pilot plant operations

This comprehensive reference book provides an authoritative
source of information on the pretreatment of cellulosic biomass to
aid those experienced in the field to access the most current
information on the topic. It will also be invaluable to those
entering the growing field of biomass conversion.