BACKGROUND Ionic liquids (ILs) are considered as suitable candidates for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment prior enzymatic saccharification and, obviously, for second-generation bioethanol production. However, several reports showed toxic or inhibitory effects of residual ILs on microorganisms, plants, and animal cells which could affect a subsequent enzymatic saccharification and fermentati...

BACKGROUND Lignocellulosic biomass has the potential to be a major source of renewable sugar for biofuel production. Before enzymatic hydrolysis, biomass must first undergo a pretreatment step in order to be more susceptible to saccharification and generate high yields of fermentable sugars. Lignin, a complex, interlinked, phenolic polymer, associates with secondary cell wall polysaccharides, r...

Recent developments of NMR methods for characterization of lignocellulosic biomass allow improved understanding of plant cell-wall structures with minimal deconstruction and modification of biomass. This study introduces a new NMR solvent system composed of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO-d6 ) and hexamethylphosphoramide (HMPA-d18 ). HMPA as a co-solvent enhanced swelling and mobility of the biomass sa...

Dr. Pradeep Agrawal’s research is focused on the development of thermochemical pathways for converting lignocellulosic biomass into fuels and chemicals. One approach involves hydrolysis of hemi-cellulose, cellulose, and lignin into monomers which offer an alternate platform for transportation fuels and chemicals. The results offer promise for developing a green chemistry approach so that organi...

BACKGROUND Laccases have potential applications in detoxification of lignocellulosic biomass after thermochemical pretreatment and production of value-added products or biofuels from renewable biomass. However, their application in large-scale industrial and environmental processes has been severely thwarted by the high cost of commercial laccases. Therefore, it is necessary to identify new lac...

323 ISSN 1759-7269 10.4155/BFS.09.25 © 2010 Future Science Ltd †Author for correspondence 1Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO 80401, USA 2Bioenergy Science Center (BESC), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN 37830, USA 3Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel 4Department of Biological Chemistry, Weizman...

BACKGROUND Plant lignocellulosic biomass is an abundant, renewable feedstock for the production of biobased fuels and chemicals. Previously, we showed that iron can act as a co-catalyst to improve the deconstruction of lignocellulosic biomass. However, directly adding iron catalysts into biomass prior to pretreatment is diffusion limited, and increases the cost of biorefinery operations. Recent...

If lignocellulosic biomass is to become a viable competitor with fossil based resources for the production of energy and chemical products, sustainable sources of this material must be established. To address this issue an understanding about the risks affecting biomass sources and the biorefineries which they supply is crucial. In this paper, a quantitative approach using Bayesian Belief Netwo...