Biochemical and Thermochemical Conversion Processes of Lignicellulosic Biomass Fractionated Streams

Moving towards a sustainable and green economy requires the use of renewable resources for the production of fuels chemicals and materials. In such a scenario the use of lignocellulosic biomass and waste streams plays an important role as it consists of abundant renewable resources. The complex nature of lignocellulosic biomass dictates the use of a pretreatment process prior to any further processing. Traditional methods of biomass pretreatment fail to recover cellulose hemicellulose and lignin in clean streams. It has been recognized that the efficient use of all the main fractions of lignocellulosic biomass (cellulose hemicellulose and lignin) is an important step towards a financially sustainable biomass biorefinery. In this context switching from biomass pretreatment to biomass fractionation can offer a sustainable solution to recover relatively clean streams of cellulose hemicellulose and lignin. This Special issue aims at exploring the most advanced solutions in biomass and waste pretreatment and fractionation techniques together with novel (thermo)chemical and biochemical processes for the conversion of fractionated cellulose hemicellulose and lignin to bioenergy bio-based chemicals and biomaterials including the application of such products (i.e. use of biochar for filtration and metallurgical processes) as well as recent developments in kinetic thermodynamic and numeric modeling of conversion processes. The scope of this Special Issue will also cover progress in advanced measuring methods and techniques used in the characterization of biomass waste and products.