(358b) Advances in Biomass Processing Solvents in Biorefinery Concept

Environmental issues and shortage of fossil-based resources have increased the demand for alternative fuels, chemicals, and materials. Lignocellulosic biomass, a heterogeneous biopolymer mainly composed of polysaccharides (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose) and a natural aromatic macromolecule (i.e., lignin), is a promising resource in these applications. Despite the enormous potential of lignocellulosic biomass as fossil fuel alternative, biomass conversion is still challenging due to its recalcitrance factors. Biomass pretreatment has been developed to facilitate and maximize the conversion of biomass. For improving the current conversion efficiency and expanding the utilization of biomass from a single component (i.e., cellulose) to entire biomass components in the biorefinery concept, pretreatment solvent plays a critical role. Lignin-derived deep eutectic solvent and bifunctional aromatic acid are recently developed to improve both the quality and quantity of polysaccharides and lignin in biomass by reducing the unwanted modification of hemicellulose and lignin during the processes. Technical features and obstacles of these pretreatment solvents will be presented with the remaining challenges and future perspectives.