Abstract
Since crude oil and biomass differ in various properties, new primary fractionation methods of biomass, secondary conversion pathways and processes have to be developed. Biorefineries combine the necessary technologies of the biogenic raw materials with those of intermediates and final products. The chemical industry is experiencing a fundamental shift as cost competitive biobased platform chemicals become a commercial reality. The paper is focused on lignocellulosic feedstock and green biomass biorefinery concepts, which are favored in research, development and industrial implementation. The production of aromatic platform chemicals, such as furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural and derivatives as well as aliphatic platform chemicals, such as levulinic acid and formic acid is described. Futhermore, functional products, such as proteins and biotechnological produced platform chemicals are considered.
Introduction
The re-arrangement of whole economies to biological raw materials as source of value increase requires completely new systemic approaches in research, development and industrial implementation. On the one hand, natural sciences will get a leading role in the generation of future industries of the 21st century. On the other hand, new ways of synergy of agricultural, biological, physical, chemical, and technical sciences have to be elaborated and established. The necessity for biorefinery development in Europe and Germany is specified in the “Rules of bioeconomy”; the corresponding statements on the importance of the public-private innovation and scale-up efforts can be found in several strategies [1]. In 2012, the German Government published the ‘Biorefineries Roadmap’ including status quo and prospects in a time frame of 2030 [2].
According to the chemical and fuel producing industry the lignocellulose raw materials as non-food biomasses have the highest priority to become a real alternative to replace the current fossil resources and their highly efficient petrochemical production of chemical substances and fuels.
The development of so-called primary refineries of sustainably cultivated raw materials and the production of precursors and products of primary refinery such as carbohydrates, lignin, extractives, e.g., proteins [3] and inorganic substances are essential. Scientific knowledge in various fields, in particular physical separation techniques, biotechnological processes, biocatalysis, sustainable chemistry and the combination of those methods are important (Fig. 1) [4].
![Fig. 1 Providing code-defined basic substances via fractionation for the development of relevant industrial product family trees [5].](/document/doi/10.1515/pac-2013-1035/asset/graphic/pac-2013-1035_fig1.jpg)
Providing code-defined basic substances via fractionation for the development of relevant industrial product family trees [5].
The goal should be an economical and ecological connection of the products of the biomass primary refinery at the agricultural cultivation center with the secondary fractionation at the location of global chemical industry. This could be the basis for strategies of new biorefinery/bioeconomy business models.
All biomass utilisation paths, including both established and innovative approaches to biomass conversion, are regarded as important and will be the subject of increased research and development efforts in the future. This is true both in a comparison with a fossil reference system and with other concepts for biomass utilisation aimed towards decoupled use of biomass and/or biomass components without simultaneous production of numerous other material and/or energetic products. Biobased products are prepared for an economically viable application by a meaningful combination of different methods and processes (physical, chemical, biological and thermal). It is therefore necessary that biorefinery basis technologies in particular the so-called Lignocellulosic Feedstock Biorefinery, Cereal whole crop biorefinery and the Green Biorefinery have to be developed. Biomass-precursors carbohydrates, lignin, lipids and proteins could be starting materials for platform chemicals. These building blocks could be subsequently converted to a number of high value biobased chemicals or materials (Fig. 2) [5].
Biomass-precursors, platform chemicals and uses (selection).
Lignocellulosic feedstock as raw material for comprehensive aliphatic and aromatic platform chemical production
Lignocellulose feedstock are biomasses predominantly composed of a complex composite of the two structural carbohydrates, cellulose (38–50 %) and hemicellulose (23–32 %), and phenolic lignin (15–25 %). Depending on the corresponding physical or chemical processes, lignocellulose feedstock can be divided into the following subgroups: cellulose, hemicellulose (polyoses), lignin, extractive substances, and ashes, as illustrated in Fig. 3 [4, 6].
Chemical-technical major groups of lignocellulosic feedstock.
Cellulose contributes to approximately 40–45 % of wood’s dry weight. Cellulose is composed of linear chains of D-glucose linked by β-1,4-glycosidic bonds with a polymerisation degree between around 9000 and 15 000 in native wood and plants [7–9]. Intra- and intermolecular hydrogen bonds are formed via hydroxyl groups in the C2, C3 and C6 position of the D-anhydroglucopyranose ring; they stiffen the chain and promote aggregation of approximately 100 cellulose molecules into very uniform crystalline structures known as micelles, microcrystallites or elementary fibrils. Approximately 20 micelles form long, threadlike structures called microfibrils. These microfibrils have high tensile strength and are approximately 20–30 nm in diameter. However, the structures of microfibrils are not completely uniform in terms of the alignment of the cellulose macromolecules. The regions of nonuniformity of the micelles in the microfibrils are called amorphous regions; therefore, microfibrils have an amorphous-crystalline character. Microfibrils are bundled together to form macrofibrils [8]. Cross-linking these macrofibrils via hemicellulose through hydrogen bonding provides the structural backbone of the plant cell wall.
Hemicellulose is an amorphous, branched heteropolymer that varies in composition depending on the type of plant material. Monomer components of hemicellulose are xylose, mannose, galactose, glucose, arabinose and methylglucoronic acid. In soft wood, hemicellulose is largely comprised of mannose units, and hard wood is composed of xylose units. The polymerization degree is approximately 100–200 and is hence significantly lower than that of cellulose [9]. The composite of crystalline cellulose that is structured in micro- and macrofibrils and amorphous hemicellulose is enclosed by lignin, a three-dimensional polymer of phenylpropane units. In wood, the spaces between fibers are almost composed of pure lignin and are termed the middle lamella. Lignin is considered to be the glue or encrusting substance of wood and adds mechanical strength and stiffness [8]. Lignin forms a very resistant complex against hydrolytic or bacterial attack.
Aside from green biomass, lignocellulose feedstock is the most common raw material for biorefinery processes. The best known resources are the following: wood, fast-growing lumbers, old forest and timber, recovered paper and straw. In Table 1, lignocellulosic sources are summarized and placed into four groups.
Sources of lignocellulosic feedstock [4].
| Group no. | Raw material source | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landscape species | Softwood, hardwood, residual wood and under-wood from forestry, reed grass, switch grass, dry grasses, straw |
| 2 | Fast-growing plantations | Poplar, willow, wood grass, eucalyptus, Sudan grass |
| 3 | Lignocellulose waste from agriculture, forestry and industry | Straw, corn stover, press cake from crop drying plant, ethanol plants and oil mills, by-products from cereal mills, whole crop refineries, paper mill and pulp industry |
| 4 | Used materials and wastes | Timber, used wood, recovered paper, cellulosic municipal solid waste |
All four source groups play an important role in the supply of LCF. However, significant regional differences exist. Groups 2 (fast-growing plantations) and 3 (lignocellulose waste from agriculture, forestry and industry) will become the fastest-growing segments due to significant resources (e.g., fast-growing woods and straw). In Europe, group 1 will gain more attention due to substantial changes in agricultural politics.
The LCF biorefinery system has a distinct ability for creating genealogical product trees as demonstrated in Fig. 4.
Genealogical product trees derived from lignocellulosic feedstock.
The primary advantage of the biorefinery concept is that natural structures and structure elements are preserved completely or at least partially. Moreover, raw materials are quite cheap and many product varieties are possible. However, intense efforts are required in the development and optimisation of these technologies, in particular for the separation of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Lignin chemistry could open up the possibility of lignin usage as a raw material for the chemical industry as an alternative to its current use as a solid fuel.
Hemicellulose could be a starting material for C-5 building blocks, such as furfural. Potential C-6 building blocks derived from cellulose include levulinic acid and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (Fig. 5).
Production of C-5 building blocks furfural and levulinic acid as well as C-6 building block 5-hydroxymethyl furfural.
Levulinic acid is currently produced on a small scale of approximately 450 t annually [10]. Levulinic acid can be produced from hexoses in acidic media or from furfuryl alcohol via ring-opening [11–13]. Furfuryl alcohol is obtained by the catalytic reduction of furfural. Furfural is exclusively produced from hemicellulose contained in sugar cane bagasse, corn cobs, rice, and oat hulls at an industrial scale with an annual worldwide production of 200 000 to 300 000 t; approximately 70 % are produced in China [14, 15]. A comprehensive production of furfural and levulinic acid from LCF appears to be feasible via the Biofine process [23]. The current production of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural occurs by hydroxymethylation of furfural with formaldehyde [15]. A commercial process for its manufacture through the sugar route has not been developed because achieving reasonable yields requires the use of strong acids and organic solvents that would necessitate costly neutralisation and separation processes. Furthermore, glucose used as a starting material shows relatively low reactivity, while more reactive fructose (1000 €/t) and inulin (500 €/t) would entail a market price of 5-HMF of at least 2500 €/t; the cost is too expensive for a bulk-scale chemical compound [15]. 5-HMF secondary products include 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid, 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan, and 2,5-furandicarboxaldehyde as monomers for polyamides, polyesters and polyurethanes. These reagents could replace petro-chemically derived compounds, such as terephthalic, isophthalic and adipidic acid, that could be used for the production of consumer plastics and could function as a starting material for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and drugs. Therefore, 5-HMF has a high potential industrial demand and is called “a sleeping giant” [16].
Levulinic acid, formic acid, furfural, and hydroxymethylfurfural
Levulinic acid
Levulinic acid (4-oxopentanoic acid) is a linear C5-alkyl carbon chain containing one carboxylic acid group in position 1 and one carbonyl group in position 4. Levulinic acid was first described by A. Freiherrn von Grote and B. Tollens [17] in 1875. The authors obtained the acid by heating sugar candy in equal amounts with concentrated acid in water for several days. Formations of formic acid and water, as well as large amounts of humin, were observed during the reaction. The authors gave this substance the name levulinic acid because the levorotary fructose, called levulose, was the reactant for the acid generation. Previously, Malagutti [18] and Mulder [19] reacted sucrose with various concentrated and diluted acids without recognizing the acid in question.
After this first reference, the basic chemistry, properties and various synthesis routes of levulinic acid have been investigated extensively. Although the potential of levulinic acid as an industrial chemical intermediate has been recognized soon due to its exceptional reactivity by the virtue of the keto and carbonyl group and the high reactivity of its lactones (γ-valerolactone and α-valerolactone), levulinic acid has never reached commercial use in significant volumes.
Since 1956, levulinic acid has been regarded as a platform chemical with high potential [20]. However, the relatively cost-intensive production that proceeded through the dehydration of hexoses, formation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and successive cleavage of one-mole formic acid, foreclosed the possibility that levulinic acid chemistry could compete with other chemical intermediates derived from fossil raw materials. During the 1970s, the chemical community centered their attention again on levulinic acid as a chemical raw material [21, 22]. However, no more than by the end of the 90s, alternative and cost-efficient production directly from biomass demonstrated by the Biofine process [23–25] could overcome the encountered problems of expensive raw materials, low yields, excessive equipment costs and physical properties detrimental to easy recovery and handling. Since then levulinic acid production [26–32], its chemistry [11] and its derivatives [33] are again within the center of attention of researchers worldwide.
The US Department of Energy identified levulinic acid by screening approximately 300 substances as one of the 12 potential platform chemicals in the biorefinery concept [34]. The broad range of possible levulinic acid secondary products, many of high potential for industrial applications and as intermediates in organic chemistry, has been the fertile terrain of intense research efforts during the last decade. New synthetic routes that deliver chemical compounds of industrial relevance [25, 35, 36], specifically for application as solvents [33], monomers [33, 37–40], fuels and fuel components [35, 41–46] are developed continuously from research groups and important industrial companies all over the world.
The sale price of levulinic acid decreased from approximately 8.8–13 $/kg at 454 tons annual production in 2005 [10, 25] to 3.2 $/kg currently [47]. This trend indicated that the production volumes should have increased, although recent data on worldwide production volume could not be found. Economic projections indicate that by application of the Biofine process, the levulinic acid production cost could fall to as low as 0.08–0.22 $/kg depending on the scale of the operation [25].
Formic acid
Formic acid is a byproduct of the production of levulinic acid from hydroxymethylfurfural. This C-1 compound is formed in equimolar ratio in comparison to levulinic acid. Currently the use of formic acid in fuel cells is under investigation [48]. In the presence of platinum, formic acid decomposes with a release of hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Soluble ruthenium catalysts are effective [49]. Carbon monoxide free hydrogen has been generated in a very wide pressure range (1–600 bar) [50]. The co-product of this decomposition, carbon dioxide, can be rehydrogenated back to formic acid in a second step. Formic acid contains 53 g L−1 hydrogen at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, which is twice as much as compressed hydrogen gas can attain at 350 bar pressure (Fig. 6).
Formic acid as a hydrogen storage material.
The catalyst system for the dehydrogenation of formic acid is formed in situ e.g., from [RuCl2(benzene)]2 and 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane. In the case of application of the N,N-dimethylhexylamine (HexNMe2) is achieved a turnover number of more than 260 000 for producing of hydrogen from formic acid at room temperature [51]. Recently it has been reported from new molecular defined ferrous phosphine complexes activities and productivities comparable to ruthenium catalysts for the dehydration of formic acid [52].
Furfural
Furfural (Furan-2-carbaldehyde) contains a heteroaromatic furan ring with a reactive aldehyde functional group at the C2 position. Furfural was first isolated by the German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1832. He observed that a small quantity of an ethereal oily substance, which was soluble in water and evaporated together with water, was formed as a by-product of formic acid synthesis from sugar with manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid [53]. In 1840, the Scottish chemist John Stenhouse found that the same substance can be obtained by reacting sulphuric acid with a wide variety of plant materials like crop or saw dust of chaff; he also recognized its resin-forming tendency. Stenhouse [54] determined the empirical formula to be C5H4O2, just as Fownes did in 1845 [55]. The latter scientist suggested naming the substance furfurol, as Morson had done already 5 years before. The ring structure of the furan group was established by the efforts of Baeyer [56], Markwald [57] and Harries [58]. In 1922, the Quaker Oats factory at Cedar Rapids commenced the commercial production of furfural. Furfural is a solvent in petrochemical refining to extract dienes from other hydrocarbons. Its derivative furfuryl alcohol is used for resin formation either by itself or together with phenol, acetone or urea to make solid resins. Such resins are used in making fibreglass, aircraft components and parts in the automotive sector. Furfural is further used as a chemical intermediate in the production of furan and tetrahydrofuran. Furfural was used for several years as chemical raw material for the production of Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6. The production of the monomer adiponitrile proceeded through decarbonylation to furan, successive hydrogenation to tetrahydrofuran, chlorination to 1,4-dichlorobutane and replacement of chloride with cyanide. A comprehensive study on the production volumes and industrial use of furfural is given in a report of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Australia [59], as well by Mamman et al. [14].
Similarly to levulinic acid, furfural is considered a biomass-derived chemical intermediate of high potential; it is one of the 13 substances of the second-tier group of likewise viable chemical building blocks in the biorefinery concept individuated by the U.S. Department of Energy [34]. The world market for furfural was estimated to be between 200 000 t and 300 000 t annually [14, 15, 59] at a market price of approximately 1 $/kg [60]. Roughly 60–62 % are used for furfuryl alcohol production [14]. Approximately 70 % of furfural production is realised in China [14, 59, 60] by predominantly widespread plants and relatively inefficient small-scale fixed bed processes [61]; an exception is the Westpro modified Chinese Huaxia Furfural Technology, which uses fixed-bed reactors and continuous dynamic refining [60].
Hydroxymethylfurfural
Hydroxymethylfurfural as a bifunctional molecule gives the opportunity of a targeted downstream chemistry [73]. Thus it opens access to numerous chemical combinations which are needed in all sectors of the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. For example could the function of aldehyde be changed through different reactions like nucleophile additions or ‘Wittig’ synthesis. But also the hydroxyl group allows diverse downstream chemistry. It can be etherified, esterified or halogenated. Access to valuable polymer building blocks can be reached through reduction of the function of aldehyde to 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan. Furan dicarboxylic acid is the result of an oxidation of the aldehyde and hydroxymethyl group. This could in the future replace the terephthalic acid in PET (polyethylenterephthalate). HMF has the key position in the development of new product trees of the chemical industry due to so many secondary products. The coming assignment is to transform the standard of the laboratory into the industrial. The focus has to be on processes which use water as reaction medium due to the fact that it is a cheap and environmental friendly solvent. Currently the research institute Biopos e.V. does research with industrial partners on the use of efficient catalyst systems for selective synthesis of HMF-secondary-products which are able to polymerize. Examples are 2,5-bishydroxymethylfuran, 2,5-furan-carboxylic-acid and their diesters as well as 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furan carboxyl acid, 5-Formyl-2-furan carboxyl acid [74].
Green biomass as raw material for proteins and platform chemicals
The area of green cropland cultivation in Europe (basis: 15 member states without new member states since a comprehensive European database on grassland areas is not available) amounts to 45 millon ha and therewith to 35 % of the agricultural crop land [62]. Based on an average yield of 10 tons dry matter per hectare and year, 450 million tons of dry matter are produced annually by the 15 EU member states [62]. In Europe the most important forage crop is alfalfa (Lucerne) due to its ability to absorb nitrogen from air and to enrich it in the soil. Alfalfa is cultivated on about 32 million hectares in the mentioned 15 EU member states.
In the USA intensive research in the field of biorefineries has been going on over the past 10 years. The Alfalfa New Products Initiative (ANPI), to which belong five of the states, aims at the intensification of the cultivation and use of Alfalfa. Thereby known technologies, implemented at large scale only in France, like dehydration and fractionation are utilised [63].
The high protein content and the favourable amino acid pattern make alfalfa exceptionally interesting for feeding stuff production and research and development efforts on water soluble proteins that are about 15 % of the average protein content. 40–60 % of the water soluble, also called white proteins is RuBisCo (ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) [63, 64]. RuBisCo is reported to constitute about 65 % of the total water soluble proteins in alfalfa leaf-juice [65].
In general, the role of grassland as feed supplier will become less important since limited production quotes and increasing productivity are leading to reduced livestocks in the near future in Europe [2]. Hence, the grassland will be more and more available for material and energetic utilisation. Especially the crop of “nature wet” grass and the direct use of mechanically pressed green juice are interesting for the biotechnological industry.
Existing agricultural structures of grassland cultivation like green crop drying plants provide good opportunities for the implementation of green biorefineries. Thereby note should be taken about the fact that the current thermal drying is partially obsolete and modern methods in the feed production should be applied. However, it would be reasonable to take advantage of the existing agricultural structures in the grassland agriculture to ensure an agricultural added value by the production of semi-finished products like press-juice and press-cakes. Modern green crop drying plants can be regarded as agricultural intersections in the grass and green crop agriculture. Considering the vast diffusion of green crop drying plants the presented project not only should be an example of demonstration for the linkage of agricultural and renewable raw material industry and R&D facilities in Germany, but rather in the majority of European countries [4, 5].
Green biorefineries are multi-product systems and perform and produce in accordance with the physiology of the corresponding plant material preserving and using the diversity of the synthesis generated by nature. In addition to the general Biorefinery concept, GBR’s are strongly based on sustainable principles (sustainable land use, sustainable raw materials, gentle technologies, autarkic energy supply etc.). Existing agricultural structures of the green crop processing industry, like green crop drying plants, offer good opportunities for the implementation of biorefinery technologies that will help overcoming energy-intensive and partially obsolete technologies like the thermal drying of feedstock.
Currently green harvests are mainly used as green or dry fodder. An important part of these harvests is dried in biomass or multi-fruit drying plants and is placed on the market as pellets or bales. In the future such drying plants will play a major role as agricultural-industrial intersection within the industrial processing of biomass (Fig. 7).
A system green biorefinery.
In the frame of roadmap biorefinery Germany [2] several green biorefinery operations are considered. One concept encompasses the configuration of an alfalfa based green biorefinery for the production of platform chemicals lysine lactate, lactic acid, acetic acid, proteins and biogas, producing digestate as a co-product. The concept encompasses a mode of operation with both winter and summer operation.
For winter operation, grass cuttings are ensiled, creating silage. In the first processing step, silage is extracted and pressed in a screw press. The result is silage press juice (green juice) and silage presscake (green fibre). Lactic acid and acetic acid are chromatographically separated from the silage press juice, and the other juice components are added to the lysine fermentation medium. The silage press cake is subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis in order to hydrolyse the carbohydrates (saccharification); together with the residual phase, this is then consolidated in a complete fermentation medium for lysine production. The lysine is stored for summer operation.
For summer operation, fresh grass is extracted and pressed in a screw press. The pressed juice is fractionally heated and the white proteins are membrane-separated from the green proteins. This results in an aqueous residual phase (brown juice), which is added to the medium for lactic acid fermentation. The press cake is subjected to extraction and enzymatic hydrolysis in order to monomerise the contained carbohydrates (saccharification); together with the residual phase, this is then consolidated in a full fermentation medium for lactic acid production. Neutralisation with lysine (from the winter operation) gives lysine lactate [66]. The residual biomass from the fermentation can be processed to biogas throughout the year, where appropriate also together with co-substrates. The resulting digestate co-product is used as fertiliser [67].
The access of biorefinery.de GmbH to the press-juice line for high-quality white protein production will be stipulated and may be modularly upgraded after project completion by the increase of campaign operating. The company has his own patent know-how [68] for the production of biobased organic compounds and polymers (proteins, polymer electrolytes) as well as market access (cosmetic, food and biotechnological industry). Based on the white protein concentrates Research institute Biopos e.V. in collaboration with industrial partners will investigate the protein concentrates on their physical-chemical properties and develop functional water soluble proteins tailored for specific applications as emulsifiers, film builders, gelling or foam building agents in the food processing and cosmetics industry [67].
Industrial outlook
The chemical industry is experiencing a fundamental shift as cost competitive biobased platform chemicals become a commercial reality. An industrial guide of the young biobased industry is the company Cargill Dow LLC (today Nature Works). Since 2002 the company produces bioplastics out of grain of maize. This product can be manufactured into plastic packaging such as foil or cups and even into T-shirts – everything biodegradable. Around about 140 000 tons of bioplastics can be produced by the biorefinery in Blair, Nebraska every year. Therefore the cornstarch is reduced enzymatically into glucose syrup. Then it is converted by fermentation into lactic acid and afterwards chemically transformed into a polymer polylactic acid. This polymer can be thermoplastic manufactured into foil, molded bodies and fibers. Breathable clothes out of PLA are mainly sold in Southeast Asia. In Europe biodegradable packing for food are on the market [69].
DuPont has entered into a alliance with Diversa in a biorefinery to produce sugar from husks, straw and stovers, and to develop processes to co-produce bioethanol and value-added chemicals, such as 1,3-propandiol [70]. Through metabolic engineering, an Escheria coli K12 microorganism produces 1,3-propandiol (PDO), in a simple glucose fermentation process developed by DuPont and Genencor. In a pilot plant operated by Tate & Lyle, the PDO yield reaches 135 gL–1 at the rate of 4 gL–1 h–1. PDO is used for the production of PTT (polytrimethylen-terephthalate), a new polymer which is used for the production of high-quality fibres with the brand name Sorona [71].
The company Braskem, one of the most important Brazilian ethanol producers, established a new polyethylene facility based on sugar cane. Ethanol is produced from sugar by fermentation, converted to ethylene by dehydration and finely ethylene is polymerised. The plant was launched in the year 2011. The plant size is comparable with modern petrochemical based polyethylene plants. Polyethylene is marketed as versatile mass-produced plastic in the key sectors infrastructure, e.g., pipe systems, cables and conduits, automotive and up-market packaging.
Other industrial plants like the production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid as starting material for methacrylic acid and 1,3-propandiol (Perstorp, Sweden); 1,4-butandiol (Genomatica, USA) and succinic acid (BASF, CSM-Purac) are under construction. Succinic acid serves as dicarboxylic acid component for linear aliphatic polyester or can be the starting material for synthesis products like 1,4-butandiol, succinediamid, 1,4-diaminobutan γ-butyrolactone and maleic acid. Further petrochemically produced substances can similarly be manufactured by substantial microbial conversion of glucose, such as hydrogen, methane, propanol, aceton, butanol, itaconic acid.
Several commercial scale production of cellulosic ethanol are under construction in the US, such as in Hogoton, Kansas or Thomaston, Georgia. The plant capacity is up to 2 million gallon/year of ethanol [72].
Article note: A collection of invited papers based on presentations at the 2nd Brazilian Symposium on Biorefineries (II SNBr), Brasília, Brazil, 24–26 September 2013.
Dedicated to Michael Kamm, founder of biorefinery.de GmbH.
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