Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T21:16:58.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cellulosic Ethanol: A Unique Sustainable Liquid Transportation Fuel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Charles E. Wyman
Charles E. Wyman
Affiliation:
University of California–Riverside, USA

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Although ethanol is now made from the sugars in the starch fraction of corn and other crops and from the sugar in sugarcane, a much greater impact for ethanol in terms of fuel use could be realized if the sugars from more recalcitrant cellulosic biomass could be converted to ethanol. Cellulosic biomass is the structural portion of plants and includes agricultural (e.g., corn stover, which is all of the above-ground portion of the corn plant, excluding the grain) and forestry (e.g., sawdust) residues, major fractions of municipal solid waste (e.g., waste paper and yard waste), and herbaceous (e.g., switchgrass) and woody (e.g., poplar) crops grown as energy resources. Although distinctive in outward appearance, these materials all comprise about 40–50% cellulose and 20–30% hemicellulose, with lesser amounts of lignin and other compounds such as sugars, oils, and minerals. Cellulose is a polymer of glucose sugar molecules that are physically linked together in a crystalline structure to provide structural support for plants. Hemicellulose is also made up of sugars covalently joined together in long chains, but it generally includes fve different sugars: arabinose, galactose, glucose, mannose, and xylose. In addition, hemicellulose is an amorphous, branched material. Lignin is a phenylpropene compound that can be viewed as a low-sulfur, immature coal.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 33 , Issue 4: Harnessing Materials for Energy , April 2008 , pp. 381 - 383
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

References

1.Wyman, C.E., Decker, S.R., Himmel, M.E., Brady, J.W., Skopec, C.E., Viikari, L., in Polysaccharides: Structural Diversity and Functional Versatility, Dumitriu, S., Ed. (Dekker, New York, ed. 2, 2004), p. 995.Google Scholar
2.Wyman, C.E., in Encyclopedia of Energy, Cleveland, C., Ed. (Elsevier, St. Louis, MO, 2004), p. 541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Wyman, C.E., Dale, B.E., Elander, R.T., Holtzapple, M., Ladisch, M.R., Lee, Y.Y., Bioresour. Technol. 96 (18), 2026 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Mosier, N., Wyman, C.E., Dale, B., Elander, R., Lee, Y.Y., Holtzapple, M., Ladisch, M., Bioresour. Technol. 96 (6), 673 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Wyman, C.E., Applied Energy Technology Series, 424 (Taylor and Francis, Washington, DC, 1996).Google Scholar
6.U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 2005 (DOE Report DOE/EIA-0384, 2005).Google Scholar
7.Perlack, R., Wright, L., Turhollow, A., Graham, R., Stokes, B., Erbach, D., Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-Ton Annual Supply (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 2005).Google Scholar
8.Farrell, A.E., Plevin, R.J., Turner, B.T., Jones, A.D., O'Hare, M., Kammen, D.M., Science 311, 506 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Wyman, C.E., Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 45–6, 897 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Kheshgi, H.S., Prince, R.C., Energy 30, 1865 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Lynd, L.R., Wyman, C.E., Gerngross, T.U., Biotechnol. Prog. 15 (5), 777 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.U.S. Department of Energy, Offce of Science, Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol, a Joint Research Agenda, a Research Roadmap Resulting from Biomass-to-Biofuels Workshop, Rockville, December 2005 (DOE/SC 0095, June 2006).Google Scholar
13.Wyman, C.E., Annu. Rev. Energy Environ. 24, 189 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Lynd, L.R., Elander, R.T., Wyman, C.E., Appl. Biochem. Biotechnol. 57–58, 741 (1996).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Wyman, C.E., Trends Biotechnol. 25 (4), 153 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Chem. Eng. Prog. 100 (12), 15 (2004).Google Scholar
17.Chem. Eng. News 83 (17), 10 (April 25, 2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar