Improving revenue from lignocellulosic biofuels: An integrated strategy for coproducing liquid transportation fuels and high value-added chemicals

In conventional biomass-to-biofuel production processes, cellulose and hemicellulose are converted only to biofuels. However, to improve the economics of the process, it is desirable that some fractions of biomass be produced as fuels and other fractions as chemicals. This coproduction of fuels and chemicals also enables a flexible response to the market conditions of bioproducts, rather than producing only biofuels or biochemicals. Moreover, the use of all fractions, not only cellulose and hemicellulose but also lignin, improves the economics of the process. We propose a biorefinery strategy for the coproduction of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, all three primary components of biomass were converted into high-value products that can be commercialized: (1) cellulose, which is converted into butene oligomers (BO) for transportation fuels, (2) hemicellulose, which is converted into 1,5-pentanediol (1,5-PDO) that can be used as polyester and polyurethane components, and (3) lignin, which is converted into carbon products, such as carbon fibers or battery anodes. By maximizing the biomass utilization up to 47.8% from biomass to valuable products, the economic viability of the proposed process can be increased. Technoeconomic analysis shows that the minimum selling price of BO is $4.21 per gallon of gasoline equivalent in the integrated strategy, indicating that it is a promising alternative to current biofuel production approaches.