2012 Science Report

Biomass-to-Products Pipeline

As Great Lakes Bioenergy charges ahead into its sixth year of basic research, our scientists and engineers are focused on using each plant cell component, chemical intermediate and building block to help replace fossil fuels and other petroleum products while adding value to the biofuels production chain. The diagram below lays out the starting materials, intermediate components and variety of end uses for cellulosic biomass that are being explored within GLBRC labs. See the definitions (below) for terms that are shown in the diagram or referenced throughout the report.

Products

  • Cellulosic biofuel: Renewable fuel that is derived from the non-food parts of plant biomass, such as leaves and stalks.
  • Co-products: Useful compounds other than fuels generated during biofuel processes. May have important commercial applications that can add value to biofuel production and industry.
  • Drop-in fuel: Can be used within existing energy infrastructure with little additional modification or cost.

Processes

  • Fermentation: Process where microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast break down organic matter into simpler compounds. In the case of ethanol, yeast is used to ferment simple sugars, yielding both carbon dioxide and fuel.
  • Fermentation inhibitor: Formed during the breakdown of plant sugars, chemical inhibitors can hamper fermentation by interfering with the activity of fermentation microbes. Some inhibitors have value as platform chemicals (see "Platform Chemicals Create New Value Streams").
  • Hydrolysis: Chemical decomposition of a compound involving reaction with water. In many biomass deconstruction reactions, enzymes are used to catalyze hydrolysis.
  • Pretreatment: Process performed prior to biomass deconstruction and conversion to biofuel which may involve using a combination of heat and chemicals to break down plant material.

Building Blocks

  • Lignin: Irregular, branching organic polymer that makes up a third of all plant biomass, and lends rigidity and structure to plant tissues.
  • Platform chemicals: Form the chemical foundation for a variety of value-added compounds used in the manufacture of both industrial and everyday products and materials.
  • Monosaccharide, or simple sugar: Basic molecular unit of all carbohydrates. Examples include glucose, xylose, sucrose, lactose, and fructose. Food source for fermentation microbes.
  • Polysaccharide, or complex carbohydrate: Long chain of monosaccharide molecules. Cellulose, a glucose polysaccharide, is the most abundant organic compound on earth; it forms the structural basis of plant cell walls, and is the primary storage unit for sugars used in biofuel production.

Feedstocks

  • Biomass: In the context of biofuels, the agricultural residues, forestry materials, crops, vegetation, and other plant materials that can be converted to energy.
  • Biofuel feedstocks: Raw plant material used to produce cellulosic biomass, such as corn stover (the stalk and leaves of the corn plant), grasses and woody plants.
Biomass to products pipeline
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Published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC)

Produced by the GLBRC Communications Department

Writers: Margaret Broeren, Celia Luterbacher and Heather Heggemeier

Design and Photography (unless otherwise noted): Matthew Wisniewski

Cover Photos: Thomas Kuster, USDA Forest Products Lab; Heather Heggemeier; Matthew Wisniewski; Jessica Will, University of Georgia and Sarynna Lopez Meza, GLBRC

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