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Updated: Feb 21, 2026

Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass with Low-cost Ionic Liquids
Published on: August 10, 2016
Lignocellulosic biorefinery as a model for sustainable development of biofuels and value added products
Goldy De Bhowmick1, Ajit K Sarmah1, Ramkrishna Sen2
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Abstract:
A constant shift of society's dependence from petroleum-based energy resources towards renewable biomass-based has been the key to tackle the greenhouse gas emissions. Effective use of biomass feedstock, particularly lignocellulosic, has gained worldwide attention lately. Lignocellulosic biomass as a potent bioresource, however, cannot be a sustainable alternative if the production cost is too high and/ or the availability is limited. Recycling the lignocellulosic biomass from various sources into value added products such as bio-oil, biochar or other biobased chemicals in a bio-refinery model is a sensible idea. Combination of integrated conversion techniques along with process integration is suggested as a sustainable approach. Introducing 'series concept' accompanying intermittent dark/photo fermentation with co-cultivation of microalgae is conceptualised. While the cost of downstream processing for a single type of feedstock would be high, combining different feedstocks and integrating them in a bio-refinery model would lessen the production cost and reduce CO2 emission.
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