Chapter 4
Effective Biomass Valorization
Procedures Using Ultrasound
and Hydrodynamic Cavitation
Abstract The inherent chemical complexity of biomass renders it as a very attractive source to be recycled and converted into value-added chemicals representing
perhaps the largest challenge facing the twenty-first century. To face this issue, over
the last three decades, significant effort has been spent for the development of environmentally friendly protocols by means of non-conventional energy sources such
as ultrasound (US) and hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) for biomass pretreatment and
subsequent chemical transformations.
4.1 Introduction
The last few decades have been witness to increasing interest in renewable sources
of chemicals, materials and energy, as commonly used fossil sources begin to run
out. The use of biomass, in particular, has seen a growth spurt; a tendency that is
bound to intensify as renewables continues to become mainstream. The term biomass
commonly refers to animal- and vegetable-derived feedstocks, although most of the
biomass on earth is in the form of lignocellulose representing the non-edible part
of woody and herbaceous plants (Ahmad et al. 2017). In order to make best use
of the lignocellulosic material, its biomass can also be used in a biorefinery as an
alternative feedstock for the chemical industry (Amidon et al. 2008). However, some
challenging limitations still remain, despite the concept’s industrial potential being
enormous. The complexity of lignocellulosic biomass chemistry and the variability
in its structure are two significant drawbacks to its conversion. Moreover, its high
oxygen content as well as the presence of impurities of differing nature, polyfunctionality and low accessibility for catalysts and biocatalysts make transposing current
catalytic processes to the production of biomass rather difficult (Corma et al. 2007).
The conversion of lignocellulosic materials to get biofuels is made up of three key
steps: (1) the material pretreatment, (2) the cellulose and hemicellulose conversion
into fermentable sugars, and (3) the sugars fermentation into raw biofuels. Sugars can
Silvia Tabasso and Emanuela Calcio Gaudino contributed to this chapter.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018
J.-M. Lévêque et al., Organic Sonochemistry, Ultrasound and Sonochemistry,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98554-1_4
53
Effective Biomass Valorization
Procedures Using Ultrasound
and Hydrodynamic Cavitation
Abstract The inherent chemical complexity of biomass renders it as a very attractive source to be recycled and converted into value-added chemicals representing
perhaps the largest challenge facing the twenty-first century. To face this issue, over
the last three decades, significant effort has been spent for the development of environmentally friendly protocols by means of non-conventional energy sources such
as ultrasound (US) and hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) for biomass pretreatment and
subsequent chemical transformations.
4.1 Introduction
The last few decades have been witness to increasing interest in renewable sources
of chemicals, materials and energy, as commonly used fossil sources begin to run
out. The use of biomass, in particular, has seen a growth spurt; a tendency that is
bound to intensify as renewables continues to become mainstream. The term biomass
commonly refers to animal- and vegetable-derived feedstocks, although most of the
biomass on earth is in the form of lignocellulose representing the non-edible part
of woody and herbaceous plants (Ahmad et al. 2017). In order to make best use
of the lignocellulosic material, its biomass can also be used in a biorefinery as an
alternative feedstock for the chemical industry (Amidon et al. 2008). However, some
challenging limitations still remain, despite the concept’s industrial potential being
enormous. The complexity of lignocellulosic biomass chemistry and the variability
in its structure are two significant drawbacks to its conversion. Moreover, its high
oxygen content as well as the presence of impurities of differing nature, polyfunctionality and low accessibility for catalysts and biocatalysts make transposing current
catalytic processes to the production of biomass rather difficult (Corma et al. 2007).
The conversion of lignocellulosic materials to get biofuels is made up of three key
steps: (1) the material pretreatment, (2) the cellulose and hemicellulose conversion
into fermentable sugars, and (3) the sugars fermentation into raw biofuels. Sugars can
Silvia Tabasso and Emanuela Calcio Gaudino contributed to this chapter.
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018
J.-M. Lévêque et al., Organic Sonochemistry, Ultrasound and Sonochemistry,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98554-1_4
53