Lignocellulose Conversion

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction: Potential of Cellulosic Ethanol

   • Takashi Watanabe

   Pages 1-20

3. Sources for Lignocellulosic Raw Materials for the Production of Ethanol

   • Yitzhak Hadar

   Pages 21-38

4. The Pretreatment Step in Lignocellulosic Biomass Conversion: Current Systems and New Biological Systems

   • Adenise Lorenci Woiciechowski, Luciana Porto de Souza Vandenberghe, Susan Grace Karp, Luiz Alberto Junior Letti, Júlio Cesar de Carvalho, Adriane Bianchi Pedroni Medeiros et al.

   Pages 39-64

5. The Saccharification Step: Trichoderma Reesei Cellulase Hyper Producer Strains

   • Venkatesh Balan, Mingjie Jin, Alan Culbertson, Nirmal Uppugundla

   Pages 65-91

6. The Saccharification Step: The Main Enzymatic Components

   • Marie Couturier, Jean-Guy Berrin

   Pages 93-110

7. Extremophilic (Hemi)cellulolytic Microorganisms and Enzymes

   • Beatrice Cobucci-Ponzano, Elena Ionata, Francesco La Cara, Alessandra Morana, Maria Carmina Ferrara, Luisa Maurelli et al.

   Pages 111-130

8. The Alcohol Fermentation Step: The Most Common Ethanologenic Microorganisms Among Yeasts, Bacteria and Filamentous Fungi

   • Parameswaran Binod, Raveendran Sindhu, Ashok Pandey

   Pages 131-149

9. Other Ethanologenic Microorganisms

   • Eulogio Castro

   Pages 151-168

10. Consolidated Bioprocessing for Improving Cellulosic Ethanol Production

    • Antonella Amore, Simona Giacobbe, Vincenza Faraco

    Pages 169-196

11. Back Matter

    Pages 197-199

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Bioethanol has been recognized as a potential alternative to petroleum-derived transportation fuels. Even if cellulosic biomass is less expensive than corn and sugarcane, the higher costs for its conversion make the near-term price of cellulosic ethanol higher than that of corn ethanol and even more than that of sugarcane ethanol. Conventional process for bioethanol production from lignocellulose includes a chemical/physical pre-treatment of lignocellulose for lignin removal, mostly based on auto hydrolysis and acid hydrolysis, followed by saccharification of the free accessible cellulose portions of the biomass. The highest yields of fermentable sugars from cellulose portion are achieved by means of enzymatic hydrolysis, currently carried out using a mix of cellulases from the fungus Trichoderma reesei. Reduction of (hemi)cellulases production costs is strongly required to increase competitiveness of second generation bioethanol production. The final step is the fermentation of sugars obtained from saccharification, typically performed by the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The current process is optimized for 6-carbon sugars fermentation, since most of yeasts cannot ferment 5-carbon sugars. Thus, research is aimed at exploring new engineered yeasts abilities to co-ferment 5- and 6-carbon sugars. Among the main routes to advance cellulosic ethanol, consolidate bio-processing, namely direct conversion of biomass into ethanol by a genetically modified microbes, holds tremendous potential to reduce ethanol production costs.   Finally, the use of all the components of lignocellulose to produce a large spectra of biobased products is another challenge for further improving competitiveness of second generation bioethanol production, developing a biorefinery. 

• bioethanol
• biofuels
• cellulosic ethanol
• enzymatic hydrolysis
• lignocellulose conversion
• lignocellulosic biomass

• Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Dept. of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy

  Vincenza Faraco

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