木质素生物炼制研究进展

木质素为天然的芳香族聚合物,是自然界第二大丰富的可再生碳源,占木质纤维素干重的15%~30%。因木质素富含芳香族结构,故其具有极高的应用价值。生物法转化利用木质素具有专一性强和环境友好等特点,使得木质素生物炼制成为研究热点。本文根据国内外研究进展,从木质素降解酶的研究现状、芳香族化合物胞内代谢途径及木质素生物基化学品研究进展等几个方面做了综述。     

木质素的微生物解聚与高值转化

木质纤维素是地球上最丰富的可再生资源。我国每年产生约9亿吨农业秸秆,因得不到有效利用,不仅造成资源浪费,也产生了诸多严峻的环境问题。缺少木质素的高效降解和资源化利用技术是限制木质纤维素产业化的主要瓶颈之一。虽然木质素的降解与转化多年来一直都受到关注,但是由于木质素结构的复杂性及异质性,使其高效利用受限。近年来,微生物具有的“生物漏斗”式转化特性为木质素的高值转化和利用提供了新方向。本文就生物质利用研究以来,微生物在木质素解聚与转化方面的研究历程与最新进展进行了简要的回顾与总结,并初步讨论了目前木质素高值转化面临的机遇与挑战。     

生物炼制技术的发展

随着石油资源的日益枯竭,化石经济面临严峻的挑战,而以町再生生物质资源为基础的生物炼制正展现出其广阔的前景。通过石油炼制与生物炼制的对比,分析了生物炼制任各个方面所具有的优势。并以生物乙烯为例,阐述了其发展现状、存在问题及解决途径、未来发展趋势等。     

生物炼制与可再生资源

分析了化石经济时代走入末路而将被生物炼制产业经济取代的必然性,生物炼制在原料来源和产品上显示了比石油炼制工艺的优越性,介绍了世界各国生物炼制产业发展状况及我国的现状,总结了生物炼制的基本过程,指出了我国生物炼制产业发展中存在的问题和对策,对全球生物炼制产业做了展望,阐述了生物炼制利用可再生资源是走可持续性经济发展道路的唯一实现途径,它必将引发全球性的技术变革。     

微藻生物炼制技术

积极发展以生物质原料为基础的生物炼制产业,对于解决能源危机、改善能源结构具有重大意义。微藻作为一种重要的生物质资源,具有分布广、生物量大、光合效率高、环境适应性强、生长周期短和产量高等突出特点,是进行生物炼制的优良材料,它在生产微藻燃料、开发微藻生物制剂和提取生物活性物质等方面具有广阔的开发前景。综述了微藻的培养特点和功能,介绍了微藻生物炼制技术的内容和领域,并对其发展前景作出展望。     

秸秆分层多级转化液体燃料新工艺的研究进展

目前,秸秆主要作为性质单一组分的纤维素原料而采用生物转化法或快速热解法加以利用。生物转化法主要利用纤维素,而利用木质素和半纤维素较困难;快速热解生物质又使部分组分低值利用,而且得到的生物油品质低。为解决单一的生物或热转化方式存在的问题,提出秸秆分层多级转化液体燃料的新构思,即以秸秆“组分分离、分级定向转化”为核心,将生物转化和热转化有机结合多级转化生产燃料酒精与生物油。研究结果表明,秸秆经过汽爆处理后,采用高浓度发酵一分离乙醇耦合系统,可降低纤维素酶用量,提高了纤维素酶解效率,而且简化操作过程,使蒸馏前乙醇浓度达到60％以上。发酵乙醇剩余物再经热解后,不但热解温度较原秸秆明显降低,而且所得生物油品质有了明显改观。     

生物炼制技术及其产业发展

由于过度消耗化石资源引发的石油紧缺和温室效应问题,巳逐步影响到人类社会可持续发展的宗旨,开发能替代化石能源需求的新能源日渐急迫.生物质能源是化石能源的替代能源之一,对生物质能源炼制的研究成为很多人的关注热点.生物炼制产品的工业化,是形成可持续性的生物炼制品产业经济的关键.我国政府已经把发展生物质能源作为国家发展战略的一部分,确定了具体的发展目标,制定了相应的研发计划,出台了一系列法规以促进生物质能产业的健康发展.我国生物炼制技术在生物燃料、生物柴油、生物基化学品等领域取得了明显进步.本文主要综述生物炼制技术的研究进展及其产业发展情况.     

纤维素乙醇的生物炼制及研究进展

纤维素乙醇是以农业废弃生物质中的纤维素为主要原料、通过微生物发酵转化而成的生物燃料产品。作为一种绿色可再生替代能源,纤维素乙醇具有显著的能量收益和碳减排效益,对保障我国可持续发展、能源安全以及环境友好意义重大。然而,纤维素乙醇的生物炼制过程面临着难点和挑战。本文围绕纤维素原料及其预处理、纤维素酶水解和纤维素乙醇发酵工艺3个方面,介绍纤维素乙醇生物炼制的工艺流程及特征,剖析纤维素乙醇生产的主要技术瓶颈,并基于菌株抑制物胁迫耐性、碳源利用以及乙醇合成强化3个方面,总结了近年来纤维素乙醇生物炼制的研究进展,最后对纤维素乙醇未来的研究重点和发展前景进行了展望。     

生物法处理木质素的研究进展

对生物法处理木质素进行了简要概述,包括微生物降解、生物法酸析提取木质素以及生物法纯化木质素的效果及其研究进展.生物法处理木质素对资源的合理利用、经济的发展以及环境保护具有重要的意义.     

Biomass pretreatments capable of enabling lignin valorization in a biorefinery process

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秸秆汽爆炼制木质素制备酚醛泡沫材料

以木质纤维素为原料的生物炼制不仅需要考虑到纤维素和半纤维素,同时也需要考虑到木质素的利用,以提高木质纤维素炼制的整体经济效益。利用汽爆处理的玉米秸秆为原料,通过优化碱提取的温度以及碱浓度,获得木质素得率较高,糖含量较少的提取液,同时该提取液经过浓缩后直接部分替代苯酚与甲醛反应制备酚醛泡沫。结果表明:当提取温度120℃,碱浓度1%,固液比1∶10,提取时间2 h,木质素的提取率达到79.67%。由该提取液替代苯酚制备的酚醛泡沫随着替代率的增加,其泡沫的密度逐渐增加,其压缩强度相对于纯酚醛泡沫也得到了提高。而木质素的加入并没有显著影响其热导率以及阻燃性能,同时由于其利用较为低廉的可再生资源木质素替代不可再生的苯酚原料,成本低,环保性好,具有更好的市场应用前景。采用木质素提液直接制备酚醛泡沫材料,工艺流程简单;增加了副产物木质素的经济价值,提高了整个木质纤维素炼制的经济性。     

Flexible biorefinery for producing fermentation sugars, lignin and pulp from corn stover

A new biorefining process is presented that embodies green processing and sustainable development. In the spirit of a true biorefinery, the objective is to convert agricultural residues and other biomass feedstocks into value-added products such as fuel ethanol, dissolving pulp, and lignin for resin production. The continuous biomass fractionation process yields a liquid stream rich in hemicellulosic sugars, a lignin-rich liquid stream, and a solid cellulose stream. This paper generally discusses potential applications of the three streams and specifically provides results on the evaluation of the cellulose stream from corn stover as a source of fermentation sugars and specialty pulp. Enzymatic hydrolysis of this relatively pure cellulose stream requires significantly lower enzyme loadings because of minimal enzyme deactivation from nonspecific binding to lignin. A correlation was shown to exist between lignin removal efficiency and enzymatic digestibility. The cellulose produced was also demonstrated to be a suitable replacement for hardwood pulp, especially in the top ply of a linerboard. Also, the relatively pure nature of the cellulose renders it suitable as raw material for making dissolving pulp. This pulping approach has significantly smaller environmental footprint compared to the industry-standard kraft process because no sulfur- or chlorine-containing compounds are used. Although this option needs some minimal post-processing, it produces a higher value commodity than ethanol and, unlike ethanol, does not need extensive processing such as hydrolysis or fermentation. Potential use of low-molecular weight lignin as a raw material for wood adhesive production is discussed as well as its use as cement and feed binder. As a baseline application the hemicellulosic sugars captured in the hydrolyzate liquor can be used to produce ethanol, but potential utilization of xylose for xylitol fermentation is also feasible. Markets and values of these applications are juxtaposed with market penetration and saturation.     

木质素代谢的生理意义及其遗传控制研究进展

木质素含量及其相关酶系活性与植物的生长发育、抗病性、抗逆性密切相关．在造纸工业中,木质素处理是造成环境污染的重要来源。本文对木质素代谢在植物生长发育过程中的生理意义及近年来通过控制PAL、4CL、CAD、POD等酶的活性调节木质素含量或改变其组分方面的研究进展进行了综合评述,并对今后的林木育种工作进行了展望。     

木质素的生物合成及其调控研究进展

木质素是植物体中仅次于纤维素的一种重要大分子有机物质,具有重要生物学功能,其3种主要单体的生物合成途径已经基本清楚。从木质素生物合成及基因工程在调控木质素生物合成中的作用等方面的研究进展进行了综述,并提出了存在的问题及对策。     

Enhanced bioenergy recovery from rapeseed plant in a biorefinery concept

The present study investigated the utilization of the whole rapeseed plant (seed and straw) for multi-biofuels production in a biorefinery concept. Results showed that bioethanol production from straw was technically feasible with ethanol yield of 0.15 g ethanol/g dry straw after combined alkaline peroxide and stream pretreatment. The byproducts (rapeseed cake, glycerol, hydrolysate and stillage) were evaluated for hydrogen and methane production. In batch experiments, the energy yields from each feedstock for, either methane production alone or for both hydrogen and methane, were similar. However, results from continuous experiments demonstrated that the two-stage hydrogen and methane fermentation process could work stably at organic loading rate up to 4.5 gVS/(Ld), while the single-stage methane production process failed. The energy recovery efficiency from rapeseed plant increased from 20% in the conventional biodiesel process to 60% in the biorefinery concept, by utilization of the whole rapeseed plant for biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and methane production.     

Biocatalysis in ionic liquids for lignin valorization: Opportunities and recent developments

Lignin holds tremendous potential as a renewable feedstock for upgrading to a number of high-value chemicals and products that are derived from the petroleum industry at present. Since lignin makes up a significant fraction of lignocellulosic biomass, co-utilization of lignin in addition to cellulose and hemicelluloses is vital to the economic viability of cellulosic biorefineries. The recalcitrant nature of lignin, originated from the molecule's compositional and structural heterogeneity, however, poses great challenges toward effective and selective lignin depolymerization and valorization. Ionic liquid (IL) is a powerful solvent that has demonstrated high efficiency in fractionating lignocellulosic biomass into sugar streams and a lignin stream of reduced molecular weight. Compared to thermochemical methods, biological lignin deconstruction takes place at mild temperature and pressure while product selectivity can be potentially improved via the specificity of biocatalysts (lignin degrading enzymes, LDEs). This review focuses on a lignin valorization strategy by harnessing the biomass fractionating capabilities of ILs and the substrate and product selectivity of LDEs. Recent advances in elucidating enzyme-IL interactions as well as strategies for improving enzyme activity in IL are discussed, with specific emphases on biocompatible ILs, thermostable and IL-tolerant enzymes, enzyme immobilization, and surface charge engineering. Also reviewed is the protein engineering toolsets (directed evolution and rational design) to improve the biocatalysts' activity, stability and product selectivity in IL systems. The alliance between IL and LDEs offers a great opportunity for developing a biocatalytic route for lignin valorization.     

Preparation of lignin nanoparticles via ultra-fast microwave-assisted fractionation of lignocellulose using ternary deep eutectic solvents

Lignin separation from natural lignocellulose for the preparation of lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) is often challenging owing to the recalcitrant and complex structure of lignocellulose. This paper reports a strategy for the rapid synthesis of LNPs via microwave-assisted lignocellulose fractionation using ternary deep eutectic solvents (DESs). A novel ternary DES with strong hydrogen bonding was prepared using choline chloride, oxalic acid, and lactic acid in a 1:0.5:1 ratio. Efficient fractionation of rice straw (0.5 × 2.0 cm) (RS) was realized by the ternary DES under microwave irradiation (680 W) within only 4 min, and 63.4% of lignin could be separated from the RS to prepare LNPs with a high lignin purity (86.8%), an average particle size of 48–95 nm, and a narrow size distribution. The mechanism of lignin conversion was also investigated, which revealed that dissolved lignin aggregated into LNPs via π–π stacking interactions.     

Advances in modifying lignin structures for largely enhancing high-lignin biomass saccharification

Traditional chemical treatments require high energy and concentrated agents to decrease high-lignin biomass recalcitrance during lignin removal. A low-cost and environment-friendly method via modifying the lignin structure without lignin degradation overcomes lignin barrier in wood-feeding termites. In this study, thermal hydroxyl radicals in the biomimetic system performed in high-lignin cassava stillage residues did not reduce total lignin level but altered the lignin monostructure. The major β-O-4′ remained conserved, whereas hydroxylation and modification of selective intermonomer side-chain linkages occurred in the treated lignin. The treatment can enhance enzymatic saccharification with cellulose conversion of cassava stillage residues at 97%, twice higher than that of the control. In addition, the modified lignin exhibited low invalid adsorption capacity into commercial cellulases, thereby improving the performance of cellulosic feedstock. Modifying the lignin structure, instead of removing lignin, provides new insights for development of novel treatments for high-lignin biomass.