AU: James H.

Clark
AU: Fabien E. I. Deswarte
AU: Thomas J. Farmer
TI: The integration of green chemistry into future biorefineries
SO: Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining
VL: 3
NO: 1
PG: 72-90
YR: 2009
CP: Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
ON: 1932-1031
PN: 1932-104X
AD: University of York, UK
DOI: 10.1002/bbb.119
US: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bbb.119
AB: The use of biorefineries for the production of chemicals as well as material
s and energy products is key to ensuring a sustainable future for the chemical a
nd allied industries. Through the integration of green chemistry into biorefiner
ies, and the use of low environmental impact technologies, we can establish futu
re supply chains for genuinely green and sustainable chemical products. The firs
t step in these future biorefineries should be the benign extraction of surface
chemicals; here the use of greener solvents, such as supercritical carbon dioxid
e and bioethanol, should be considered. The residues will often be rich in ligno
cellulosics and the effective separation of the cellulose is a major challenge w
hich may, in the future, be assisted by greener solvents, such as ionic liquids.
Lignin is nature's major source of aromatics; we need new ways to produce small
aromatic building blocks from lignin in order to satisfy the enormous and diver
se industrial demand for aromatics. Fermentation can be used to convert biomass
into a wide range of bioplatform chemicals in addition to ethanol. Their green c
hemical conversion to higher value chemicals is as important as their efficient
production; here clean technologies such as catalysis - notably biocatalysis and
heterogeneous catalysis - the use of benign solvents, and energy efficient reac
tors are essential. Thermochemical processes for the conversion of biomass, such
as the production of pyrolysis oil, will also play an important role in future
biorefineries and here again green chemistry methods should be used to go to hig
her value downstream chemicals. Published in 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd