Increasing the Value of Wood-Based Lignocellulosic Fiber
ID: 3494

Abstract: This panel has the objectives to provide an overview of the current challenges and opportunities presented to the forestry sector and address the issue of how bioprocessing and biotechnology could help to enhance the value extracted from wood-based lignocellulosic fiber. Forestry is traditionally a strong economic sector in North America which provides an abundant biomass source of biorenewable energy. The US Department of Energy has recently projected that more than 1.3 billion tons of biomass could be produced annually on a sustainable basis in US which could provide more than a third of the country’s gasoline demand in 2004. About a third of the biomass resources in US are wood-based whereas approximately 50 % of biomass that is available for biorefining in Canada is from the forest sector with over 65 % composed of softwood. Due to the strong and increasing off-shore competition and global movement and incentives for green fuels and chemicals, the North American pulp and paper industry needs to create additional revenues and diversify their products and markets to remain competitive. To achieve this, the pulp and paper mills need to evolve into Integrated Forest Biorefineries (IFBR). IFBR are processing and conversion facilities that fully integrate forest biomass for simultaneous production of marketplace products, including fibers for pulp and paper products, chemicals and energy.



Dr Lew Christopher, Professor and Director of the Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD) at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, will present an overview of the IFBR research needs and production platforms. Products derived from the IFBR platforms employing both biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes as well models of integrated technological schemes for the complex utilization of forest biomass for biofuels, biochemicals and market pulp will be discussed. Consolidation of the processing steps would increase the process integration by minimizing the number of process steps and re-using the process streams. The main technological, political and market-related challenges that need to be overcome to maximize the IFBR value will be summarized.



Dr Emma Master, Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, will summarize recent genomic and proteomic data collected from softwood-degrading microorganisms to develop enzyme formulations for efficient production of platform sugars from softwood fiber. While considerable attention has been placed on the conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals, high-value products from pulp fibre will be important to the economic feasibility of the IFBR. Enzymes are attractive tools for pulp fibre engineering and production of new forest products since they can catalyze specific modifications of highly functionalized substrates without affecting valuable pulp properties, including fibre length and degree of polymerization. The latest research at University of Toronto on isolation and engineering of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes that modify the surface reactivity and hydrophobicity of pulp fibre will be described.



Dr Adriaan van Heiningen, J. Larcom Ober Chair of Chemical Engineering at University of Maine, will focus his talk on fractionation of lignocellulosic fiber into its principal components and their separate utilization. Higher value is created from the wood fiber by producing cellulosic pulp at the same yield as presently obtained by conventional chemical pulping, while transportation fuels and bulk chemicals are created from the hemicellulose and lignin fractions. Two lignocellulosic fractionation processes will be described: one - based on a modified kraft process whereby part of the hemicellulose is pre-extracted before kraft pulping, and a second - a hybrid form of the acid sulfite pulping and organosolv processes. Conversion of the fractionated process streams of polymeric or monomeric hemicellulose solutions, precipitated lignin and cellulose into paper pulp, transportation fluids (ethanol, butanol) and chemicals (acetic acid, furfural, levulinic acid) will be discussed, and the latest results obtained will be presented.



Michael Paice, Principal Scientist and Biotechnology Group Leader at FPInnovations, Paprican Division, Montreal, will summarize recent research on bioproducts from dissolving pulp manufacturing. Four mills in Canada are currently producing dissolving pulps by prehydrolysis kraft or sulfite pulping. Traditionally, ethanol and yeasts have been produced from spent sulfite liquors. Hydrolysis of cellulosic residues from the sulfite process provides an opportunity to increase ethanol production. However, for this to be cost-effective, enzyme costs have to be minimized. For prehydrolysis kraft, cooking conditions for hardwoods can be optimized to target products for prehydrolyzate pentose sugars with various market applications. We have analyzed individual wood sugars, acetic acid, furfural, and phenols. A significant financial incentive for bioproducts is the offloading of the recovery boiler which allows increased pulp production.

Moderator: Lew Christopher, Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD) (United States)

Presenter 1: Increasing the Value of Lignocellulosic Fibers
Lew Christopher, Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD), (United States)  [Confirmed]

Presenter 2: Enzymes for Fibre Processing and Transformation to High-value Materials  
Emma Master, University of Toronto, (Canada)  [Confirmed]

Presenter 3: The Lignocellulosic Fractionation Processes for Pulp, Transportation Fuels and Chemicals Production  
Adriaan van Heiningen, University of Maine, (United States)  [Confirmed]

Presenter 4 (if necessary): Bioproducts from Dissolving Pulp Manufacturing 
Michael Paice, FPInnovations, (Canada)  [Confirmed]

Panel Organizer:
Lew Christopher, Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD), (United States)

Why should your submission should be selected for this year’s program?
A current overview of the opportunities and challenges to increase the value extracted from wood-based lignocellulosic fiber employing both biochemical and thermochemical conversion processes will be delivered. The latest research on engineering of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes for selective fiber surface modifications and on fiber fractionation and utilization for paper pulp, transportation fluids and chemicals for enhanced fiber value will be summarized.