Sofie Dobbelaere, Tom Anthonis, and Wim Soetaert

Centre of Expertise for Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis,
Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Belgium

2.1 Introduction

Until the last century, plant-based resources were largely focused towards food, feed, and fiber production. In addition, biomass has been a major source of energy for mankind worldwide. However, plant/crop-based renewable resources are also a viable alternative to the current dependence on non-renewable, diminishing fossil fuels, to alleviate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and a strategic option to meet the growing need for industrial building blocks and bioenergy. Indeed, biomass seems a very promising resource for substituting fossil hydrocarbons as a renewable source of energy and as a sustainable raw material for various industrial sectors. Over the past decades, the use of biomass has increased rapidly in many parts of the world, mainly to meet the often ambitious targets for energy supply.

Developing biomass into a sustainable, domestic source of affordable biochemicals and biofuels requires the flexibility to use a wide variety of, preferably, non-food biomass resources. Lignocellulosic biomass such as agricultural and forestry residues and herba­ceous energy crops can serve as low-cost renewable feedstock for many, next-generation, bio-derived products. However, the use of biomass as feedstock for the production of materials, products or energy requires new technologies well adapted to the physical cha­racteristics of the biomass. The use of plant/crop resources for energy, or as basic building

Cellulosic Energy Cropping Systems, First Edition. Edited by Douglas L. Karlen. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

blocks for industrial production, has been limited because of a poor fit with the hydro­carbon processing system that has been successfully developed to utilize fossil fuels [1]. Although biomass is a nearly universal feedstock, characterized by a high versatility, domes­tic availability, and renewability, at the same time it has also its limitations. Over the years, numerous research and development efforts have been undertaken to develop and apply new cost-efficient conversion processes for lignocellulosic biomass. This chapter gives an overview of the conversion technologies for liquid fuels and biochemicals.