Biomass derived organic

The rehydration product of HMF, levulinic acid, is also regarded as a potential biomass derived organic compound [35, 39,40]. Levulinic acid could be utilized as feedstock for several large volume chemicals (Fig. 7), e.g., methyltetrahydrofuran and levulinate esters (fuel additives), delta-amino-levulinic acid (herbicide), and diphenohc acid (replacer for bisphenol A for polycarbonates). 

The European Commission wants to have a contribution of 12% energy from renewable sources to the energy budget within the EC in 2010. The relative amount of bio-fuels will increase to a level of 5.75%, this is more than twice the corresponding use of oil. The US Department of energy has set goals to replace 30% of the liquid petroleum transportation fuels with biofuels and to replace 25% of industrial organic chemicals with biomass-derived chemicals by 2025 [7]. 

Other important parameters in the steam reforming process are temperature, which depends on the type of oxygenate, the steam-to-carbon ratio and the catalyst-to-feed ratio. For instance, methanol and acetic acid, which are simple oxygenated organic compounds, can be reformed at temperatures lower than 800 °C. On the other hand, more complex biomass-derived liquids may need higher temperatures and a large amount of steam to gasify efficiently the carbonaceous deposits formed by thermal decomposition. 

Chan, M. N., Choi, M. Y., Ng, N. L., and Chan, C. K. (2005). Hygroscopicity of water-soluble organic compounds in atmospheric aerosols Amino acids and biomass burning derived organic species. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39,1555-1562. 

Boschker, H.T.S., de Brower, I.F.C., and Cappenberg, T.E. (1999) The contribution of macrophyte-derived organic matter to microbial biomass in salt-marsh sediments Stable carbon isotope analysis of microbial biomarkers. Limnol. Oceanogr. 44, 309-319. 

The liquid portion of biomass-derived process samples may also contain carbohydrate degradation products, such as 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde (HMF), levulinic acid, and furfural, as well as other components of interest, such as organic acids and sugar alcohols. Portfolio methods are available for the quantitative measurement of these degradation products and byproducts of polymer hydrolysis. 

Microbial processing by direct fermentation of primary biomass derivatives such as glucose can be used to synthesize a large number of organic chemicals. The cellular components that facilitate these processes are enzymes, the protein catalysts produced by the microorganisms. Some examples of direct fermenta-... 

TABLE 13.6 Examples of Organic Chemicals Produced by Direct Fermentation of a Primary Biomass Derivative ... 

Liquefaction processes for biomass conversion can be categorized as slurry-phase. high-pressure processing, usually with catalysts or as dry pyrolysis at low or reduced pressure. The research has concentiated on the fuel properties and has often overlooked tiie detailed chemical analysis of the biomass-derived products. Both process types produce a complex mix of oxygenated organic components. The... 

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