This book is an archival reference for the evolving field of biomaterials and their applications in society, focusing on their composition, properties, characterization, chemistry and applications in bioenergy, chemicals, and novel materials and biomaterials. It has broad appeal due to the recent heightened awareness around bioenergy and biomass as potential replacements for petroleum feedstocks. The book is divided into three parts: cellulose-based biomaterials, chitin and chitosan biomaterials, and hemicelluloses and other polysaccharides. Each chapter addresses a separate biomaterial, discussing its chemical, physical, and biological attributes, and hones in on each compound's intrinsic tunability for numerous chemical transformations. In the current quest for a "green" economy and resources, this book will help inspire scientists towards novel sources for chemicals, materials, and energy in the years to come.

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into renewable fuels and other commodities has provided an appealing alternative towards supplanting global dependence on fossil fuels. The suitability of multitudes of plants for deconstruction to useful precursor molecules and products is currently being evaluated. These studies have probed a variety of phenotypic traits, including cellulose, non-cellulosic polysaccharide, lignin, and lignin monomer composition, glucose and xylose production following enzymatic hydrolysis, and an assessment of lignin-carbohydrate and lignin-lignin linkages, to name a few. These quintessential traits can provide an assessment of biomass recalcitrance, enabling researchers to devise appropriate deconstruction strategies. Plants with high polysaccharide and lower lignin contents have been shown to breakdown to monomeric sugars more readily. Not all plants contain ideal proportions of the various cell wall constituents, however. The capabilities of biotechnology can alleviate this conundrum by tailoring the chemical composition of plants to be more favorable for conversion to sugars, fuels, etc. Increases in the total biomass yield, cellulose content, or conversion efficiency through, for example, a reduction in lignin content, are pathways being evaluated to genetically improve plants for use in manufacturing biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Although plants have been previously domesticated for food and fiber production, the collection of phenotypic traits prerequisite for biofuel production may necessitate new genetic breeding schemes. Given the plethora of potential plants available for exploration, rapid analytical methods are needed to more efficiently screen through the bulk of samples to hone in on which feedstocks contain the desired chemistry for subsequent conversion to valuable, renewable commodities. The standard methods for analyzing biomass and related intermediates and finished products are laborious, potentially toxic, and/or destructive. They may also necessitate a complex data analysis, significantly increasing the experimental time and add unwanted delays in process monitoring, where delays can incur in significant costs. Advances in thermochemical and spectroscopic techniques have enabled the screening of thousands of plants for different phenotypes, such as cell-wall cellulose, non-cellulosic polysaccharide, and lignin composition, lignin monomer composition, or monomeric sugar release. Some instrumental methods have been coupled with multivariate analysis, providing elegant chemometric predictive models enabling the accelerated identification of potential feedstocks. In addition to the use of high-throughput analytical methods for the characterization of feedstocks based on phenotypic metrics, rapid instrumental techniques have been developed for the real-time monitoring of diverse processes, such as the efficacy of a specific pretreatment strategy, or the formation of end products, such as biofuels and biomaterials. Real-time process monitoring techniques are needed for all stages of the feedstocks-to-biofuels conversion process in order to maximize efficiency and lower costs by monitoring and optimizing performance. These approaches allow researchers to adjust experimental conditions during, rather than at the conclusion, of a process, thereby decreasing overhead expenses. This Frontiers Research Topic explores options for the modification of biomass composition and the conversion of these feedstocks into to biofuels or biomaterials and the related innovations in methods for the analysis of the composition of plant biomass, and advances in assessing up- and downstream processes in real-time. Finally, a review of the computational models available for techno-economic modeling and lifecycle analysis will be presented.

In diesem Werk werden Polysaccharide unter sämtlichen Aspekten betrachtet, von den Grundkonzepten bis zur kommerziellen Vermarktung. Thema der einzelnen Kapitel sind die verschiedenen Arten von Quellen, die Klassifikation, Eigenschaften, Charakterisierung, Verarbeitung, Rheologie und Herstellung von Materialien auf Grundlage von Polysacchariden sowie von Polysaccharid-Gemischen und -Gelen. Anwendung finden Polysaccharide u. a. in der Kosmetik, der Lebensmittelwissenschaft, der Medikamentenverabreichung, der Biomedizin, der Biokraftstoffproduktion, der Schifffahrt, im Verpackungswesen, in der Chromatographie und der Umweltsanierung. Darüber hinaus vermittelt das Werk einen Überblick über die Herstellung von anorganischen und Kohlenstoff-Nanomaterialien aus Polysacchariden. Mit der Betrachtung industrieller Anwendungen schließt das Buch die Lücke zwischen der Forschungsarbeit im Labor und wirtschaftlich nutzbaren Anwendungen in entsprechenden Unternehmen.

Biogenesis Of Plant Cell Wall Polysaccharides ...

This book examines the connection between biomass structure, ultrastructure, and composition, to resistance to enzymatic deconstruction, with the aim of discovering new cost-effective technologies for biorefineries. It contains chapters on topics extending from the highest levels of biorefinery design and biomass life-cycle analysis, to detailed aspects of plant cell wall structure, chemical treatments, enzymatic hydrolysis, and product fermentation options."--Pub. desc.

Materials from renewable resources are receiving increased attention, as leading industries and manufacturers attempt to replace declining petrochemical-based feedstocks with products derived from natural biomass, such as cereal straws. Cereal straws are expected to play an important role in the shift toward a sustainable economy, and a basic knowledge of the composition and structure of cereal straw is the key to using it wisely. Cereal Straw as a Resource for Sustainable Biomaterials and Biofuels: Chemistry, Extractives, Lignins, Hemicelluloses and Cellulose provides an introduction to straw chemistry. Topics discussed include the structure, ultrastructure, and chemical composition of straw; the structure and isolation of extractives from the straw; the three main components of straw: cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignins; and chemical modifications of straw for industrial applications. This book will be helpful to scientists interested in the areas of natural resource management, environmental chemistry, plant chemistry, material science, polysaccharide chemistry, and lignin chemistry. It will also be of interest to academic and industrial scientists/researchers interested in novel applications of agricultural residues for industrial and/or recycling technologies. - Provides the basics of straw composition and the structure of its cell walls - Details the procedures required to fractionate straw components to produce chemical derivatives from straw cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignins - Elucidates new techniques for the production of biodegradable materials for the energy sector, chemical industry, and pulp and paper business