Total mass balances of SO2-ethanol-water (SEW) fractionation of forest biomass

The overall target of this project, called Bioforest, is to develop an economic process for the production of commodity chemicals from mixed forest biomass, consisting of logging residues of hardwoods (HW) and softwoods (SW) and also from recycled fibers. The aim is to dissolve the biomass lignin and to produce monosugars based on hemicelluloses and hydrolyzed cellulose in high yield. The hydrolyzate could subsequently be converted into chemicals by modified acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation. Here, the total mass balances of SO2-ethanol-water fractionation of different types of biomass feedstocks, such as SW and HW biomass, and deinked pulp are presented. Chemical composition of the feedstocks, solid residues (pulps) and spent liquors of fractionation were analyzed to gain more understanding about the fractionation procedure. The analysis was focused on carbohydrates, lignin, ash, acetyl groups and sugar degradation products. It was also examined if all feedstocks could be treated simultaneously in one digester because a larger feedstock supply within an economic transport radius improves the viability of the process. The fractionation approach was successful and it can be concluded that the method presented is very versatile for future applications in lignocellulosic biorefineries.