| Chemical |
Chemical applicationsThe biorefining of agricultural crops as sources for platform chemical production is approaching cost-competitiveness to petroleum-based products, with a host of spin-off opportunities. Industrial partners will benefit by using triticale not only as a source of starch, but also for value-added opportunities found in its green and lignocellulosic biomass. Chemicals from triticale starchMost of the products of the petrochemical industry are derived from nine foundation chemicals. Just as hydrocarbons are broken down at petrochemical refineries into simple molecules, complex carbohydrates such as those found in triticale can be broken down to their constituent sugars and other simple chemical derivatives. The processes for producing industrial quantities of these simple sugars are essentially the same as those required for commercial ethanol production. These simple sugars can produce a wide range of platform chemicals for industrial chemical synthesis by conventional fermentation or thermochemical treatments. Top-12 building blocks from plant carbohydratesThe U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has identified 12 sugar-derived building blocks it favours for development as chemical building blocks from starch, fructans, cellulose and hemicellulose.
Chemicals from triticale green biomassChemicals can be produced from the green biomass of whole, immature triticale plants. Forage can be processed as either whole fresh material right off the field, pretreated to convert enzyme activity or as silage material. Separation technologies can segregate the solids to produce crude fibre for animal feed or technical fibre materials such as insulation. The liquid portion is an ideal fermentation substrate to extract chlorophyll or produce proteins and amino acids. The future beyond sugars and green biomassIn the paper industry, pulping processes have been used commercially for separating cellulose from lignin and other components of lignocellulosic biomass. In these processes, the chemical values of both hemicellulose and lignin are largely under-utilized. Only 40% of biomass is recovered as a commodity cellulose product in a common Kraft pulping process. Most of the hemicellulose and lignin are dissolved to black liquor and subsequently burned for fuel value only. Lignocellulosic biomass from triticale is found in the straw, bran and distillers’ grains. The challenge is to develop economically viable technologies for fractionating this biomass into platform chemicals. Multi-functional fractionation processes -- comprising hydrothermal, chemical and biological treatments -- are being evaluated to allow the recovery of fermentable sugars (C5 and C6), lignin and ferulic acid. |