Pretreatment and conversion of lignocellulose biomass into valuable chemicals

In the past three decades, many studies on the production of biofuels and other chemicals have been conducted using renewable sources such as lignocellulosic biomass. Lignocellulosic biomasses are abundantly available in most countries and furthermore they are carbon neutral. However, the main problem in utilizing lignocellulosic materials lies in the recalcitrance of its bonding. This review provides a comprehensive overview and a brief discussion on producing biofuel and valuable chemicals from lignocellulose biomass. Various aspects of the physical, chemical, thermophysical, thermochemical and biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials are discussed in this review. The success in biofuel and chemical production strongly depends on the pretreatment method used. Overall, pretreatment is the major step in the successful production of valuable products from lignocellulosic biomass.