From biomass to second generation biofuels

The depletion of the non-renewable raw materials as petroleum, coal or natural gas as well as the increasing environmental conscience has motivated the valorization of biomass for energy production. Although the first efforts were focused on the development of the first generation biofuels -according to the raw material-, nowadays the research is focused on the second generation biofuels, which allows the transformation of lignocellulosic biomass (from forest or crops wastes, low-priced woods or sawdust) into energy. The transformation of wood into biofuels can be carried out by biological or chemical means. Among the chemical routes, there are three main possibilities: gasification, pyrolisis or hydrolysis. This paper aims to review the technological advances to obtain biofuels by the third route, since it allows using the most abundant forms of biomass, cellulose and hemicelluloses. This chemical process involves several steps: pretreatment of the biomass (by physical or chemical route), hydrolysis of the biomass, dehydration of sugars, aldolization and hydrogenation/ dehydration until n-alcanes (biofuels) are achieved.