Evaluation of different lignocellulosic raw materials as potential alternative feedstocks in biorefinery processes

• The chemical composition of alternative lignocellulosic biomass was evaluated.
• Results showed that some materials could be used together as biorefinery feedstocks.
• Autohydrolysis, soda and organosolv processes were applied to these feedstocks.
• Appropriate treatments were found for the proper exploitation of these materials.

In the present work several alternative lignocellulosic materials have been classified according to their type and origin, and chemically characterized in order to propose their proper exploitation as biorefinery feedstock. In addition, different fractionation processes have been applied to some of these raw materials with the purpose of evaluating their efficiency and applicability for different feedstocks. The yield of each applied treatment has been determined according to the delignification ratio and the carbohydrate dissolution degree achieved. The characterisation results indicated that different lignocellulosic feedstocks could be treated together in biorefinery processes because of similar compositions and fractionation behaviour. Furthermore, different pretreatments could be applied for the achievement of specific fractionation results, depending on the desired solid or liquid by-product to obtain.