LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS PRETREATMENT FOR BIOFUEL PRODUCTION

The energetic crisis of recent years, as well as the increasing greenhouse gas emissions, have created premisesfor identification and exploitation of new, non-polluting and economic energy sources. Thus, have appearedconcerns in the field of biofuel production from renewable materials.Worldwide, biomass is considered the most valuable source of alternative energy to fossil fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass, consisting of agricultural and forest residues, animal manure and energy crops,is considered the main substrate for the production of second-generation biofuels (biogas, bioethanol etc).The main components of lignocellulosic materials are cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin which is the most recalcitrant component of the plant cell wall (the higher the proportion of lignin, the higher the resistance to chemical and enzymatic degradation).In this paper there are presented the main pretreatment methods of lignocellulosic biomass, including mechanical, biological, chemical and thermal pretreatment, with the focus on the principles, advantages and disadvantagesof each method for biofuelsproduction.Â