Herbaceous Biomass And How It Can Be Used
With a world population around eight billion, we as humans have a high consumption rate and it is definitely a problem. In previous blogs we have discussed biorenewable and non-biorenewable options, however, what about options from herbaceous biomass? When it comes to bioproducts corn is a crop that is used in a vast number of items from soap, paints, and glue to ethanol fuel and sweeteners as seen in the image below.
However, you may be thinking how could corn be involved in the production of so many things. It is actually quite simple all you need is glucose and once you extract glucose out of the plant material the glucose is what is converted in the anything from plastic to pharmaceutical drugs like aspirin.
So, what is glucose? Well glucose is the most abundant simple sugar that harbors a lot of energy and is referred to as a monosaccharide (monosaccharide means sugar). What is interesting though is that glucose has the ability to form polysaccharides which is just multiple glucose molecules that are linked together and depending on the way they are linked you can get starch or cellulose (lesson 18). If they are connected in the alpha conformation, it is starch, but if they are connected in the beta conformation, it is cellulose (lesson 18). However, it is relatively easy to get sugar from starch while cellulose is much harder due to strong bonds cellulose has in order to give the plant strength and structure. As humans we get our sugar from three main categories: sugar crops like sugarcane, starchy biomass like corn kernels, or lignocellulosic biomass like corn stover (lesson 18). It is then through fermentation, a biochemical conversion, we get our biobased products.
Lignocellulosic biomass is different though and uses thermal conversion which uses heat and chemical processes. There are three different kinds of thermal conversions: combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis (lesson 21). However, by itself is not enough to get your end product. Since lignocellulosic biomass is hard to break down, thermal conversion will basically create little pieces, but it’s through putting the little pieces back together (additional refining processes) that create the desired end product (lesson 21). Through refining processes commodities or chemical upgrades to transportation fuel can be created resulting in several benefits for society.
Another major benefit of plant biomass could be with plastic. The use of plastics is controversial, as there is a plastic pollution problem, but at the same time they are easily manufacturable and really good for whatever they are designed for. However, through the use of fermentation bioplastics can be made which could help reduce our plastic consumption, but it requires the proper infrastructure. Just because a plastic can degrade, doesn’t mean it’s biodegradable (lesson 20). Just because a plastic is bio-based, doesn’t make it biodegradable. A biodegradable plastic isn’t necessarily compostable (lesson 20). And compostable plastic doesn’t necessarily end up as compost (lesson 20). Thus, bioplastics is very convoluted, but when done correctly it can be helpful for the environment by returning organic nutrients back to the soil and increase food waste collection. Like other biorenewable methods the use of herbaceous biomass is just another method our society can use to help combat our consumption problem. As seen with bioplastic, it is always more complicated than just a simple answer. Again, it is always about finding that happy balance where society can continue to thrive without negative environmental impacts. While we may think it’s hard to do that, I believe it is definitely achievable.
References:
· Lesson 18 Crops to Sugar, BBE 1002, UMN
· Lesson 20 Bioplastics, BBE 1002, UMN
· Lesson 21 Other Pathways to Products, BBE 1002, UMN
