**4.2. Bioeconomy of bio-based product manufacturing from biomass**

concentration produced more than 60 L ethanol/1000 kg of fresh lemon citrus peel wastes. In addition, it has been discussed that the minimum inhibitory concentration of lemon citrus essential oils on yeast is lower than that obtained from orange and mandarin citrus essential oils. Singh et al. [44] reported the steam explosion of sugarcane bagasse, which eventually showed the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of 100% after 24 h of incubation by using the cellulases from Penicillium pinophilum with an enzyme loading of 10 FPU/g. To compare its potential use with commercially available cellulose (Accellerase™ 1000), the results indicated that using Penicillium cellulase and Accellerase™ 1000 showed that the saccharification potentials are comparable to the treated substrates such as steam-exploded sugarcane bagasse and ball-milled cellulose powder. In our recent report on sugar production from sugarcane bagasse, the batch-type steam explosion system was developed for lignin removal to increase sugar yield. The sugarcane bagasse was first impregnated in a diluted alkaline solution and subjected to the steam explosion experiment at the temperature range of 433–493 K with the pressure below 2 MPa for a maximum reaction time of 10 min. The study showed good synergy on the combination of diluted alkaline impregnation and steam explosion for enhancing the purity of obtained bagasse leading to the higher yield of sugar production after the enzymatic hydrolysis process [45]. This could be a good evidence to show that the combination of the steam explosion technique and diluted base solution treatment could fractionate the lignin content into the water phase and provide the nonsoluble solid product of cellulose and hemicellulose for sugar production.

**4. Life cycle assessment and bioeconomy of biomass upgrading**

pretreatment and fractionation process of the feedstock is emphasized.

compared among the four methods. For climate change, the CO2

subcritical water extraction gave the smallest amount of CO2

For the conversion of the lignocellulosic biomass feedstock to bio-based products, there are several processes involved. Firstly, the agricultural plants are grown and harvested in which the agricultural residues and wastes could then be collected and transported for storage. The pretreatment and fractionation of the biomass are performed to prepare the material for some particular manufacturing processes. The obtained bio-based products are later on distributed to marketplaces and delivered to customers. The life cycle assessment (LCA) is known as a systematic method for evaluating the environmental impact of a product's entire life, starting from growing its feedstock to its disposal process [46]. For example, in case of the bio-based product, lignocellulosic biomass feedstock was generated from agricultural crops which require soil, fertilizers, water, and sunlight for its growth, while water, electricity, and heat are necessary for its manufacturing process. However, to make this chapter concise, only the

In a study, Prasad and his team evaluated the life cycle of four different pretreatment methods including liquid hot water (or subcritical) extraction, organosolve extraction, dilute acid extraction, and steam explosion of milled corn stover [47]. The four environmental impacts in terms of climate change, eutrophication, water depletion, and acidification potential were predicted and

emission was reported whereas

emission while almost 15 times of CO2

**4.1. Life cycle of biomass hydro-fractionation**

78 Renewable Resources and Biorefineries

Besides the environmental impact, an economic aspect is very important for product development. The term bioeconomy or bio-based economy refers to an economy employing renewable bioresources such as microorganisms, agricultural crops or residues, and livestock to produce food, pharmaceuticals, energy, plastics, and other bio-based materials. In this context the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass from agricultural residues for the production of various bio-based products was explained. As shown in **Figure 8**, promising products from biomass feedstock upgrading are biogas, biofuels, biochemicals, bioplastics, carbon fiber, nanofiber,

**Figure 8.** Life cycle of bio-based product upgraded from lignocellulosic biomass.

**Author details**

Pathum Thani, Thailand

(02)00124-1

ie960668f

10.1016/S0896-8446(03)00093-7

**References**

Sanchai Kuboon\*, Wasawat Kraithong, Jaruwan Damaurai and Kajornsak Faungnawakij

Hydro-Fractionation for Biomass Upgrading http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79396 81

National Nanotechnology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency,

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\*Address all correspondence to: sanchai@nanotec.or.th

**Figure 9.** Bioeconomy of biomass upgrading.

and bio-specialty (a unique high-value product derived from bioresources for a specific customer group). In general, the feedstock undergoes pretreatment or hydro-fractionation to prepare the material for some particular applications. Then, the material is manufactured to produce a targeted product (**Figure 9**).
