EnXylaScope: Sustainability of an innovative enzyme-based process for the production of xylan products
D7.5
Authors: Heiko Keller, Maximilian Breyer, Sven Gärtner
A novel lignocellulose biorefinery concept following a so-called xylan-first approach was developed in the EU-funded project EnXylaScope. Enzyme-assisted alkali extraction designed for wet biomass was found to be suitable for extracting polymeric to oligomeric decolourised xylan as the main product from several lignocellulose biomass feedstocks. This xylan can optionally be functionalised by enzymes. The potential for high-value use of the extracted xylan has been demonstrated in several applications. In addition, this novel biorefinery concept allows high-value use of the co-products cellulose, which can optionally be enzymatically hydrolysed, and several different lignin fractions. While the fermentability of glucose derived from hydrolysed cellulose has been shown to be similar to that of pure glucose, the recovered lignin is suitable for fractionation and/or uniformisation/depolymerisation which is increasingly found necessary for most types of lignin in high-value applications.
The project is accompanied by an integrated life cycle sustainability assessment covering environmental, economic and social sustainability aspects. A common set of scenarios based on mass and energy balances from detailed process models representing potential future industrial-scale biorefinery variants at a scale of 15 kt biomass input per year was evaluated. The scenarios comprise the use of several xylan variants as an ingredient in cosmetics and as a health-improving feed additive for pigs that has the potential to reduce the pig feed demand by up to forty times the mass of the additive. The co-products glucose and lignin are valorised, too.
This report by IFEU covers the integrated sustainability assessment. It integrates all results on previously determined environmental, economic and social impacts that can be associated with the future implementation of the novel biorefinery concept. It joins and complements recommendations how to improve the concept, taking potential conflicts and synergies of individual sustainability aspects into account.