Introduction to Renewable Biomaterials

Chapter 2Fundamental Science and Applications for Biomaterials

Ali S. Ayoub^1,2 and Lucian A. Lucia¹

¹Archer Daniels Midland Company, ADM Research, Chicago, IL, USA

²North Carolina State University, Department of Forest Biomaterials, Raleigh, NC, USA

The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust - almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years.

Henry Ford, 1925

2.1 Introduction

The basic construct of biopolymer matrices remains a virtually insurmountable obstacle to the “best laid plans of mice and men” of providing products to compete with petro-based chemicals and associated commodity items. A more robust and precise understanding of the factors that limit a widespread use of lignocellulosic substrates in society is perhaps the most pressing challenge that the emergent bio-economy faces. The goal, therefore, of this chapter is to elucidate the fundamental physico-chemistry of the biomaterials, emphasize their value proposition for supplanting petrochemicals, tackle the challenges of conversion, and ultimately provide a milieu of possibilities for the biomaterials. The reader will be conversant and knowledgeable of the critical issues that surround the field of lignocellulosic intransigence, possible successful strategies to cope ...