The pressing need for climate change mitigation has focused attention on reducing global emissions of carbon dioxide by effectuating the transition from fossil-based chemicals manufacture to a carbon neutral alternative based on lignocellulosic waste. The first step involves fractionation of the lignocellulose into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Subsequently, a cellulase enzyme cocktail is used to catalyze the hydrolysis of the polysaccharides into their constituent sugars. This is followed by selective conversion of the carbohydrates into commodity chemicals using a variety of sustainable bio- and chemocatalytic methodologies. These include, inter alia, fermentative production of alcohols, diols, and carboxylic acids and a variety of chemocatalytic reductions and oxidations. Hence, the transition from fossil feedstocks to lignocellulose represents a switch from hydrocarbons to carbohydrates as the primary basic chemicals. To compare these renewable biomass-based routes with their petrochemical equivalents, it is necessary to develop reliable sustainability metrics.

中文翻译：

---

通往生物可再生能源的道路：将碳水化合物转化为商品化学品

缓解气候变化的紧迫需求将注意力集中在通过实现从基于化石的化学药品生产向基于木质纤维素废料的碳中和替代品的过渡上来减少全球二氧化碳的排放上。第一步涉及将木质纤维素分离成纤维素，半纤维素和木质素。随后，使用纤维素酶混合物来催化多糖水解成其组成糖。随后，使用多种可持续的生物催化和化学催化方法将碳水化合物选择性地转化为商品化学品。这些尤其包括醇，二醇和羧酸的发酵生产以及各种化学催化的还原和氧化。因此，从化石原料到木质纤维素的转变代表了从碳氢化合物到碳水化合物作为主要基础化学物质的转变。为了将这些基于生物质的可再生路线与其石油化学等效物进行比较，有必要制定可靠的可持续性指标。