Front Matter

 

39

2 Fundamental Science and Applications for Biomaterials

Ali S. Ayoub^1 ,^2 and Lucian A. Lucia^2

(^1) Archer Daniels Midland Company, ADM Research, Chicago, IL, USA
(^2) North 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 obsta-

cle 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 with their inertness, and potential pathways for the successful use of

lignocellulosics and starch in the new bio-economy.

2.2 What are the Biopolymers that Encompass the Structure

and Function of Lignocellulosics?

In the history of energy usage, wood has occupied a particularly noteworthy and

prominent role for most of humankind. It was not until about 100 years ago (the

early part of the twentieth century) that its hegemony and utility came into serious

question principally due to the discovery of a cheap, seemingly inexhaustible, and

Introduction to Renewable Biomaterials: First Principles and Concepts,First Edition.

Edited by Ali S. Ayoub and Lucian A. Lucia.

© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.