posted on 2015-12-16, 22:49authored byBruno Godin, Stéphane Lamaudière, Richard Agneessens, Thomas Schmit, Jean-Pierre Goffart, Didier Stilmant, Patrick A. Gerin, Jérôme Delcarte
The
chemical composition of 1052 samples covering 49 plant species is
summarized in this paper. The analyzed biomasses offer a wide range
of chemical compositions, monosaccharidic compositions of hemicelluloses,
enzymatically digestible organic matter, and bioethanol potential.
Nevertheless, their thermal energy value remains in a narrow range
on a dry matter basis. Biomasses that were identified as best suited
for anaerobic digestion are characterized by low contents of cellulose,
hemicelluloses, and lignin and high contents of non-structural constituents.
Biomasses most suited for combustion present the lowest content of
mineral compounds, and the most adequate biomasses for bioethanol
conversion have high contents of total carbohydrates. Interestingly,
the observed chemical compositions tend to cluster the biomasses in
composition groups that also correspond to phylogenetic groups: commelinids,
non-commelinid magnoliophyta, and pinophyta species. Some groups can
clearly be subdivided into fibrous and moderately fibrous biomasses.