The increasing public concern about environment and energy sustainability has spurred strong interest in substituting the ever-dwindling petroleum resource with the renewable lignocellulosic biomass as the feedstock for fuels and chemical production. In this book, the authors demonstrated efficient ways to utilize corn stover, one of the most promising biomass feedstocks in the US, for production of two valuable chemicals: xylooligosaccharides and lactic acid. Results of this study indicate that corn stover is indeed a very good source for a variety of chemicals. This book also describes the ways to improve the enzymatic convertibility of corn stover. For this purpose, a pretreatment method was developed that utilizes dilute sulfuric acid as the pretreatment reagent and features treatment under high-solid conditions, an important factor that favors the process economics. Detailed laboratory setup and experimental procedures are presented. This book not only provides an introductory overview for the readers who are interested in biomass utilization, but also the technical contents that can be used as a reference for those who conduct biomass research.

Dr. Zhu obtained his doctorate in chemical engineering from Auburn University in 2005. He is currently a research scientist at Novozymes North America, Inc., focusing on biomass process development and enzyme applications. Dr. Yoon Y. Lee is a full professor at the Chemical Engineering Department of Auburn University.