A Review of Lignocellulosic Biomass Alkaline Delignification: Feedstock Classification, Process Types, Modeling Approaches, and Applications

IF 3.4 4区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL

Processes Pub Date : 2025-12-14 DOI:10.3390/pr13124038

Johnnys A. Bustillo, Alma Nouar, Andrés Aldana Rico, Jorge Mario Mendoza Fandiño, Antonio Bula

{"title":"A Review of Lignocellulosic Biomass Alkaline Delignification: Feedstock Classification, Process Types, Modeling Approaches, and Applications","authors":"Johnnys A. Bustillo, Alma Nouar, Andrés Aldana Rico, Jorge Mario Mendoza Fandiño, Antonio Bula","doi":"10.3390/pr13124038","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Alkaline delignification is a keystone pretreatment that governs carbohydrate accessibility, energy use, and yields across pulp and biorefinery value chains, yet its kinetic understanding remains fragmented and largely confined to bench-scale studies. This review provides an integrated assessment of the evolution and current state of kinetic approaches applied to alkaline delignification of lignocellulosic biomass, aiming to bridge academic research and industrial application. A systematic review following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses) guidelines identified 74 peer-reviewed articles and 359 patents published between 1995 and 2025. Kinetic models were classified into conventional (nth-order and pseudo-first-order) and emerging categories (Avrami/Š–B, diffusion-based, mechanistic multistep, isoconversional, and ML/statistical). The results show that pseudo-first-order kinetics and batch-scale studies dominate the literature, while pilot-scale validation and hybrid mechanistic data-driven frameworks remain limited. Patent analysis revealed technological convergence within D21C and C08B IPC domains, reflecting growing industrial interest in alkaline pulping and cellulose valorization. Unlike previous reviews, this work uniquely integrates conventional and emerging kinetic models with a patent-based technological perspective, providing a unified view of academic and industrial progress. The insights presented here provide a foundation for advancing future research, particularly by encouraging the development of standardized experimental protocols and the validation of kinetic models across multiple scales. Moreover, this review provides a consolidated reference for both academic researchers and industrial practitioners seeking to enhance delignification efficiency, reduce reagent consumption, and improve the sustainability of biorefinery processes.","PeriodicalId":20597,"journal":{"name":"Processes","volume":"13 12","pages":"4038-4038"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Processes","FirstCategoryId":"0","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13124038","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Alkaline delignification is a keystone pretreatment that governs carbohydrate accessibility, energy use, and yields across pulp and biorefinery value chains, yet its kinetic understanding remains fragmented and largely confined to bench-scale studies. This review provides an integrated assessment of the evolution and current state of kinetic approaches applied to alkaline delignification of lignocellulosic biomass, aiming to bridge academic research and industrial application. A systematic review following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses) guidelines identified 74 peer-reviewed articles and 359 patents published between 1995 and 2025. Kinetic models were classified into conventional (nth-order and pseudo-first-order) and emerging categories (Avrami/Š–B, diffusion-based, mechanistic multistep, isoconversional, and ML/statistical). The results show that pseudo-first-order kinetics and batch-scale studies dominate the literature, while pilot-scale validation and hybrid mechanistic data-driven frameworks remain limited. Patent analysis revealed technological convergence within D21C and C08B IPC domains, reflecting growing industrial interest in alkaline pulping and cellulose valorization. Unlike previous reviews, this work uniquely integrates conventional and emerging kinetic models with a patent-based technological perspective, providing a unified view of academic and industrial progress. The insights presented here provide a foundation for advancing future research, particularly by encouraging the development of standardized experimental protocols and the validation of kinetic models across multiple scales. Moreover, this review provides a consolidated reference for both academic researchers and industrial practitioners seeking to enhance delignification efficiency, reduce reagent consumption, and improve the sustainability of biorefinery processes.

查看原文本刊更多论文

木质纤维素生物质碱性脱木质素研究进展：原料分类、工艺类型、建模方法及应用

碱性脱木质素是控制整个纸浆和生物精炼价值链中碳水化合物可及性、能量使用和产量的关键预处理，但其动力学理解仍然零散，主要局限于实验规模的研究。本文综述了木质纤维素生物质碱性脱木质素动力学方法的发展和现状，旨在为学术研究和工业应用提供桥梁。根据PRISMA（系统评价和Meta分析的首选报告项目）指南进行的系统评价确定了1995年至2025年间发表的74篇同行评议文章和359项专利。动力学模型分为传统的（n阶和伪一阶）和新兴的（Avrami/ Š-B、基于扩散的、机械多步的、等转换的和ML/统计的）。结果表明，伪一级动力学和批量研究主导了文献，而中试规模验证和混合机制数据驱动框架仍然有限。专利分析揭示了D21C和C08B IPC领域的技术融合，反映了工业对碱性制浆和纤维素增值的兴趣日益浓厚。与以前的评论不同，这项工作独特地将传统和新兴的动力学模型与基于专利的技术观点结合起来，提供了学术和工业进步的统一观点。这里提出的见解为推进未来的研究提供了基础，特别是通过鼓励标准化实验方案的发展和跨多个尺度的动力学模型的验证。此外，本综述为寻求提高脱木质素效率、减少试剂消耗和提高生物炼制过程的可持续性的学术研究人员和工业从业者提供了综合参考。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Processes Chemical Engineering-Bioengineering

CiteScore

5.10

自引率

11.40%

发文量

2239

审稿时长

14.11 days

期刊介绍： Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) provides an advanced forum for process related research in chemistry, biology and allied engineering fields. The journal publishes regular research papers, communications, letters, short notes and reviews. Our aim is to encourage researchers to publish their experimental, theoretical and computational results in as much detail as necessary. There is no restriction on paper length or number of figures and tables.