Lignocellulose is the most abundant biomass on Earth, with an estimated 181.5 billion tonnes produced annually. Of the 8.2 billion tonnes that are currently used, about 7 billion tonnes are produced from dedicated agricultural, grass and forest land and another 1.2 billion tonnes stem from agricultural residues. Economic and environmentally efficient pathways for production and utilization of lignocellulose for chemical products and energy are needed to expand the bioeconomy. This opinion paper arose from the research network “Lignocellulose as new resource platform for novel materials and products” funded by the German federal state of Baden‐Württemberg and summarizes original research presented in this special issue. It first discusses how the supply of lignocellulosic biomass can be organized sustainably and suggests that perennial biomass crops (PBC) are likely to play an important role in future regional biomass supply to European lignocellulosic biorefineries. Dedicated PBC production has the advantage of delivering biomass with reliable quantity and quality. The tailoring of PBC quality through crop breeding and management can support the integration of lignocellulosic value chains. Two biorefinery concepts using lignocellulosic biomass are then compared and discussed: the syngas biorefinery and the lignocellulosic biorefinery. Syngas biorefineries are less sensitive to biomass qualities and are technically relatively advanced, but require high investments and large‐scale facilities to be economically feasible. Lignocellulosic biorefineries require multiple processing steps to separate the recalcitrant lignin from cellulose and hemicellulose and convert the intermediates into valuable products. The refining processes for high‐quality lignin and hemicellulose fractions still need to be further developed. A concept of a modular lignocellulosic biorefinery is presented that could be flexibly adapted for a range of feedstock and products by combining appropriate technologies either at the same location or in a decentralized form.

Biofuels may play a significant role in regard to carbon emission reduction in the transportation sector. Therefore, a thermochemical process for biomass conversion into synthetic chemicals and fuels is being developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) by producing process energy to achieve a desirable high carbon dioxide reduction potential. In the bioliq process, lignocellulosic biomass is first liquefied by fast pyrolysis in distributed regional plants to produce an energy-dense intermediate suitable for economic transport over long distances. Slurries of pyrolysis condensates and char, also referred to as biosyncrude, are transported to a large central gasification and synthesis plant. The bioslurry is preheated and pumped into a pressurized entrained flow gasifier, atomized with technical oxygen, and converted at > 1,200°C to an almost tar-free, low-methane syngas. Syngas - a mixture of CO and H2 - is a well-known versatile intermediate for the selectively catalyzed production of various base chemicals or synthetic fuels. At KIT, a pilot plant has been constructed together with industrial partners to demonstrate the process chain in representative scale. The process data obtained will allow for process scale-up and reliable cost estimates. In addition, practical experience is gained. The paper describes the background, principal technical concepts, and actual development status of the bioliq process. It is considered to have the potential for worldwide application in large scale since any kind of dry biomass can be used as feedstock. Thus, a significant contribution to a sustainable future energy supply could be achieved.

In order to increase the typically low equilibrium CO₂ conversion to methanol using commercially proven technology, the addition of two intermediate condensation units between reaction steps is evaluated in this work. Detailed process simulations with heat integration and techno-economic analyses of methanol synthesis from green H₂ and captured CO₂ are presented here, comparing the proposed process with condensation steps with the conventional approach. In the new process, a CO₂ single-pass conversion of 53.9% was achieved, which is significantly higher than the conversion of the conventional process (28.5%) and its equilibrium conversion (30.4%). Consequently, the total recycle stream flow was halved, which reduced reactant losses in the purge stream and the compression work of the recycle streams, lowering operating costs by 4.8% (61.2 M€·a⁻¹). In spite of the additional number of heat exchangers and flash drums related to the intermediate condensation units, the fixed investment costs of the improved process decreased by 22.7% (94.5 M€). This was a consequence of the increased reaction rates and lower recycle flows, reducing the required size of the main equipment. Therefore, intermediate condensation steps are beneficial for methanol synthesis from H₂/CO₂, significantly boosting CO₂ single-pass conversion, which consequently reduces both the investment and operating costs.