ABSTRACT
The use of biomass helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and minimize negative impacts on the environment. Biomass energy is produced using thermochemical, biological, and chemical technologies. The degree of preprocessing depends on the type of conversion, such as biochemical and thermochemical. Pretreatment or preprocessing helps to alter the physical, rheological, and chemical properties of biomass, making it more suitable for conversion. Mechanical preprocessing technologies such as size reduction and densification are critical to meet the particle size specification and density. Mechanical, chemical, and thermal preprocessing technologies will have a significant impact on biomass physical properties and chemical composition. Thermal processing techniques using torrefaction can reduce grinding energy by 70%, and the torrefied ground biomass has improved sphericity, particle surface area, and particle size distribution. Chemical preprocessing methods such as washing, leaching, acid, alkali, and ammonia fiber explosion pretreatments reduce the recalcitrance in biomass and improve product yields.
