Mayer-Laigle Claire, Rajaonarivony Rova Karine, Blanc Nicolas, Rouau Xavier
UMR Ingénierie des Agropolymères et des Technologies Emergentes (IATE), University of Montpellier, CIRAD, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, 34060 Montpellier CEDEX 01, France.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2018 Jun 22;5(3):50. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering5030050.
Lignocellulosic feedstocks present a growing interest in many industrial processes as they are an ecological alternative to petroleum-based products. Generally, the size of plant raw materials needs to be reduced by milling step(s), to increase density, facilitate transport and storage, and to increase reactivity. However, this unit operation can prove to be important in term of investments, functioning costs, and energy consumption if the process is not fully adapted to the histological structure of the plant material, possibly challenging the profitability of the whole chain of the biomass conversion. In this paper, the different technologies that can be used for the milling of lignocellulosic biomass were reviewed and different avenues are suggested to improve the milling performances thanks to thermal pretreatments. Based on examples on wheat straw milling, the main points to take into consideration in the choice of a milling technologies have been highlighted in regards to the specifications of ground powder. A specific focus on the hazards associated to the milling and the manipulation of fine biomass particles is also realized at the end of the paper from the perspective of industrial applications.
木质纤维素原料在许多工业过程中越来越受到关注，因为它们是石油基产品的一种生态替代品。一般来说，植物原料的尺寸需要通过研磨步骤减小，以提高密度、便于运输和储存，并提高反应活性。然而，如果工艺不能完全适应植物材料的组织结构，那么这个单元操作在投资、运行成本和能源消耗方面可能会变得很重要，这可能会对生物质转化整个链条的盈利能力构成挑战。本文综述了可用于研磨木质纤维素生物质的不同技术，并提出了通过热预处理提高研磨性能的不同途径。基于小麦秸秆研磨的实例，针对磨粉规格，突出了选择研磨技术时需要考虑的要点。本文末尾还从工业应用的角度，特别关注了与研磨及细生物质颗粒处理相关的危害。
