Biomass, Bioproducts and Biofuels

"Fossil fuels were in the last century the main source of fuels and raw materials for the standard life pattern of modern society. Their depletion together with huge environmental damage to earth derived from their combustion turn the change to renewable raw materials an urgent goal. This conversion is now underway and it requires a big effort to adapt materials Nature designed for specific purposes to fit in others. Evidences emerge that goals such as cellulosic ethanol are more difficult to take under competitive context, making its delay inevitable. Biomass composition is mainly hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin - the first two have a sugar origin - in their polymer form substances such as microcrystalline cellulose and carbon fiber may be obtained and there is an increasing demand for goods made with which tend to raise in future"--