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Green Energy and Technology
Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Rashmi Avinash Agarwal
Tarun Gupta
Bhola Ram Gurjar Editors
Biofuels
Technology, Challenges and Prospects
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8059
Avinash Kumar Agarwal
Rashmi Avinash Agarwal
Tarun Gupta
Bhola Ram Gurjar
Editors
Biofuels
Technology, Challenges and Prospects
123
Editors
Avinash Kumar Agarwal Tarun Gupta
Department of Mechanical Engineering Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
India India
Rashmi Avinash Agarwal Bhola Ram Gurjar

Department of Chemistry Department of Civil Engineering, Centre
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur for Transportation Systems (CTRANS)
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
India Roorkee, Uttarakhand
India
ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)

ISBN 978-981-10-3790-0 ISBN 978-981-10-3791-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3791-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017930135
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017

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Preface
Current energy scenario clearly suggests that oil and gas reserves are finite and will
last only few more decades. Therefore, massive research efforts are underway
globally for developing energy from resources with lower carbon footprint for
sustainable development and environmental protection. In order to ensure energy
security and to reduce impact of global and local pollution from fossil fuels,
utilization of biofuels has been adopted as an immediate solution. Biofuels play an
important role in the future scientific research portfolio, which will affect energy
independence and energy security, revitalize rural infrastructure and shift energy
landscape of the twenty-first century towards greater sustainability and towards low
carbon-intensity. Discussing multidisciplinary research dimensions of bioenergy
and its potential for replacing fossil fuels in coming decades, this monograph
provides a roadmap for understanding broad sweep of technological, sociological,
and energy policy issues that intermingle and intertwine. Biotechnology and
especially synthetic biology can play a key role in promoting sustainable production
and use of bioenergy through development of next-generation biofuels from locally
available biomass feedstocks using advanced sunlight-to-biomass-to-bioenergy
conversion processes. Socio-economic and environmental challenges need to be
duly considered while designing these technological solutions. This monograph
covers such advanced techniques for efficient production of biofuels from locally
available raw biomaterials and their utilization in IC engines and power generating
equipment.
An international workshop, 3rd ISEES Workshop on “Sustainable Energy,
Environment & Safety with Railway Centric Theme”, was held at Research Designs
and Standards Organisation (RDSO), Lucknow, India from December 21 to 23,
2015 under the aegis of International Society for Energy, Environment and
Sustainability (ISEES). This workshop provided a platform for discussions between
eminent scientists and engineers from various countries including India, USA,
South Korea, Thailand, and Austria. In this workshop, eminent speakers presented
their views related to different aspects of biofuels, and alternative energy resource
for sustainable development and cleaner environment. This research monograph
is based on the topics covered at the workshop, and brings together a wealth
v
vi Preface
of knowledge from renowned experts on the latest developments in selected

technology domains with a focus on fundamentals, applications, and advanced
teaching pedagogy. Main areas covered in this monograph are biofuels and their
advantages, advanced biofuel production techniques and their utilization in various
sectors such as transportation and power generation. This monograph also includes
methodologies of increasing biofuel yield from different resources. Research on
using biofuel blended with conventional fossil fuels for power generation is also
presented. In addition, novel technology developments in biofuel production from
microalgae are also discussed.
The editors would like to express their sincere gratitude to the authors for
submitting their work in a timely manner and revising it appropriately at a short
notice. We would like express our special thanks to Dr. Bhaskar Thallada, Dr.
S. Venkata Mohan, Prof. Ashok Pandey, Prof. Atul Dhar, Prof. Santanu De, Prof.
V.S. Moholkar, Prof. Dhananjay Srivastava, and Akhilendra Pratap Singh, who
reviewed various chapters of this monograph and provided their valuable sugges-
tions to improve the draft manuscripts. We acknowledge the support received from
various funding agencies and organizations for the successful conduct of the ISEES
workshop, where these monographs germinated. These include Science and
Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government
of India (Special thanks to Dr. Sanjay Bajpai); RITES Ltd, India (Special thanks to
Sh. Pradeep Gupta); Office of Naval Research Global, Singapore (Special thanks to
Dr. Ramesh Kolar); TSI, India (Special thanks to Dr. Deepak Sharma); Caterpiller
India; AVL India; Dynomerk Controls, India (Special thanks to Sh. Kishore Raut);
CEI Softwares, India; ESi Group, Pune; BHEL India; and Bosch India.
This monograph is intended for researchers, practitioners of engineering and
technology, and we hope that the monograph would be of great interest to the
professionals involved in biofuels as well as students, government officials, deci-
sion makers, policy makers, and civil society organizations interested in renewable
energy and more specifically to those working in biofuel production, optimization,
and their utilization in IC engines. Its objective is to promote a better and more
accurate understanding of the nature, production, challenges, technological status,
and usage of biofuels from vegetable oils and algae and to provide an updated and
reliable reference and guidebook on biofuels.
Kanpur, India Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Kanpur, India Rashmi Avinash Agarwal
Kanpur, India Tarun Gupta
Roorkee, India Bhola Ram Gurjar
Contents
Part I General
Introduction to Biofuels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Rashmi Avinash Agarwal, Tarun Gupta
and Bhola Ram Gurjar
Sustainable Production of Chemicals and Energy Fuel Precursors
from Lignocellulosic Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Bhumica Agarwal, Vivek Ahluwalia, Ashok Pandey,
Rajender Singh Sangwan and Sasikumar Elumalai
Microbial Electrochemical Platform: Biofactory with Diverse
Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
S. Venkata Mohan, G. Velvizhi and P. Chiranjeevi
Biomass-Derived HMF Oxidation with Various Oxidants . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
S. Saravanamurugan, Ashok Pandey and Rajender Singh Sangwan
Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Lignocellulosic Biomass
Components: Effect of Alkaline Catalyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Rawel Singh, Bhavya B. Krishna and Thallada Bhaskar
Pretreatment Strategies of Lignocellulosic Biomass
Towards Ethanol Yield: Case Study of Pine Needles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Sangeeta Negi
Ultrasound-Assisted Biodiesel Synthesis: A Mechanistic Insight . . . . . . . 103
Ritesh S. Malani, Arun Goyal and Vijayanand S. Moholkar
Thermo-Chemical Ethanol Production from Agricultural
Waste Through Polygeneration: Performance Assessment
Through a Case Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Kuntal Jana and Sudipta De
vii
viii Contents
Microalgae Based Biofuel: Challenges and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Richa Katiyar, Amit Kumar and B.R. Gurjar
Surrogates for Biodiesel: Review and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Aditya Dilip Lele, Krishnasamy Anand and Krithika Narayanaswamy
Response Surface Methodology Based Multi-objective
Optimization of the Performance-Emission Profile
of a CI Engine Running on Ethanol in Blends with Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Probir Kumar Bose, Vijay Narayan Bodkhe, Bishop Deb Barma
and Rahul Banerjee
Effect of Alcohol Blending on Performance of Kerosene
Fuelled Four-Stroke Spark Ignition Genset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Mritunjay Shukla, Eshan Singh and Sunil Pathak
About the Editors
Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal joined IIT Kanpur in

2001. He worked at ERC, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, USA as a postdoctoral Fellow (1999–2001).
His areas of interest include IC engines, combustion,
alternative fuels, hydrogen, conventional fuels, lubri-
cating oil tribology, optical diagnostics, laser
ignition, HCCI, emission and particulate control, and
large bore engines. He has published more than
200 peer-reviewed international journal and confer-
ence papers. He is associate editor of ASME Journal of
Energy Resources Technology, and International
Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing. He
has edited “Handbook of Combustion” (5 Volumes;
3168 pages), published by Wiley VCH, Germany. He
is a Fellow of SAE (2012), Fellow of ASME (2013)
and a Fellow of INAE (2015). He is the recipient of
prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize-2016 in
Engineering Sciences.
Dr. Rashmi Avinash Agarwal is a senior researcher

at IIT Kanpur. She completed her doctoral degree in
Inorganic Chemistry from IIT Kanpur in 2014. She
completed her M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from
Rajasthan University, Jaipur in 2002 and B.Sc. in
Chemistry, from Kanoria College, Rajasthan
University, Jaipur in 2000. She has expertise in coor-
dination chemistry, coordination polymers, organic
synthesis, inorganic synthesis, crystal structure deter-
mination, supramolecular chemistry, porous materials,
topology, florescence, SC (single crystal)-to-SC
ix
x About the Editors
transformation, and synthesis of nanoparticles. Dr.

Rashmi A. Agarwal has published over 20 research
papers in leading international journals.
Prof. Tarun Gupta is a PK Kelkar Research Fellow

at IIT Kanpur. He completed his Doctor of Science
(2004) in Environmental Health from Harvard
University, USA. He has been involved in teaching
and research activities at IIT Kanpur since June 2006.
He has published more than 80 international
peer-reviewed journal papers and has filed three Indian
patents. He has received numerous awards and
recognitions such as NASI Scopus Young Scientist
(2015), INSA Young Scientist (2011), INAE Young
Engineer (2009), and IEI Young Engineer (2008). He
has extensively worked on engine emissions and
controls using development and testing of non-noble
metal catalyst based DOC.
Dr. Bhola Ram Gurjar is Associate Professor and

the Coordinator of the Environmental Engineering
Group at IIT Roorkee. He holds a PhD in
Environmental Risk Analysis from IIT Delhi. His
present research interests include mega-cities, air pol-
lution: environmental impact and risk assessment:
atmospheric emissions and climate change; and inte-
grated cross-disciplinary study of science and policy
issues of the environment, health, energy, economy,
technology, and infrastructure and resources particu-
larly from the global change, sustainable development,
and risk governance perspectives. Dr. Gurjar has (co)
authored/(co)edited seven books and more than 100
publications. He has received prestigious Advanced
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship of the Max Planck
Society (Germany) (2002–2005) and UKIERI Grant.
He is also co-recipient of the Nawab Zain Yar Jung
Bhadur Memorial Medal (best research paper award)
from Environmental Engineering Division of the
Institution of Engineers (India) Kolkata, for the year
1995–1996.
Part I
General
Introduction to Biofuels
Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Rashmi Avinash Agarwal, Tarun Gupta

and Bhola Ram Gurjar
Abstract Sustainable energy source and cleaner environment is the most important
requirement for developing countries. In India, total primary energy consumption
was *0.5 BTOE in 2008, which is expected to rise up to *1.2 BTOE by 2035. In
such a scenario, biofuel utilization program seems to be a promising solution
because biofuels are relatively cleaner and can be produced from indigenous
resources available locally. However availability and continuous supply are the
most challenging tasks for the countrywide implementation of biofuels program. In
such a scenario, advanced techniques of biofuel production including
bio-technology route seem to have significant potential for the energy security in
future. This monograph covers practical aspects of biofuel production, utilisation,
challenges and limitations and outlines the strengths and constraints of different
biofuel production techniques.
Keywords Biofuels Hydrothermal liquefaction Microalgae Biodiesel

Bioprocessing
Large quantities of low carbon fuels are required to meet increasing global energy
demand and drive to achieve climate change goals. Electricity and hydrogen appear
A.K. Agarwal (&)

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur,
Kanpur 208016, Uttar Pradesh, India
e-mail: [email protected]
R.A. Agarwal
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur,
T. Gupta
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur,
B.R. Gurjar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,
Roorkee 247667, Uttaranchal, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 3

A.K. Agarwal et al. (eds.), Biofuels, Green Energy and Technology,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3791-7_1
4 A.K. Agarwal et al.
to be potentially attractive fuels for light-duty vehicles, however these energy

carriers may not be suitable for heavy-duty transport applications and for agricul-
tural applications in rural areas. Therefore many alternatives transport fuels are
being considered, which include natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen,
unconventional fossil oils, electricity, Fischer-Tropsch liquids, ethers, alcohols,
biodiesels, etc. Amongst these test fuels, biofuels are a promising solution because
they can be produced directly from biomass
About the biofuels, Henry Ford predicted in 1925, “The fuel of the future is
going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds,
sawdust—almost anything. There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be
fermented”.
EPA report shows that use of renewable fuel results in 20% savings in GHG
emissions, which can be further improved up to 60% if biofuels are produced from
cellulosic biomass. Therefore several countries have adopted different measures to
introduce biofuels, depending on their resource base. Two most common types of
biofuels in use today are ethanol and biodiesel. Use of lower gasoline-alcohol
blends in SI engine results in reduction in CO, HC and NOx emissions, while
producing almost similar torque output. Alcohol blends can also be used in CI
engines as a supplementary fuel. The Green Paper of the European Commission
proposed 20% substitution of conventional fossil fuels by alternative fuels in the
road transport sector by the year 2020. Directive 2003/30/EC requires EU member
states sets indicative targets for biofuel sales and the reference values were 2%
biofuels penetration in petrol and diesel by 2005, increasing to 5.75% by 2010.
Biofuel policy of Indian government targets 20% blending of biofuels, both bio-
diesel and bio-ethanol by 2017. In 2010, India launched a National Ethanol
Blending Programme, thus establishing a 5% mandatory ethanol blending in 20
states across the country. As rising crude oil prices and increasing energy
requirements put huge burden on economy, continuation of blended transport fuels
may offer some immediate relief. However alcohol availability remains a key
challenge for this program’s success. Conflict between energy and food security is
yet another challenge for biofuels because most of the first generation biofuels are
produced from food-crops. Therefore producing biofuels from agricultural waste
(e.g. rice straw) using thermo-chemical process may be a sustainable option through
recycling of waste. Second generation bioethanol can be produced by breakdown of
cellulosic biomass in several steps including hydrolysis and finally fermentation to
produce bioethanol. Presently researchers are focusing on third generation biofuels,
which can be produced using bio-reactors for ethanol and transesterification for
biodiesel. Research into production of liquid transportation fuels from micro-algae
is also gaining importance throughout the world. These micro-organisms use solar
energy to combine carbon dioxide with water and create biomass more efficiently
and rapidly than terrestrial plants. Biofuels from microalgae are also attracting
researchers due to their ‘carbon neutral’ nature because the carbon generated in the
fuel combustion is almost neutralized by the CO2 consumption during microalgae
growth.
Introduction to Biofuels 5
This monograph explores such key technologies, including biotechnology,

bioprocessing, and thermo-chemical process, which show a sustainable future of
biofuels. The future of biofuels from a broader perspective needs appropriate
addressing of the economic, social, and environmental issues, which are critical for
the sustainable development of bioenergy. This monograph contains 12 chapters,
which include introduction of biofuels, optimization of biofuel production tech-
niques, advanced techniques for biofuel production and biofuel utilization. These
are as follows
• Introduction
• Sustainable production of chemicals and energy fuel precursors from
lignocellulosic
• Microbial electrochemical platform: Biofactory with diverse applications
• Biomass-derived HMF oxidation with various oxidants
• Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulosic biomass components: Effect of
alkaline Catalyst
• Pretreatment strategies of lignocellulosic biomass towards ethanol yield: Case
study of pine needles
• Ultrasound-assisted biodiesel synthesis: A mechanistic insight
• Thermo-chemical ethanol production from agricultural waste through poly-
generation: Performance assessment through a case study
• Microalgae Based Biofuel: Challenges and opportunities
• Surrogates for biodiesel: Review and challenges
• Response surface methodology based multi-objective optimization of the
performance-emission profile of a CI engine running on ethanol in blends with
diesel
• Effect of alcohol blending on performance of kerosene fuelled four-stroke spark
ignition genset
This monograph shows the optimization of ethanol production process using an
efficient integrated multi-utility system called polygeneration, which is beneficial
for the environment. This chapter presents the suitability of the process using
thermodynamic, economic and environmental performance assessment. To improve
biofuel production process, several novel techniques have been discussed in one
chapter. Microbial catalyzed electro-chemical systems (MES) can be used for
degradation of organic carbon present in the waste. This technique utilizes a bio-
catalyst and generates the reducing equivalents in the form of redox carriers.
Another chapter presents the role of individual biomass components (cellulose
and lignin) on the production of hydrocarbons during hydrothermal liquefaction
(HTL) of ligno-cellulose, which is composed of mainly three components, namely:
cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Main focuss of this chapter is to promote the
third generation biofuel production using microalgae. Microalgae can produce high
oil yields compared to other terrestrial plants. Microalgae requires non-cultivable
soil and waste water for cultivation, which reduces overall cost of production.
Bioprocessing of lignocellulose using chemical catalysis is an impressive
6 A.K. Agarwal et al.
methodology for biofuel synthesis. One chapter provides an account of value

addition to biomass via chemical catalysis of cellulosic, hemicellulosic and lignin
fractions towards product chemical’s synthesis.
The climate change is presently an important element dictating energy use
pattern and energy resource development. Biodiesel is considered “climate neutral”
because all of carbon dioxide released during consumption is sequestered out of the
atmosphere in advance during the crop growth in the previous crop-cycle. Biodiesel
is an alternative to conventional diesel, and is made from renewable resources, such
as non-edible vegetable oils, algae and animal fat. To optimize biodiesel produc-
tion, exact physical mechanism of ultrasound-induced enhancement of biodiesel
synthesis is also described in a chapter. Analysis of physical mechanism of
ultrasound-assisted biodiesel synthesis is discussed, which provides links between
physical and chemical effects of ultrasound and cavitation, and the basic chemistry
of biodiesel synthesis.
For better utilization of biofuels, few experimental studies are also discussed in
this monograph, in which the effect of ethanol-diesel blends on the engine per-
formance and emission characteristics have been discussed. Researchers explored
the potential of biodiesel to completely or partially replace mineral diesel in a CI
engine. For better understanding of biodiesel combustion in CI engines, develop-
ment of reaction kinetics to describe its oxidation using surrogates plays a crucial
role. This monograph also includes a chapter on review of the existing studies
wherein different surrogates for biodiesel are discussed at length.
Sustainable Production of Chemicals
and Energy Fuel Precursors
from Lignocellulosic Fractions
Bhumica Agarwal, Vivek Ahluwalia, Ashok Pandey,

Rajender Singh Sangwan and Sasikumar Elumalai
Abstract From time immemorial, bioprocessing of lignocelluloses via chemical

catalysis has been an impressive methodology of numerous value added com-
modities and energy fuel precursors (drop-in-fuel) synthesis. The most common
technique for biomass fragmentation is catalytic hydrolysis using various acid
catalysts covering inorganic or organic liquid acids as well as solid acids (hetero-
geneous). Most research in the past decade has been focused on cost-effective
production of such biomass derived commodities with the aim of their commer-
cialization. Till date, in order to improve final product yields and minimize pro-
duction costs, various improvised production schemes have been developed like
pretreatment methods for improved saccharification and displacement and/or
reconstruction of recalcitrant biomass constituents, such as lignin to improve
accessibility, employing multi-functional catalysts to promote single stage trans-
formations, continuous extraction of desired product by use of specific solvents to
improve product stability as well as to inhibit by-product formation, integration of
physical processes for example microwave and ultrasonic irradiation resulting in
decreased residence time, etc. With these technological advancements, researchers
have overcome substantial limitations associated with lignocellulose transformation
including mass-transfer hindrances and expensive downstream processing; as a
result a wide array of commercially important chemicals and fuel precursors have
been synthesised. The chapter provides an account of value addition to biomass via
chemical catalysis of cellulosic, hemicellulosic and lignin fractions towards product
chemicals synthesis.
Keywords Lignocellulose Chemical catalysis Biorefining Fuel precursors

Value-added chemicals
B. Agarwal V. Ahluwalia A. Pandey R.S. Sangwan S. Elumalai (&)

Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB),
Mohali 160071, Punjab, India
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 7

A.K. Agarwal et al. (eds.), Biofuels, Green Energy and Technology,
DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3791-7_2
8 B. Agarwal et al.
1 Introduction
Till date, most of the worlds’ energy requirements are met from one or the other
form of conventional petroleum derived fossil fuels. Apart from its main application
in the transportation sector and machinery energy resources, fossil reserves also
play an important role in synthesis of industrial chemicals and solvents. However,
regrettably, near depleting fossil reserves increases energy insecurity along with
excessive greenhouse gas emissions (GHCs), evolved due to incombustible
hydrocarbons. In order to tackle this fast energy crisis, worldwide many scientists
have believed that biomass derived fuel chemicals (second generation cellulosic
fuels) are the sustainable energy source to satisfy both energy replacement and net
zero carbon emissions. With expectation, over the past few decades, biorefining of
lignocellulose feedstock is attracting worldwide interest. According to the recent
survey, global biomass production is estimated to be 1.7–2.0 1011 tons per year
[27]. Considering the current policy scenarios of India, its primary energy demand
is postulated to double in the next two decades i.e., from 750 MTOE in 2011 to
1469 MTOE in 2030 [32]. Contrarily, India’s biofuel production currently accounts
for nearly 1% of global production, which estimates for approximately 127.7 billion
litres. The major source of first-generation bio-ethanol in India remains molasses, a
by-product of sugar industry. While for second generation biofuels, sugarcane
bagasse and leaves, rice straw and husk and wheat straw accounts most of the
agricultural residues (crop residues) generated in India [16].
Around world, the abundancy of lignocellulosic biomass is widely distributed as
energy crops (e.g., switchgrass and short rotation woody crops), forestry residues
(e.g., branches and unused trees), agricultural residues (e.g., straws and stover), and
industrial residues (e.g., sawdust and brewers spent grains). In general, the inherent
biomass comprises up to 75% carbohydrate sugars in the form of cellulose and
hemicelluloses, and therefore, represents a store of abundant sugar polymers labile
to be converted into specialty chemicals. Thus, making it an ideal feedstock for
sustainably renewable energy applications [75]. In broad classification, lignocel-
lulosic conversion methodologies are thermal, thermochemical and biochemical
conversions, and in specific each method is employed for appropriate feedstock
types and resulting specific end product yield. Although most of these technologies
are at pre-commercial stage, production of bio-ethanol from biomass feedstocks is
well established (biochemically) and fully commercialized. Industrial-scale syn-
thesis of lactic acid via fermentation of glucose is also established on the market.
Undoubtedly, the usefulness of biomass-based chemicals is realized in biorefineries
(Fig. 1), where transformation of lignocellulosic feedstocks into value-added
products is envisaged by sequential transformations of a set of biomass derivative
molecules, the so-called platform molecules (or building blocks). The US
Department of Energy (DOE) in 2004 identified top 12 building blocks as
1,4-diacids (succinic, fumaric and malic), 2,5-furan dicarboxylic acid, 3-hydroxy
propionic acid, aspartic acid, glucaric acid, glutamic acid, itaconic acid, levulinic
acid, 3-hydroxybutyrolactone, glycerol, sorbitol, and xylitol/arabinitol, which can
Sustainable Production of Chemicals and Energy Fuel Precursors … 9
Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of concept of LCF based biorefinery for energy and product
chemicals
be produced from biomass derived sugars via sequential chemical or biochemical

processing steps [81]. Later, few other important platform molecules have been
included in the list, such as fatty acids, fatty acid alky esters and triglycerides [21].
Thus, this chapter takes into account production strategies of few important plat-
form molecules which could be chemically catalyzed and their potential applica-
tions as industrial chemicals and energy fuel precursors [88].
2 Lignocellulosic Biomass: Fraction and Its Structure
Inherently, lignocellulosic biomass is known as a polymeric material comprised

predominantly of three biogenic polymers, namely cellulose (30–50% wt.), hemi-
cellulose (20–30% wt.) and lignin (20–30% wt.) along with other trace components
including organic and organic extractives (phenolic substituents) and ash (10–15%
wt.). In understanding, the structural characteristics of lignocellulose are governed
by composition and alignment of its polymeric constituents [63]. These polymers
are clustered to form microfibrils, as depicted in Fig. 2, which mediate structural
stability in the plant cell [69].
Typical lignocellulosic biomass is of recalcitrant nature to resist microbial
degradation, which stems from the high crystallinity of cellulose, hydrophobicity of
lignin, and encapsulation of cellulose by strong lignin–hemicellulose matrix. Based
on the constituent representation, cellulose consists of only anhydrous glucose units
imparting high crystallinity due to interlinked hydrogen bonding between same and
adjacent cellulose chains, while hemicelluloses is a polymer of different sugar
monomers and therefore, hemicellulose has a random, amorphous structure.
Likewise, lignin is composed of complex, cross-linked, three-dimensional
biopolymers with phenylpropane units imparting relative hydrophobic and
10 B. Agarwal et al.
Fig. 2 Schematic representation of lignocellulose microfibril assembly consisting predominant

biogenic polymer constituents [69]
aromatic properties. Adversely, the most difficult and energy-consuming step in the
conversion of lignocellulosic biomass is the decomposition and degradation of
cellulose structure due to its high crystallinity. The intrinsic molecular structure of
cellulose is comprised of linearly connected b-D-anhydroglucopyranose units
(AGUs), covalently linked through acetal functions (known as b-1,4-glycosidic
linkages) between the equatorial hydroxyl groups of C4 and C1 carbon atoms [11]
(Fig. 3).
Owing to the abundance of hydroxyl groups and oxygen atoms of AGUs,
extensive networks of intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen bonds are formed,
aligning cellulose fibrils together in a highly ordered fashion forming a crystalline
Non-reducing end Reducing end
H HO
H OH
H O H O
HO H
O H O
HO HO H
H H H OH
OH H HO OH H
O O O H H
H H H O
H O H
H OH
H OH H OH H OH
H OH Inter-chain hydrogen bond
H O H O
HO O H O
H H O
HO H
H HO OH H OH H OH
OH H
H H H O HO H
O
H
Intra-chain hydrogen bond H O H OH
H OH
H OH
Fig. 3 Biomass cellulose alignment representing intra-and inter-linked hydrogen bonding [18]
OH
OH
HO
O OH O
Backbone chain HO OH O OH
HO HO HO
HO OH
OH OH
D-xylose D-mannose D-galactose
HO O
OH OH
OH HO
HO O O
Side chain MeO O
HO OH OH
HO
OH HO OH
L-arabinose 4-O-methyl-D-glucuronic acid D-galactose
Fig. 4 Chemical structure of hemicellulose backbone monomers including C5- and C6-sugars as
backbone and side chain molecules [3]
region, which is water insoluble and very resistant to chemical or enzymatic

cleavage. Based on its crystalline structure, cellulose can be categorized into seven
known allomorphic forms, denoted as cellulose Ia, Ib, II, IIII, IIIII, IVI, and IVII.
Although cellulose I is the naturally occurring form (native cellulose), its crystal
structure is thermodynamically less stable than that of cellulose II. Four other
polymorphs of cellulose (IIII, IIIII, IVI and IVII) are less commonly encountered and
less relevant from commercial perspectives.
Unlike cellulose, hemicellulose has a random and amorphous structure, which is
composed of several heteropolymers of different 5- and 6-carbon sugars or sugar
acids including xylans (arabinoxylans and 4-O-methyl-glucuronoxylans), galac-
tomannans, glucuronoxylans, arabinoxylans, glucomannans and xyloglucans
(4- linked b-D-glucans with attached side chains) (Fig. 4).
These polysaccharides backbone usually consists of one repeating sugar unit
linked through b-(1 ! 4) with branch points (1 ! 2), (1 ! 3), and/or (1 ! 6). In
addition, it consists certain side groups, such as uronic acids and acetyl-and
methyl-substituted groups [7].
Pectins, another group of polysaccharides made up of polycarboxylic acid, also
account for minor fraction of carbohydrates in some plants. Pectins function
together with hemicelluloses as a matrix component providing structural support to
the cell walls. However, hemicellulose polymers have a low degree of polymer-
ization (only 50–300 dp) as compared to cellulose. The predominant polysaccha-
ride in hemicellulose is the glucuronoxylans, comprised of a xylan backbone of
b-D-xylopyranose units linked through b (1 ! 4) with acetyl groups at C-2 or C-3
of the xylose units [18]. Therefore, xylan is generally considered to be the simplest
representation of a typical hemicellulose. It functions as the cellular glue which
provides compressive strength to the plant tissue and the individual fibres, stiffness
to the cell wall and resistance against insects and pathogens.
Similarly, lignin is a three-dimensional, highly cross-linked polymer composed
of three types of phenylpropanoid units viz. trans-p-coumaryl, trans-coniferyl, and
H3CO O Lignin Lignin Lignin OCH3
O OH
Lignin
OCH3
Lignin O OCH3 O OCH3

H3CO
H3CO OH OH OCH3
5-5' linkage O
O Lignin
(biphenyl)
OH H3CO
Lignin
α-O-4 linkage OCH3
(aryl ether)
H3CO O Lignin Lignin
OCH3 OCH3 Dibenzodioxocin linkage
OCH3
O
Lignin O
Lignin
Lignin
OCH3 OH
β-5 linkage OH
(phenylcoumaran) OH
OCH3
β-O-4 linkage
(β-aryl ether) O
Lignin
HO
O
H3CO
HO OCH3 Lignin OCH3
O
Lignin OCH3
Lignin
Lignin
O O
β−β' linkage
(resinol) H3CO
O OCH3
H3CO OCH3
OCH3 OH
O β-1' linkage
Lignin 4-O-5 linkage
(diphenyl ethane)
(diaryl ether)
Fig. 5 Representation of major linkages present in biogenic lignin polymer [4]
trans-sinapyl alcohols formed by oxidative coupling, yielding a number of func-

tional groups and linkages.
These precursors are aligned variedly to form three main type of lignin units in
plants i.e., p-hydroxyphenyl-propane (H), syringylpropane (S) and guaiacylpropane
(G) units. Within the lignin polymer, the phenylpropane units (S, G and H units) are
bonded together by a set of linkages include b-O-4, a-O-4, 5-5′, b-5, b-1′, b-b′ and
dibenzodioxcin linkages, as depicted in Fig. 5. The crosslinked, lyophilic nature of
lignin makes it insoluble and stable in water and acts as the “cellular glue” that
connects the polysaccharides, such as cellulose and hemicellulose together pro-
viding comprehensive strength to plant tissue. The most common linkage between
the lignin monomer units is recognized as the b-O-4 linkage, accounting for 50–
60% of total linkages. Lignin also consists of additional functional groups, such as
hydroxyl, methoxyl, carboxyl and carbonyl, which play an important role during
delignification and lignin fragmentation reactions [46].
3 Hydrolysis of Lignocellulose
Hydrolysis of cellulose commonly refers to breakdown of glucan polymer to its

monomer units, is a pre-requisite step in utilization of lignocellulosic biomass and
can be accomplished via acidic catalysis using most common mineral acids or
H
R H O
O
HO
H OH H
H H R H O
H hydrolysis hydrolysis
O soluble HO
R H O oligomers HO OH
O H OH
HO
H OH H H
H H
Cellulose R=CH2OH Glucose R=CH2OH
Xylan R=H Xylose R=H
Fig. 6 Proposed reaction scheme of cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysis [2]
biocatalyst (cellulase complex). Presumably, cellulase comprised of three major

enzymes depending on their mode of action and end-product i.e., (i) endoglucanase
attacks low crystallinity regions in the cellulose fibers, creating free chain-ends,
(ii) exoglucanase or cellobiohydrolase hydrolyze the 1,4-glycocidyl linkages to
form cellobiose, and (iii) b-glucosidase converts cello-oligosaccharides and dimers
(cellobiose) into glucose residues. At the same time, breaking down of hemicel-
lulose polymers into monomer mixtures consisting 5-and 6-carbon sugars) can be
achieved via enzymatic reactions using enzyme cocktails include glucoronide,
acetylesterase, xylanase, b-xylosidase, galactomannase and glucomannase [75].
Figure 6 depicts general reaction scheme for hydrolysis of cellulosic and hemi-
cellulosic fraction of lignocellulosic biomass. These enzymes work synergistically
to hydrolyse cellulose and hemicellulose. Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic
biomass is considered to be more effective than the use of acid catalysts owing to
their highly specific action and operation at mild process conditions. In spite of
these advantages, the use of enzymes in lignocellulosic hydrolysis is still limited
due to several associated factors for example their relative instability at high tem-
perature conditions, high costs of enzyme isolation and purification as well as
difficult recovery and reusability. When considering the advantages offered by
acidic catalysis, various aspects of chemically mediated hydrolysis are briefly
discussed in the following sections.
The concept of utilization of lignocellulosic biomass, specifically carbohydrate
based fuels and specialty chemicals rely heavily on availability of monomeric C5
and C6 sugars. It is well established that lignocellulose resist any changes in their
structural integrity owing to its complexity. Therefore, the first and foremost step in
the biorefineries is fragmentation of lignocellulose into its fractional components
i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Often termed as pretreatment, the objective
of this step is to disrupt the matrix structure to relieve lignin and decrease cellulose
crystallinity, enabling enhanced chemical or enzyme accessibility to the cellulose
during hydrolysis [56].
Though number of methods have evolved for lignocellulose pretreatment,
intrinsic drawbacks, such as development of undesired byproducts, components
loss and high processing cost have to be kept in mind while selecting appropriate
approach. For instance, pretreatment severity has to be sometimes reduced to reduce

overall economic cost (normally accounts for about 30% of operating cost) as well
as inhibitory degradation products. However, low severity factor corresponds to
low sugar yields. Therefore, a balance has to be stroked out between various
factors. Many different pretreatment methodologies viz. biological, physical,
chemical and physico-chemical pretreatments have been employed during the last
few decades. Since the chapter focus on chemical catalysis of lignocellulose bio-
mass, pretreatment via chemical methods is discussed in the perspective of inte-
gration of pretreatment and production step with the aim of reducing overall
production cost in future.
3.1 Homogeneous Hydrolysis Strategy
Mineral acid pretreatment is generally carried out with aim of hemicellulose sol-
ubilization and thereby, rendering cellulose more accessible for further processing
[75]. A key advantage of acid pretreatment is that subsequent hydrolysis step could
be sometimes over-stepped, as the acid itself hydrolyses the biomass to yield fer-
mentable sugars by careful modulating reaction conditions. Most studies have
employed strong acids like sulfuric, hydrochloric, nitric and phosphoric acids for
biomass pretreatment with favored use of sulfuric acid, owing to being relatively
less expensive than other acids and promising yield results [2]. Typically, both
dilute (1–2% wt.) and concentrated (30–70% wt.) preparations of acid are evaluated
for pretreatment; however, latter strategy is prone to intense formation of inhibitory
compounds (poison to microbes), excessive corrosion problems and expensive
product downstream. Nevertheless, literature cites that concentrated acid treatment
(up to 50% wt.) causes apparent swelling of cellulose leading to the dissolution of
cellulose to glucose, whereas dilute acid treatment offers the advantage of solubi-
lizing hemicellulose, mainly xylan and subsequent conversion of solubilized
hemicellulose to fermentable sugars depending upon reaction severity.
At the same time, organic acids such as fumaric, maleic and trifluoroacetic acid
have emerged as hydrolyzing agents with comparable monosaccharide yields as
sulfuric acid along with limited sugar degradation and corresponding furfural
production [40, 52]. With time, various types of reactors have been developed and
applied for large-scale acidic pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials such as
percolation, plug flow, shrinking-bed and counter-current reactors [77].
Voluminous amount of literature is available on acidic pretreatment of lignocel-
lulose biomass [10, 87] and it has been summarized that optimum conditions for the
acid pretreatment are highly dependent on the purpose of pretreatment in terms of
targeted sugars [49]. For instance, Saha and co-workers [71] achieved maximum
carbohydrate content of 76% and 60% wt. from mild acid pretreated wheat straw
and rice hull substrates, respectively, after enzyme saccharification and reported less
or no formation of sugar degradation products (furfural and HMF) under typical
reaction conditions (1.0% v/v H2SO4 at 121 °C for 1 h) [71]. Alternatively, several
other studies have proposed for addition of supplementary agents during acidic
hydrolysis, in order to improve the direct conversion of cellulose into glucose. For
example, Ragg and co-workers [62] employed HCl (6–7 M) supplemented with
LiCl or CaCl2 in aqueous phase for conversion of cellulose to glucose and yiel-
ded *85% fermentable sugar release [62]. Later, in a similar fashion Cao and
co-workers [5] employed ZnCl in a homogeneous cellulose pretreatment system
followed by hydrolysis with dilute HCl, resulting in improved glucose yield (up to
91.5%) [5]. In modified study, Luterbacher and co-workers [50] evaluated the
applicability of biphasic reaction system consisting aqueous (0.05% by wt. H2SO4)
and organic (c-valerolactone, a biomass derived green organic solvent) phase for
the conversion of various cellulosic substrates to glucose and reported 70–90%
conversion yield [50].
Likewise, studies have also been conducted on C5 sugar production from
hemicellulosic fraction of lignocellulose via dilute acid hydrolysis. Herrera and
co-workers [30] evaluated the production of xylose (16.2 g/L) which corresponded
to 71.6% of theoretical yield from sorghum straw using 6% wt. HCl at 122 °C for
70 min [30]. Later, Rita and co-workers demonstrated further improved xylose
yield (*74% wt.) from sugarcane bagasse using sulfuric acid (100 mg acid/g dm)
under comparatively low severity conditions (130 °C for 10 min) [65]. In modified
study, Zhang and co-workers [85] investigated combined dilute acid-catalyzed
hydrolysis of palm oil empty fruit bunch by employing both dilute H2SO4 (0.5%
w/v) and H3PO4 (0.2% w/v) to achieve 91.3% xylose yield. The apparent improved
yields is mainly attributed to the synergistic action of acids under the modest
reaction conditions (160 °C within 10 min) [85].
It is profound that typical alkaline pretreatments increase cellulose digestibility
through fiber swelling and are known to be more effective for lignin solubilization,
exhibiting minor cellulose and hemicellulose solubilization (less sugar loss) than
acid or hydrothermal processes [6]. In perception, alkalis viz. sodium, potassium,
calcium and ammonium hydroxides generally enables degradation of ester and
glycosidic side chains, resulting in structural alterations of lignin, cellulose swelling
and increase its internal surface area, partial decrystallization of cellulose, and
partial solvation of hemicellulose [53]. In support, several early studies have
revealed for the improved digestibility of lignocellulose (for example hardwood
substrate) after pretreatment using NaOH yielded up to 55% wt. glucose, due to
enhanced enzyme accessibility through recalcitrant lignin removal [41]. Similarly,
numerous comparative studies have established for the better delignification
capabilities of NaOH (up to 59% wt.) than sulfuric acid (31% wt.) while increasing
its concentration from 0.05 to 0.2% g/g solids [19].
Alongside, studies have also demonstrated using weak base (for example CaOH)
for biomass hydrolysis through removal of acetyl groups in hemicellulose and
reducing steric hindrance, resulting in enhanced cellulose digestibility. Indeed,
biomass pretreatment using lime offers the advantages of lower cost and less safety
requirements compared to NaOH or KOH pretreatments, and easy recovery from
hydrolysate by reaction with CO2. Consequently, application of this approach has
resulted in 89% wt. glucose recovery from leafstar rice straw [59]. Furthermore,
supplementation of oxidative reagents, for example O2 or H2O2 to alkali during

biomass pretreatment could improve cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysis by
favoring lignin removal and more importantly, decreased furfural and HMF for-
mation [6]. Apparent studies have witnessed for no obvious furfural or HMF for-
mation during alkaline peroxide pretreatment, which favors further microbial
fermentation of sugars to ethanol [77]. Several other chemical pretreatment methods
like ozonolysis, organosolv and wet oxidation have been practiced with consider-
ably high delignification yields, however, these methods restricted for use in cel-
lulose to bioethanol transformations, due to high expenses involved as well as
subsequent enzymatic inhibition by chemical agents employed [58, 75, 86]. Table 1
summarizes few examples of lignocellulosic biomass processing for C5 and C6
sugars production.
In advancement of bioprocessing, ILs functionalized with acidic groups are
new-types of thermally stable catalysts having special properties like providing
high-density active sites as liquid acids, non-volatile, easily recyclable and exist as
solids even above 100 °C [26]. Several mechanistic studies on cellulose hydrolysis
proposed that hydrolysis of cellulose involves breakdown of the hydrogen bond in
cellulosic network by the high activity of chloride concentration in ILs [76].
However, water acts as an inhibitor for the dissolution of cellulose and hence can be
used to regenerate the cellulose dissolved in ILs. Fascinatingly, during dissolution
and regeneration by precipitation of cellulose, its crystallinity reduces significantly
and thus, exposing the amorphous part which is much easier to hydrolyze compared
with the native cellulose. Furthermore, various ILs specifically hydrophilic
imidazolium-based, such as 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl),
1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([AMIM]Cl), 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium
chloride ([BZMIM]Cl), and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([EMIM]
CH3COO), have been demonstrated for significant dissolution of lignocellulosic
materials with remarkable glucose conversion yields (>80%) [14, 45, 64]. Another
aspect of ILs in lignocellulosic processing was demonstrated when Lee and
Table 1 Examples of monomeric sugar production from lignocellulosic biomass (adapted from
Ref. [88])
Catalyst Lignocellulose Operating parameters Hydrolysis Yield (% Ref.
Product wt.)
H2SO4 Wood chips 210 °C, 2 min, *1.9 MPa Xylose 54 [20]
(0.175% wt.)
H2SO4 (0.5% Corn cobs 125 °C, 165 min Xylose 25 [66]
wt.)
H2SO4 (6.2 % Sugar maple wood extract 95 °C, 50 min, 0.1 MPa Xylose 161.6 g.L-1 [31]
wt.)
SO2 Aspen chips 205 °C, 3 min, 1.62 MPa Glucose 37 [15]
Impregnation Xylose 10
HCl (20% wt.) Cellulose 105 °C, 2–4 h Glucose *90 [2]
+ [EMIM]Cl
co-workers [44] discovered for dissolution of lignin in ILs, however, exhibited a

limited affinity toward cellulose and other constituents of wood flour [44]. These
ILs were [MMIM]-[CH3OSO3],1,3-dimethylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate
([BMIM][CF3SO3]), [EMIM][CH3COO], [AMIM][Cl], [BMIM][Cl], or
1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BZMIM][Cl]). Despite the advantages
offered by ILs, the high cost of ILs limits their large-scale application in biomass
pretreatment. However, it can be expected that research will be focused on dropping
down the production cost of ILs so as to enable its application in commercial
hydrolysis and pretreatment processes for cellulose conversion.
3.2 Heterogeneous Hydrolysis Strategy
Although homogeneous acids have been quite successful in cellulose hydrolysis to

yield monomeric glucose, the handling and operational issues associated with these
approaches led to the research and development of heterogeneous acid catalysts.
However, most heterogeneous catalytic studies are based on commercial cellulose
due to difficulties in separation of cellulose and lignin in biomass; nevertheless, few
researches have demonstrated for direct lignocellulose conversion. Table 2 sum-
marizes potential applications of heterogeneous solid acid catalysts towards cellu-
lose hydrolysis to glucose.
In modified study, Jiang and co-workers demonstrated self-derived carbona-
ceous solid acid (CSA) catalysts giving rise to a close loop recycle procedure,
Table 2 Popularly used heterogeneous solid acid catalysts for bio-derived component transfor-
mation reactions [29]
Example solids Class
Zeolite and zeolite-like X-, Y-zeolites (faujasite), chabasite, ferriertie, beta-zeolite,
mordenite, erionite, HZSM-5, MCM-22, metalloaluminophosphate
(e.g., silicoaluminophosphate, gallosilicate, beryllosilicate,
titanosilicate, stanosilicate
Clay Montmorillnite, saponite
Metal oxide and mixed Al2O3, TiO2, SiO2, Nb2O5, WO3, SiO2–Al2O3, SiO2–ZrO2, SiO2–
metal oxide MgO, TiO2–SiO2, WO3–ZrO2, WO3–Al2O3, WO3–SnO2, Nb2O5–
Al2O3, B2O3–Al2O3
Acid supported H3PO4/SiO2, HClO4/SiO2, SO3H/SiO2, SO3H/C, AlCl3/SiO2, BF3/
SiO2, SbF5/SiO2–Al2O3, SbF5/TiO2, CF3SO3H/SiO2, heteropoly
acids/SiO2
Sulfated oxide SO42−/ZrO2, SO42−/TiO2, SO42−/SnO2
Layered transition metal HNBMoO6, HTaWO6, HNbWO6
oxide
Metal salt AlPO4, Nb3(PO4)5, FePO4, NiSO4
Heteropoly compound H3PW12O40, H4SiW12O40, H3PMo12O40, H4SiMo12O40, and their
salts (e.g., H0.5Cs2.5PW12O40)
Ion exchange resin Amberlyst-15, Nafion, Nafion-silica composite/nanocomposite
Fig. 7 Process scheme of corncob hydrolysis by CSA derived from the hydrolysis residue [35]
where CSA is prepared under microwave irradiation from hydrolyzed corncob

residues and re-used for the hydrolysis of corncob, as illustrated in Fig. 7 [35]. The
obvious advantages of this process are two end products as output, first is the sugars
derived from cellulose and hemicelluloses and secondly, CSA coming from the
unconverted solid residue. Considering the use of inexpensive solid acid catalyst,
moderate reaction conditions (130 °C) and appreciable yields of xylose and ara-
binose (78% wt.) the overall process is postulated to yield good economics.
Therefore, it is evident that heterogeneous catalysis offers economic conversion of
lignocellulosic biomass into platform sugar compounds. However, efforts are to be
made in the direction of overcoming mass-transfer limitations associated with
substrate-catalyst interactions without incorporating additional physical pretreat-
ment costs.
4 Thermochemical Catalysis of Carbohydrate Sugars
Depending on the intended end-use of the product, lignocellulosic biomass can be

processed in numerous ways like liquefaction, solvo-hydrolysis, pyrolysis,
hydrolysis, hydrothermal hydrolysis etc. For instance, synthesis of transportation
fuels and chemicals require less oxygen content and consequently, lignocellulosic
biomass is depolymerized and deoxygenated prior to catalytic hydrolysis. In
favorable, presence of oxygen often provides valuable physical and chemical
properties to other value-added chemicals and therefore, require much less
deoxygenation. In accordance, with the recent literature cites that
5-hydroxymethylfurfural, lactic acid, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) and lignin has
been identified as platform molecules in addition to the previously defined platform
chemicals by the US-DOE, which could be obtained from lignocellulose-derived
C5 and C6 sugars and also, lignin fraction by any of the chemical or biological
processing techniques. Because these molecules can be further processed into
value-added chemicals by employing appropriate processing approaches [33].
5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF): A versatile ‘value-added’ additive mole-
cule, gaining much attention in petroleum and chemical industries due to its reactive
features (heterocyclic furan), consisting hydroxide and aldehyde functionalities at
2,5-poistions,and moreover, it is relatively an unsaturated aromatic compound [12].

Thus, HMF is susceptible to many chemical reactions, depending upon the syn-
thesis route (Fig. 8) undergoing favorable changes leading to the production of
commercially important chemicals [79].
It is generally produced through acid-catalyzed dehydration of hexose sugars
preferably fructose. Synthesis of HMF from biomass-derived glucose is essentially
a two-step process i.e., a base and/or Lewis acid catalyzed reaction for isomer-
ization of glucose to fructose followed by Brønsted acid mediated catalysis to the
end product. Due to the unstable character of HMF, obtaining high yield and
selectivity from glucose is challenging from industrial point of view. In a typical
reaction conditions, HMF is more likely to rehydrate to levulinic acid and formic
acid at equal proportion under same prevailing reaction conditions. The earliest
reports on synthesis of HMF in aqueous phase reaction system employing cheap
raw material like wood chips, were restricted by meager selectivity towards HMF
owing to instability of HMF in water under acidic conditions. In order to avoid the
complications and further product yield improvement, Kuster and Der Van Steen in
1977 [42] attempted to introduce organic solvents, as extracting agents, resulting
achieved remarkable conversion yield under modest reaction conditions with
appreciable synergistic effects on HMF’s rate of formation along with limiting its
decomposition to humin species and other side products [42]. Since then numerous
solvents including DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), DMF (dimethyl formamide), DMA
Fig. 8 Potential application of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural as platform molecule

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“What are you going to do about it—dodge?”
“I can’t dodge. Thurlow will meet the Follansbees when they arrive,
and the first thing he will tell them—oh, pot! don’t you see that I’m in
for it up to my neck?”
Philip tossed his cold pipe aside and got out of his chair.
“Better go to bed and sleep on it,” he counselled. “Perhaps it won’t
seem so much like an unmixed misfortune in the morning.” And as
he reached his bed-room door: “This Miss Follansbee—is she good-
looking, Harry?”
“A glorious blonde, handsome enough to make your hair curl.”
“Humph!” said Philip; “it strikes me you might be a lot worse off than
you are. You might have epilepsy, or rheumatism, or small-pox, or
something of that sort. Good-night.” And he went off to bed.
XV
Exuberant Denverites of the early ’eighties—not the bull-team
pioneers of the ’sixties, most of whom looked on with dry humor, but
the clamant majority of tenderfoot later comers—lived strenuously in
a boosters’ Paradise, acclaiming their city the Queen of the Plains
and extolling impartially its Italian skies, health-giving atmosphere
and matchless scenic surroundings; its phenomenal growth, wealth
and hilarious “wide-openness.”
To this trumpeting mother of mining-camps came the Follansbees,
fresh from an America which was slow to concede an America west
of the Alleghenies; the judge, a fine, upstanding gentleman of the old
school, with silvering hair and beard; his wife, an ample and gracious
lady corseted to the moment and expert in the use of fan and
lorgnette; their son Thomas, a spectacled young man who had had a
post-graduate year at Oxford, returning with a pronounced English
accent and as the introducer of the curious English custom of
wearing spats; an elder daughter fully bearing out Bromley’s
description of her as a “glorious blonde,” and a younger, thin and
pale, with wistful eyes looking out upon a world which would always
be alien to them.
True to his traditions, Bromley joined Thurlow in meeting the
migrants-for-health’s-sake at the Union Depot, saw them carriaged
for their hotel, saw to the transfer of their luggage, and afterward
called at the hotel, dutifully and at the proper hour, to pay his
respects and to place himself, as a somewhat seasoned Denverite,
at the service of the family in helping to find summer quarters in
which the invalid Lucy Ann could have the benefits to be derived
from the miracle-working climate.
“Their reactions to the ‘wild and woolly’ are delightful to behold,”
Bromley told Philip that night at dinner. “The judge and Lucy Ann
take things as they are; but Mrs. Aurelia and Tom and Eugie are
distinctly disappointed at finding themselves surrounded by all the
comforts and most of the luxuries of civilization. I don’t know just
what they were expecting to find, but they evidently haven’t found it
—yet.”
“They will live at the Windsor?” Philip asked.
“Oh, no; their idea is to take a ‘villa,’ as Tom calls it, somewhere in
the suburbs and settle down in a housekeeping way. And, by the by,
Tom is a joke—a shout! He used to be a rather decent chap, as
harmless as a cockroach; a trifle on his toes, perhaps, because the
Follansbees date back to Colonial times, but otherwise quite
bearable. But he spent last year in England, at Oxford, and now he
does everything but drop his ‘h’s.’ He was out with me this afternoon
and he wore a top hat and spats. The grins we met, if put end to end,
would reach from here to Leadville. He calls me ‘my deah fellaw.’”
“And the fair Eugenia?” Philip inquired maliciously.
Bromley sighed and shook his head.
“I’m still a ruined community. She is as fair as ever and she hasn’t
changed a particle. I was in hopes some really good chap had cut in
by this time, but I am afraid she is still taking the parental bargain as
a matter of course.”
Philip’s grin was sardonic.
“And as long as she does, you’ll have to. Still, this is a man’s town,
and perhaps you won’t bulk so large in the lady’s imagination after
she has had time to look the Western collection over.”
Bromley shook his head again. “I shall feel like a cad doing it, but
she shan’t lack for introductions, Phil; I’ll promise you that. Want to
go around to the Windsor with me after dinner and meet them?”
Philip’s laugh was a bray. “And let you start the introductions with
me? Thanks, I wouldn’t be that unkind to you,” he bantered.
“Let’s talk about something pleasant,” Bromley broke in whimsically;
“our friends from Mississippi, for example. You remember the little
rescue plan we were talking about last week?”
“I remember telling you that it wouldn’t work.”
“But it has worked—like a charm. I bought the West Denver cottage
Saturday: you know the neighborhood—respectable and neat, but
not gaudy—short walk across the Curtis Street bridge to the
University School for the girls—short walk to business for the dear
little hat-trimmer. After I’d got the deed safely in my pocket, I called
upon Mrs. Dabney and told her what I had ‘found.’ She wept tears of
joy.”
“I don’t know how you do it,” said Philip discontentedly. “As many
times as I have been with Jean since I took her to dinner that first
evening, she has never let me see the inside of their rooms in the
Whittle Block.”
The play-boy laughed.
“You know the saying about fools rushing in where angels fear to
tread. I got my foot in the door the first time I walked home with her
—the day you went to Boulder. The younger girls took to me and
called me ‘Uncle Harry’; and after that it was easy.”
“Still, I don’t see how you got Mrs. Dabney’s consent to fall in with
your cottage scheme. I tried to offer Jean a loan, and she froze me
so quick——”
“Of course she would. That was what you might call the heavy-hand
method. I had to tell a few white lies about the cottage, but that was
all in the day’s work. A mining friend of mine was moving his family
to the Gunnison country and was willing to let his furnished house
cheap to the right kind of tenants. Past that, all that was needed was
to make the rent fit the Dabney purse.”
“But you haven’t fooled Jean with any such cock-and-bull story as
that.”
“Haven’t I? That remains to be seen. Anyway, they are taking
possession to-morrow, and I’m to help them. You are not in it; not in
one side of it.”
“Evidently,” was the morose agreement. Then: “As I said before, I’d
like to know how you do it, Harry. You can get closer to people in ten
minutes than I can in a year. The first evening we were together with
Jean I could see that she accepted you that quick,”—with a snap of
his finger. “And she knew what you are—or rather what you were a
year ago. Don’t women, good women, care whether or not a man
makes a consummate fool of himself?”
Instead of laughing at this acerbic thrust, his usual reply to Philip’s
censorious references to his past, Bromley grew thoughtfully silent.
When he spoke, it was to say: “You may analyze women, good, bad
and indifferent, until the cows come home, Philip, but you’ll never
fully understand them; no man ever does, I think. That remark of
yours rubs shoulders with a pretty large truth. There is a good deal of
talk nowadays about the double standard. It is the women—the good
women—who, unconsciously, perhaps, do the most to maintain it.
Why a man who has sown a pretty generous acreage of wild oats
should stand a better chance with a good woman than the other sort
of man—your sort—is a question that has puzzled better brains than
yours or mine. But the fact seems to remain.”
“I don’t believe it,” said Philip doggedly.
“All right; your belief isn’t obligatory, and we won’t quarrel over it. You
asked me a question and I gave you the best answer I had in the
box. Would you like to amble across Cherry Creek and have a look
at my ‘mining friend’s’ cottage on the west side? It is too fine an
evening to be wasted indoors. Besides, you’ll want to know the way.”
Together they walked down Larimer and across the bridge, turning
south in a street paralleling Cherry Creek. Three short squares
brought them to a darkened cottage on a corner; a small box of a
place with a pocket-handkerchief lawn and two half-grown
cottonwoods for shade trees. Bromley found a key and they went in.
When the gas was lighted, Philip looked around. There were three
bed-rooms, a sitting-room, a small dining-room and a lean-to kitchen,
all plainly but comfortably furnished. True, the carpets were worn and
the furniture did not match; but there was a home-like air about the
place that made it seem as if the former owners had just stepped
out.
“Did you buy it all, just as it stands?” Philip asked.
“No, indeed. Just the empty house. I spent a whole day ransacking
the second-hand shops for the fittings; didn’t dare buy anything new,
naturally—that would have been a dead give-away. Like it?”
“It will do well enough—considering who did it. Of course, it’s
understood that you let me in with you on the expense?”
Bromley did not reply at once. When he did, his answer was a
conditional refusal.
“No, I think not, Phil. You don’t owe Jean Dabney anything, and I do.
If the time ever comes when you are in debt to her as I am, we’ll
have an accounting. If you have seen all you want to, let’s go.” And
he reached up to turn off the gas.
In their common sitting-room that evening, while Bromley was
chuckling over a magazine article which showed how little the writer
really knew about the Colorado to which he had evidently made no
more than a flying visit, Philip shut the The Lady of the Aroostook
upon a place-keeping finger to say:
“I think I owe it to myself to tell you that I went to Middleton to-day
and apologized.”
“Of course; I knew you’d do that, sooner or later,” returned the play-
boy, with his best impish grin. “That is what you get for having a
conscience. What did he say?”
“He was very decent about it; doesn’t seem to bear malice. Shook
hands with me when I got up to go and said he couldn’t blame me so
very much for ‘losing my temper.’ Altogether, he made me feel like a
fool—or rather like a whited sepulchre.”
“Why the simile?” queried the magazine reader.
“Because I profess better things, and he doesn’t. He is a hopeless
pagan, but he shows a better Christian spirit than I did.”
This time Bromley’s grin was good-naturedly cynical.
“Deep down in your heart, Philip, you don’t really believe any such
thing as that; you know you don’t,” he said accusingly.
“Why don’t I?”
“Because, at this very moment, the old self-righteous Puritan in you
is patting itself on the back for its superior virtue and for the humility
in which you kept the letter of the Gospel to your own satisfaction
and comfort.”
“Oh, to the devil with you and your hair-splitting philosophy!” said
Philip impatiently; and, relighting his pipe, he went on with his
reading of the Howells novel.
XVI
The spring of 1881, memorable for the jangling aftermath of the
bitter factional political struggle of the previous year which had
resulted in the nomination and election of President Garfield, waned
to its close, and on the second of July the nation was shocked by the
news flashed over the wires of the shooting of the President in a
Washington railway station by Charles J. Guiteau.
Isolated by distance from the populous East and Middle West, the
new Colorado yet felt the shock and responded to it. Partisanship
and the harsh pre-election epithets of “329” and the anti-Chinese cry
of “Remember the Morey letter” were forgotten, and the city of the
plain marked its sorrow and indignation, as it did everything else,
with a magnificent Western gesture.
Philip, now following out his plan of a blind search for his father in
the various mountain mining-camps, returned to Denver early in the
week following the national tragedy with other failures to add to
those which had gone before.
“You mustn’t let it dig too deep into you,” Bromley urged
sympathetically, after the story of the added failures had been told.
“You know you admitted in the beginning that there was only the
slenderest chance that you might turn him up here in Colorado. You
haven’t had any later clues, have you?”
“It is all groping in the dark,” was the discouraged answer. “All I am
sure of is that he would bury himself out of sight. To be the first of his
name to have the finger of suspicion pointed at him, however
unjustly ... you’d have to be New England born yourself to know how
these things cut to the bone, Harry.”
Something of the same nature he said to Jean Dabney that evening
as he was walking home with her from Madame Marchande’s. He
had long since told her about the cloud on the Trask name, and of
his determination to dispel it; as he made no doubt it could be
dispelled if he could trace his father and persuade him to return to
New Hampshire, there to fight the good fight of reinstatement with
half the wealth of a Colorado gold mine to back him.
“I do hope you will succeed,” said the one who was to the full as
sympathetic as Bromley. “You owe it to him to do your very best to
find him.”
“To him, and quite as much to myself,” Philip amended decisively.
“While the cloud remains, it rests upon all of us who bear the Trask
name. Until it is cleared away I can’t ask any right-minded woman to
marry me.”
They had reached the bridge over Cherry Creek and had paused to
look down upon the damp sands lying dark in the starlight The young
woman’s tone was merely argumentative when she said: “Don’t you
think that is carrying it rather far?”
“Not as I see it. The name a man gives to his wife ought not to have
even a shadow of disgrace upon it. Don’t you believe that?”
“Y-yes, I suppose I do,” was the half-hesitant reply. “Yet that seems
frightfully sweeping, when you come to think of it. It seems to shut
out all idea of repentance and forgiveness.”
“Take it home,” said Philip shortly. “Would you marry a man who had
a bad record, or whose father had been accused of a crime and was
still lying under that accusation?”
She was still staring down at the dark sands in the creek channel.
“Since the beginning of time both men and women have been
forgiving worse things.”
Never before in their renewed acquaintance had he felt so strongly
the difference that a year’s burden of heavy responsibilities
courageously taken up and carried had made in the dark-eyed young
woman standing beside him. It was only at rare intervals that a flash
of the old-time, teasing mockery came to the surface. He told himself
that her burden had not only sobered her; it had brought her too
crudely in contact with a world of compromises—ethical
compromises. He remembered what Bromley had said about the
double standard of morals, and the part good women played in
maintaining or condoning it, and the recollection brought a bitter
taste in his mouth.
“If women like you take that attitude, what is the use of a man’s
trying to keep his record clean?” he demanded.
“Dear me! How savagely righteous you can be!” she exclaimed with
a little laugh. Then she cleared the air with a plain-spoken
declaration that served to increase the aloes taste in his mouth: “I
suppose I am like other women. When the time comes—if it ever
does come—that I think enough of a man to marry him, I shan’t ask
what he has been; only what he is and means to be.”
“That is heroic—but entirely wrong,” he decided magisterially. “My
code is stricter than that, and it applies to men and women alike. I
mean to be able to give as much as I ask. If I can’t give, I shan’t
ask.”
“What terrible spiritual pride!” she commented, laughing again. Then,
soberly: “Don’t you know, I shall be truly sorry for the woman you
marry.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because you don’t know women at all—or yourself. And, besides,
you don’t know the meaning of love; the unselfish kind that takes for
better or worse. Let’s not talk about such things. We always get lost
in the woods when we do. Where shall you go next to look for your
father?”
“I haven’t decided. There are some camps in the San Juan that I
haven’t been to. Perhaps I shall go down there next.”
They went on across the bridge and presently reached the cottage
on the west side. At the gate Philip declined Jean’s invitation to
come in. The bitter taste was still with him, and as he walked slowly
back to town he was placing Bromley as the figurant upon whom
Jean’s tacit defense of the sinners was based. The play-boy’s
acceptance by the Dabneys one and all was of the unreserved sort
that Bromley seemed to be able to win wherever he went, and it was
he who oftenest walked home with Jean when she was kept late in
the millinery shop.
Philip assured himself that he wasn’t jealous; he was merely sorry.
Jean was much too fine to be wasted upon a man who, by his own
confession, had “gone all the gaits.” True, Bromley showed no
indications of any desire to return to his wallowing in the mire; but
that made no difference: he had wallowed, and Jean knew it—knew
it and was willing to condone. That was the bitter part of it. Did she,
in common with other women he had heard of, accept the devil’s
maxim that a reformed rake makes the best husband?
And about this business of reform: how deep did it go? Was there
ever any such thing as a complete reintegration? Could a man—or a
woman—ever fully regain the heights from which the descent had
begun? Admitting that Bromley had a heart of gold, as he—Philip—
had once characterized him for Jean, wasn’t he at best but a brand
snatched from the burning? And though the brand might not spring
alight again, wouldn’t there always be the charred scar and the
ashes?
Philip climbed the stair in the Alamo Building determined to have a
straight talk with Bromley. But the time proved to be unpropitious.
The play-boy was dressing to go out—conscripted for a theater party
with the Follansbees, as he put it. “Have to be decently chummy, of
course,” he grumbled, “but I’d much rather go across the Creek and
play parchesi with Mysie and Mary Louise.” Then: “That reminds me
of something I’ve been chewing on ever since you went away this
last time, Phil. Even with the rent of the cottage as low as I dared put
it without giving the whole snap away, the load is still too heavy for
Jean—much too heavy. Can’t you see it?”
Philip nodded. “I have seen it all along. I don’t know what Madame
Marchande is paying Jean, but it stands to reason it isn’t enough to
keep a family of four properly alive.”
“You can bet your bottom dollar it isn’t. I’ve been with them enough
to note the little pinchings and scrimpings and they make my heart
bleed. It is up to us, one or the other of us, to climb into the breach,
and I have found the way to do it. There is a spare bed-room in the
cottage, and last evening I asked Mrs. Dabney if she would be willing
to take a lodger. She was so willing that she cried.”
“Well?” said Philip.
“As I say, it’s up to us—or one of us; the room isn’t big enough for
two.”
“Go over there and live with them, you mean?”
“That’s it. And since they were your friends before they were mine,
you shall have the first chance at it. But if you don’t go, I shall. They
need the money. Think it over, and we’ll thresh it out after I come
back.”
For some time after Bromley had gone, Philip sat in his reading chair
thrilling to his finger-tips. To live under the same roof with Jean; to be
with her daily in the close intimacies of the home life; to be able to
help her legitimately in the carrying of her heavy burden until the
time should come when, his own filial duty discharged and the Trask
name cleared, he might persuade her to shift the burden to his
shoulders—to his and not to Harry Bromley’s.... There was only one
fly in this precious pot of ointment: that saying of Jean’s scarcely an
hour old: “I suppose I am like other women. When the time comes—
if it ever does come—that I think enough of a man to marry him, I
shan’t ask what he has been; only what he is and means to be.” Was
she trying to tell him that Bromley was the man?
It was in that hour that the virtuous ego rose to its most self-satisfied
height. Jean, wise in the hard school of adversity but innocent as a
child in matters touching her soul’s welfare, should be made to see
that she must not risk her future happiness by marrying any man
who, however lovable, had once shown the weak thread in the fabric
of his character and might show it again. It should be his task to
make her see it; to convince her that her duty to herself and to her
unborn children lay in quite a different direction.
In the levitating exhilaration of this thought the room suddenly
became too close and confining to contain him, and he put on his
coat and hat and descended to the street. Conscious only of an urge
to keep moving, he began to walk aimlessly, through Curtis to
Sixteenth Street, past the new opera house now nearing completion,
and so on down toward Larimer.
It was in the final block that he saw something that jerked him down
out of the clouds and set his feet upon the pavement of the baser
realities. In the center of the block was one of the evidences of
Denver’s “wide-openness”: a luxurious gambling palace running, like
many others in the city of the moment, without let or hindrance from
the police. Through the green baize swinging doors, as he was
passing, Philip saw an entering figure and recognized it.
“Jim Garth!” he muttered, and hung upon his heel. He knew that
Bromley had been “staking” the big miner from time to time, and had
himself refused point blank to join in the contributions, arguing that it
was not only good money thrown away, but that it was merely giving
a man of ungoverned appetites the means of further degrading
himself. But now, in an upsurge of righteous responsibility—the
legitimate child of the thoughts he had been entertaining—he was
moved to lay a restraining hand upon this weak-willed giant who had
toiled with him and Bromley through the bitter winter in the
Saguache. Before he realized exactly what he meant to do, or how
he should go about it, he had pushed the swinging doors apart and
was ascending the softly carpeted stair.
At the top of the stair he found a doorkeeper guard, but with a single
appraising glance the man let him pass into the room beyond. For a
moment he stood just inside the door, blinking and bewildered. The
transition from the cool outdoor air and semi-darkness of the street
to the brilliant light and smoke-drenched atmosphere of the crowded
upper room dazed him. It was the first time he had ever set foot
within a gambling “hell,” and it was some little time before he could
force himself to begin a slow circuit of the room in search of Garth.
To the soul inspired by predetermined righteousness the scene was
a blasting commentary on the depravity of human nature. The
haggard, eager, lusting faces of some of the players contrasting with
the blank immobility of others—the seasoned gamblers; the
monotonous click of the chips as some nervous amateur ran them
through his fingers; the skirling spin of the roulette balls followed by
the rat-tat-tat as they came to rest in the red or black.... Philip saw
and heard and hastened, with a feeling that if he should linger too
long the fell madness of the place might somehow obtain a lodgment
in his own brain. He must find Garth quickly and drag him out.
It was at the upper end of the room that he came to a green-covered
table with inlaid cards in its center and a double row of players
ringing it, the inner row sitting and the outer standing. Upon a high
stool at one end sat the “lookout,” a man with the face of a graven
image and watchful eyes that marked each bet as it was placed
upon the table; and at one side sat the dealer, turning up cards with
practiced dexterity out of the nickel-plated box on the table before
him.
Philip’s gaze swept the ring of faces until he came to that of the shirt-
sleeved dealer, flipping the cards two by two with automatic precision
out of the box under his hands. One glance at the clean-cut, deeply
lined face with its cold eyes, thin nostrils and lean jaw was all that
was needed, and Philip’s heart skipped a beat and stood still. His
fruitless search of the past few weeks for his father had ended—
here!
Gropingly, and as if his sight had suddenly failed him, he edged his
way around the table and touched the shirt-sleeved man on the
shoulder. The cold gray eyes were lifted to his for a flitting instant;
then the dealer made a sign to his substitute and got up from his
place, saying quietly to Philip: “I’ve been expecting you. We’ll go up-
stairs.”
Wholly speechless, Philip followed his father into the hall, up a
stairway and into a room on the third floor where a gas jet, turned
low, was burning. John Trask reached up and turned the gas on full.
“Might as well sit down,” he said to his son; and Philip sank into a
chair and fought for speech. But the words would not come. The
crushing silence was broken at length by the father.
“You’ve been looking for me?”
Philip nodded and moistened his dry lips to say, “Everywhere.”
“I thought most likely you might—after I saw your name in the papers
as one of the ‘lucky-strikers.’” Then: “You knew me—without the
beard?”
“Of course,” said Philip dully. “You look just the same, only older.”
“I am older; a good deal older than the six years will account for. Tell
me about your mother and sisters: you hear from them, don’t you?”
“They are well—and well provided for, now.”
“I suppose they have given me up for dead, haven’t they?”
“I don’t know; I only know that I hadn’t.”
“Maybe it would have been better if you had.”
“No!” Philip broke in desperately. “There is something for you to do—
a thing I can help you do, now that I have money.”
“What is it?”
“To go back to New Hampshire with me and fight those liars, who
said you stole from the bank, to a finish in the courts; to make the
Trask name once more what it has always been—an honest one. I’ll
back you, to the last dollar there is in my half of the mine.”
The thin lips of the older man parted in the ghost of a smile.
“Spoken like a good son—or at least a dutiful one,” he said, in a tone
that seemed slightly acid. “But why be so anxious about the name?”
“Why?—why?” Philip demanded. “Why shouldn’t I be anxious about
it? Isn’t it the name I bear?”
“A name is nothing unless you make it something—but we won’t
argue about that. You say you want me to go back to New
Hampshire and set things right. It hasn’t occurred to you that there
might be a certain difficulty in the way?”
“You mean the fact that you didn’t stay and fight it out at the time?”
The ghost of a smile came again.
“No; I didn’t mean that. I mean the fact that not all of your money
could help me to prove what isn’t so. I took the money from the bank;
stole it, you’ll say, though I chose to call it squaring accounts with
Hiram Witherspoon, who had kept me on starvation wages for years.
I took it and got away with it.”
Once again Philip’s heart skipped a beat and stopped, and for a
moment the room whirled in dizzying circles for him.
“You—you stole it?” he faltered, in a voice that he scarcely
recognized as his own. Then, helplessly: “I—I don’t understand.”
“You wouldn’t,” was the curt reply, “you are too much of a Sanborn.
They never kick over the traces.” A pause, and then: “You’d never
understand in a month of Sundays, Phil. Your grandfather was a
hard man and a hypocrite. He never took his hand off my collar until
after I was a man grown—bull-necked me into everything I ever did,
even to my marriage with your mother, forgetting that I had the same
blood in me that he had in him. He lived a double life until he died,
and thought nobody knew; but I knew, and I did the same until the
time came when I could help myself and bolt—with the other
woman.”
“Oh, my God!” Philip groaned, and covered his face with his hands to
shut out the sight of the man who sat opposite, calmly indifferent, as
it seemed, to the havoc he had wrought.
When Philip looked up it was to say harshly: “Where is the other
woman now?”
“She is here—in Denver. She does a turn now and then at the
Corinthian when the cards run queer for me.”
Philip staggered to his feet in a desolate rage.
“Then I’m the son of a thief, a gambler and the paramour of a kept
woman!” he blazed out madly. “That’s the name I bear, is it?—the
reward I get for believing in you, like the damned fool that I was,
when everybody else was against you?” He shook his fist in his
father’s face. “Do you know what you’ve done to me? You’ve killed
my soul—that’s what you’ve done!—blasted my faith in all
humankind! Let me get out of here, before I—Oh, God!...”
He choked and clapped his hands to his face, stumbling toward the
door. As he fumbled for the knob and twisted it, the chill voice behind
him said: “You had no call to chase me, and you needn’t worry about
the name. I haven’t called myself John Trask since I left New
Hampshire. And one thing more: I’ve put a bullet through a man
before this for saying less than you said a minute ago. That’s all, I
guess.”
Philip groped his way through the upper passage and down the two
flights of stairs to the sidewalk. The reaction from the fit of mad rage
set in as he stepped into the open air and he went suddenly weak
and nauseated. The Tabor Building was just opposite, and in the
alley beside it he saw the light of the saloon at the back. Two
minutes later he had staggered across the street, up the alley and
into the lighted bar-room, which proved to be momentarily empty of
other patrons. “Whiskey!” he gasped, leaning against the bar. “I’m
sick!”
The bartender set out the bottle and a glass of water, and spun the
empty whiskey glass along the polished mahogany. With a hand that
was shaking as if with palsy, Philip tilted the bottle, poured himself a
drink that ignored the miniature pig etched in the side of the glass
with the motto, “Don’t drown the hog,” and gulped it down. The neat
liquor was like a draft of liquid fire to his unaccustomed palate and
throat, and he choked and strangled until the bartender reached over
and put the glass of water into his hand with a grinning comment:
“Guess you hain’t got the knack yet o’ takin’ it straight, son. Wash ’er
down with a chaser o’ water.”
With his throat still afire, Philip took to the streets. Since the huge
drink he had just swallowed was the first he had ever taken, its
intoxicating effect was almost instantaneous. Before he had walked
half a dozen blocks his brain was spinning and he fancied he was
treading upon thin air. From that time on, consciousness faded little
by little; all he knew was that he was walking, walking endlessly,
sometimes through streets that seemed dimly familiar, at other times
with all the surroundings singularly strange.
Finally he found himself climbing what he took to be the steps of the
Alamo Building to his rooms, drenched and permeated now with an
overpowering desire to sleep. In some odd way the steps did not
seem quite right; there were not enough of them. And there was a
lighted door at the top which was opened for him before he could
reach for the knob. It was at this conjuncture that reasoning
consciousness forsook him completely. He had a vague impression
that somebody—Bromley it would be, of course,—was leading him
somewhere; that his feet, from being so lately shod with wings, had
become unaccountably leaden; that there were more steps to be
climbed; and after that, the oblivion of a sleep profound and trance-
like.
When he awoke he found himself lying, fully clothed, upon a bed in a
strange room. The window shades were drawn, but the morning sun
was shining upon them. On the edge of the bed, with her single
garment slipping over one shoulder, sat a girl with carmined lips and
pencilled eyebrows; she was laughing at him and saying: “Had a
good sleep, honey?” adding: “You certainly had a lovely jag on last
night when you turned up here. Did somebody dope you?”
Philip leaped up and slewed himself around to sit beside the strange
girl. The quick movement set a trip-hammer pounding in his head,
and he had to wince and press his temples and wait a minute before
he could master the throbbing pain and say, “Where am I?”
“As if you didn’t know!” she gibed. “You sure had a skinful, but I
guess you still knew enough to come where you’d be took care of.
Here’s your pocketbook. Wonder somebody didn’t nip it off you
before you got here.”
Slowly he began to realize where he was.
“Are you trying to tell me that I’ve been here all night, with you?”
“Oh, no; not with me; not any; just with yourself. A cannon wouldn’t
’ve waked you after we got you up-stairs.”
“What made you take me in?”
The girl laughed again and pointed at the pocketbook in his hands.
“That, and your good clothes. The madam said she knew you wasn’t
no dead-beat.”
Soberly he took a bank-note from the well-stuffed pocketbook and
gave it to her.
“Is that enough?” he asked. “I’m new to this sort of thing.”
The girl flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“You’re a dandy—a prince!” she said; and as he staggered to his feet
and reached for his hat: “Have you got to go, right away? If you’ll
wait, I’ll dig you up a cup of coffee for a bracer.”
“No; I’ll go.”
“All right; I’ll show you the way out. There ain’t nobody else up in the
house yet. It’s early.”
She ran down the stair ahead of him and snapped the night latch on
the front door to let him out. As he passed her she patted him softly
on the shoulder. “Good-by, honey, dear. You’ll come back again,
won’t you? And next time, for Pete’s sake, don’t get so parboiled that
you won’t know me.”
When he reached the sidewalk he turned to look back at the place.
He knew the house. It was one that Middleton had pointed out to him
a year in the past as one of the few places of the sort where, as the
fat-faced tonnage clerk had phrased it, “a man needn’t carry a
burglar-proof safe with him to be sure of finding his wallet when he
wakes up in the morning.”
Philip looked at his watch. It had run down and he swore at it under
his breath. The aftermath of the single gluttonous drink was still with
him in the shape of a parched throat, a dry tongue, a fiercely aching
head and a set of jangled nerves. At first, he thought he would go to
his rooms and take a cold bath; but after he had gone a block or two
in that direction he changed his mind and once more sought the
saloon in the rear of the Tabor Building. The night bartender was still
on duty and he grinned when Philip came in.
“Want a little of the hair o’ the dog that bit you, I reckon?” he said,
setting out the bottle and glasses.
Philip poured a drink, a small one, this time, and since the mere
smell of the liquor gagged him, he held his nose as he drank. The
stimulant steadied the twittering nerves; and it did more—it cleared
his brain and brought the desolating revelation of the night back with
a vividness that hurt like the stabbing of needles. He set his watch by
the bar-room clock. As the girl in the other street had said, it was
quite early. Bromley would not be up yet. Suddenly it came to him
that he could not face Bromley; not yet, at any rate. He must eat
breakfast first; and he went around to Charpiot’s for the meal.
The breakfast, a light one, for his stomach was still in revolt, was
hastily despatched; and as he was leaving the table the play-boy
came in.
“Hello, there!” he exclaimed. “You are still in town? I looked into your
room and saw your bed hadn’t been slept in, so I concluded you’d
taken a night train to somewhere.”
“No,” Philip replied soberly; “I haven’t been out of town.”
“Well, don’t rush off. Sit down and be neighborly while I get a bite of
breakfast.”
“No,” Philip repeated, “I’ve got to go.” Then he turned back and
forced himself to look his partner in the eyes. “That matter we were
talking about last night before you went to the theater: I’m not going
to take that room at the Dabneys’. You are the one to go there.”
The play-boy looked his surprise.
“Why—what’s the matter with you, Phil? When I spoke of it last night,
I thought you looked tickled purple.”
“Last night was last night, and this morning is another day. Say that I
don’t care to give up the stuffy luxuries of the apartment in the
Alamo, if you like. Anyway, I’m not going to move; that is all there is
to it.”
And with this curt refusal he turned his back upon his partner and left
the dining-room.

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Biofuels Technology Challenges and

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Locomotives and Rail Road Transportation Technology

Combustion for Power Generation and Transportation

Advanced Engine Diagnostics Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Algal Biofuels Recent Advances and Future Prospects 1st

Biofuels Production and Processing Technology 1st

Agroforestry to Combat Global Challenges: Current

Advances in Management Research Innovation and

Biofuels for Aviation Feedstocks Technology and

Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Rashmi Avinash Agarwal Bhola Ram Gurjar

ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

of knowledge from renowned experts on the latest developments in selected

Kanpur, India Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Microalgae Based Biofuel: Challenges and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Prof. Avinash Kumar Agarwal joined IIT Kanpur in

Dr. Rashmi Avinash Agarwal is a senior researcher

transformation, and synthesis of nanoparticles. Dr.

Prof. Tarun Gupta is a PK Kelkar Research Fellow

Dr. Bhola Ram Gurjar is Associate Professor and

Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Rashmi Avinash Agarwal, Tarun Gupta

Keywords Biofuels Hydrothermal liquefaction Microalgae Biodiesel

A.K. Agarwal (&)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 3

to be potentially attractive fuels for light-duty vehicles, however these energy

This monograph explores such key technologies, including biotechnology,

methodology for biofuel synthesis. One chapter provides an account of value

Bhumica Agarwal, Vivek Ahluwalia, Ashok Pandey,

Abstract From time immemorial, bioprocessing of lignocelluloses via chemical

Keywords Lignocellulose Chemical catalysis Bioreﬁning Fuel precursors

B. Agarwal V. Ahluwalia A. Pandey R.S. Sangwan S. Elumalai (&)

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 7

be produced from biomass derived sugars via sequential chemical or biochemical

2 Lignocellulosic Biomass: Fraction and Its Structure

Inherently, lignocellulosic biomass is known as a polymeric material comprised

Fig. 2 Schematic representation of lignocellulose microﬁbril assembly consisting predominant

Non-reducing end Reducing end

region, which is water insoluble and very resistant to chemical or enzymatic

H3CO O Lignin Lignin Lignin OCH3

Lignin O OCH3 O OCH3

Fig. 5 Representation of major linkages present in biogenic lignin polymer [4]

trans-sinapyl alcohols formed by oxidative coupling, yielding a number of func-

Hydrolysis of cellulose commonly refers to breakdown of glucan polymer to its

Fig. 6 Proposed reaction scheme of cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysis [2]

biocatalyst (cellulase complex). Presumably, cellulase comprised of three major

approach. For instance, pretreatment severity has to be sometimes reduced to reduce

3.1 Homogeneous Hydrolysis Strategy

supplementation of oxidative reagents, for example O2 or H2O2 to alkali during

co-workers [44] discovered for dissolution of lignin in ILs, however, exhibited a

3.2 Heterogeneous Hydrolysis Strategy

Although homogeneous acids have been quite successful in cellulose hydrolysis to

where CSA is prepared under microwave irradiation from hydrolyzed corncob

4 Thermochemical Catalysis of Carbohydrate Sugars

Depending on the intended end-use of the product, lignocellulosic biomass can be