The most important thermal conversion methods for this purpose
are fast pyrolysis and vacuum pyrolysis, pressure liquefaction
and phenolysis. Phenolics from the thermo-chemical processing of
biomass are generally less reactive than pure phenol as they tend
to have an average of two or fewer positions available for polymerization
while three positions are available in phenol. Furthermore,
liquids obtained through thermo-chemical degradation of biomass
also contain sugars, acids and other undesirable chemicals [34].
Production of ethanol from molasses requires three major
steps: hydrolysis, fermentation and ethanol recovery. Hydrolyzes
can be realized through three different ways: