processes Review Syngas Derived from Lignocellulosic Biomass Gasification as an Alternative Resource for Innovative Bioprocesses Cosetta Ciliberti 1, Antonino Biundo 1,2, Roberto Albergo 3 , Gennaro Agrimi 1,2 , Giacobbe Braccio 3, Isabella de Bari 3 and Isabella Pisano 1,2,* 1 Department of Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biopharmaceutics, University of Bari, Via Edoardo Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy;
[email protected] (C.C.);
[email protected] (A.B.);
[email protected] (G.A.) 2 Interuniversity Consortium for Biotechnology (CIB), 34100 Trieste, Italy 3 Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Division of Bioenergy, Biorefinery and Green Chemistry, C.R. Trisaia S.S. 106 Jonica, 75026 Rotondella (MT), Italy;
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[email protected] (G.B.);
[email protected] (I.d.B.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 3 November 2020; Accepted: 24 November 2020; Published: 28 November 2020 Abstract: A hybrid system based on lignocellulosic biomass gasification and syngas fermentation represents a second-generation biorefinery approach that is currently in the development phase. Lignocellulosic biomass can be gasified to produce syngas, which is a gas mixture consisting mainly of H2, CO, and CO2. The major challenge of biomass gasification is the syngas’s final quality. Consequently, the development of effective syngas clean-up technologies has gained increased interest in recent years. Furthermore, the bioconversion of syngas components has been intensively studied using acetogenic bacteria and their Wood–Ljungdahl pathway to produce, among others, acetate, ethanol, butyrate, butanol, caproate, hexanol, 2,3-butanediol, and lactate. Nowadays, syngas fermentation appears to be a promising alternative for producing commodity chemicals in comparison to fossil-based processes.