Valorisation of waste fractions from autohydrolysis of selected lignocellulosic materials

Non‐isothermal processing of lignocellulosic materials in aqueous media (autohydrolysis reaction) under mild conditions leads to solutions containing valuable chemicals (oligosaccharides, sugars and acetic acid) and other, undesired, compounds (belonging to the extractive and acid‐soluble lignin fractions) which have to be removed in further purification treatments. Liquors obtained by non‐isothermal autohydrolysis of Eucalyptus globulus wood and corncobs under a variety of operational conditions were extracted with ethyl acetate in order to remove non‐saccharide components, and the suitability of the fraction dissolved in the organic phase was assayed for possible utilisation as an antioxidant. The yield and antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate extracts (measured by the α,α‐diphenyl‐β‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity) showed a strong dependence on the autohydrolysis conditions. The antioxidant activity of extracts obtained under selected operational conditions compared well with synthetic antioxidants. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

A Possible Industrial Solution to Ferment Lignocellulosic Hydrolyzate to Ethanol: Continuous Cultivation with Flocculating Yeast

The cultivation of toxic lignocellulosic hydrolyzates has become a challenging research topic in recent decades. Although several cultivation methods have been proposed, numerous questions have arisen regarding their industrial applications. The current work deals with a solution to this problem which has a good potential application on an industrial scale. A toxic dilute-acid hydrolyzate was continuously cultivated using a high-cell-density flocculating yeast in a single and serial bioreactor which was equipped with a settler to recycle the cells back to the bioreactors. No prior detoxification was necessary to cultivate the hydrolyzates, as the flocks were able to detoxify it in situ. The experiments were successfully carried out at dilution rates up to 0.52 h⁻¹. The cell concentration inside the bioreactors was between 23 and 35 g-DW/L, while the concentration in the effluent of the settlers was 0.32 ± 0.05 g-DW/L. An ethanol yield of 0.42–0.46 g/g-consumed sugar was achieved, and the residual sugar concentration was less than 6% of the initial fermentable sugar (glucose, galactose and mannose) of 35.2 g/L.     

Graft Copolymerization of Acrylamide onto Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) Fiber

Grafting of acrylamide (AAm) onto oil palm empty fruits bunch fiber using hydrogen peroxide as initiator and methyl acrylate as comonomer was investigated. The amount of comonomer needed to make grafting of acrylamide possible was determined. The percentage of poly(acrylamide) and the comonomer in the final graft copolymer was estimated by elemental analysis. Results obtained indicated that methyl acrylate facilitated the incorporation of acrylamide monomer onto OPEFB. The reactivity ratios for both monomers were determined by using Fineman–Ross plot. The effects of reaction temperature and period as well as amount of the initiator, solvent, monomer and comonomer on the percentage of grafting at fixed amount of comonomer (11 mmol) were studied. Maximum percentage of grafting was achieved when the amount of initiator and solvent 3.98×10⁻³ mol and 50 mL respectively. The optimum reaction temperature was 50 ^○C and the reaction period was 90 min. Highest percentage of grafting was 232% when 25.6 mmol of acrylamide was used under these optimum conditions. The presence of functional group in the grafted polymer is characterized by infrared spectroscopy and the surface morphology is observed by scanning electron microscopy. Thermoanalytic investigation on OPEFB and OPEFB-g-PAAM were carried out to evaluate the thermal stability and respective activation energy of the materials.     

Second generation bioethanol (SGB) production potential in Turkey

Energy demand is increasing by the years. Population's needs and technological investments bring the new approach about generating energy. It is considered that fossil fuels will not be able to respond to all energy requirements after approximately 150 years. Turkey imports nearly all of its petroleum and so this causes major economic problems. Turkey, as a major cereal producer, has a huge potential to grow energy crops and other cellulosic biomaterials and can obtain plant's residues, which are suitable to produce second generation bioethanol (SGB). With domestic production, bioethanol can reduce the dependence of petroleum for Turkey, and greenhouse gas emissions can be decreased. Taking into account Turkey's situation in fuel–oil consumption, costliness of gasoline and environmentally hazardous specification of fossil fuels, bioethanol gains more importance and increases in value. Especially, SGB production is rising. Foodstuffs are valuable, and producing ethanol from directly those materials can cause a crisis in Turkey because lignocellulosic bioethanol is becoming prominent. In this regard, bioethanol production in Turkey becomes a major alternative to petroleum and may be a key to new and clean energy source. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1,4-丁二醇提取玉米芯木质素的研究

以1,4-丁二醇为溶剂提取玉米芯中的木质素,考察了反应温度、原料／溶剂固液比（g/mL）、1,4-丁二醇的质量分数、反应时间等因素对木质素收率的影响。最佳萃取条件为：反应温度200℃,固液比（g／mL）1：10,1,4-丁二醇的质量分数90％,反应时间1h,以少量硫酸作为催化剂,木质素收率37．03％。红外光谱分析结果表明,1,4．T-醇提取的玉米芯木质素较好地保存了木质素原有结构。     

Evaluation of a hydrothermal process for pretreatment of wheat straw—effect of particle size and process conditions

BACKGROUND: Hydrothermal processes are an eco‐friendly processes that provide an interesting alternative for chemical utilization of lignocellulosic materials, in which water and crop residues are the only reagents. In this work the effect of process conditions (size distribution of the wheat straw, temperature and time) was evaluated against production of fermentable products. RESULTS: The use of milled wheat straw fractions as a raw material containing blends of different particle size distribution showed that the latter had an influence on the final sugars in the hydrolysate. Improved values of glucose (21.1%) and xylose yields (49.32%) present in the hydrolysate were obtained with treatment severity factors of 2.77 and 3.36, respectively. Mathematical models were developed aimed at establishing the effect of process conditions on monosaccharide concentration and its degradation in the liquor. CONCLUSION: This work shows that the use of wheat straw blends with various particle sizes has a significant effect on the extraction of fermentable products. The effect of treatment severity, which takes into account both processing time and temperature was also evaluated. These results are of importance for process design. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Impact of dilute acid pretreatment on the structure of bagasse for bioethanol production

Dilute acid pretreatment is a commonly used pretreatment method in the course of producing bioethanol from lignocellulosics and the structure variation of the lignocellulosics is highly related to the pretreatment process. To understand the impact of dilute acid pretreatment on the structure of bagasse, four different pretreatment conditions by varying heating time are considered where the bagasse and the pretreated materials are examined using a variety of analysis methods. The obtained results indicate that the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is able to provide a useful insight into the recognition of lignocellulosic structure. Specifically, the peak of the TGA of the pretreated materials moves toward the low temperature region, revealing that the lignocellulosic structure is loosened. However, the characteristic of crystal structure of cellulose remains in the pretreated materials. Increasing heating time enhances the pretreatment procedure; as a result, the average particle size of the investigated materials increases with heating time. This swelling behavior may be attributed to the enlarged holes inside the particles in that the surface area decreases with increasing heating time. In addition, when the heating time is increased to a certain extent (e.g. 15 min), some fragments are found at the surface and they tend to peel off from the surface. It follows that the dilute acid pretreatments have a significant effect on the bagasse structure. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Base‐Catalyzed Depolymerization of Lignin: Separation of Monomers

In our quest for fractionating lignocellulosic biomass and valorizing specific constitutive fractions, we have developed a strategy for the separation of 12 added value monomers generated during the hydrolytic based‐catalyzed depolymerization of a Steam Exploded Aspen Lignin. The separation strategy combines liquid‐liquid‐extraction (LLE), followed by vacuum distillation, liquid chromatography (LC) and crystallization. LLE, vacuum distillation and flash LC were tested experimentally. Batch vacuum distillation produced up to 4 fractions. Process simulation confirmed that a series of 4 vacuum distillation columns could produce 5 distinct monomer streams, 3 of which require further chromatography and crystallization for purification.